Let’s face it, NY-23 was the tea partier’s battle field. It was where they drew the line in the sand. And… there were lessons to be learned. Mainly that a 100 year old Republican seat switched to a Democrat seat. To me this says that people comfortable with always pulling the R lever suddenly changed their ways. It also had practically nothing to do with Owens. Oh yeah, this was definately R on R crime.
Not that I expect the real Republicans to take a moment and ponder this outcome. Actually, I expect them to declare victory. From here on out Republican primaries will be the ones to watch. Pass the popcorn, because Dick Armey is ramping up the purging.
An announcement sent out by MacGuffie proclaimed that he, like Armey, has actively supported Doug Hoffman’s bid to rid the NY-23 special election of moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R-NY). Now, both Armey and MacGuffie are planning to purge the Republican Party of more moderate politicians.
MacGuffie has declared that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are RINOs (Republicans in name only) who “have routinely abandoned or betrayed us.” Similarly, the next step of Armey’s agenda appears to be an intensified crusade to challenge moderate Republicans in primaries. The Politico reports that Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) and other Republicans who have strayed from rigid party-line positions face primaries from candidates inspired by the tea parties and town hall disruption type tactics.
That’s quite a prominent list of “purge” targets. And I have to wonder why Armey and army would take safe Republican seats and make them, well, unsafe. Like I said, there are lessons to be learned in NY-23 – a seat that would have stayed Republican had Republicans not interfered.