Hurricane Sarah Brings Down the GOP

Republicans seem to be cheering after winning the New Jersey and Virginia governorships a week ago. They should be; the elections were much needed morale-boosters. However, it is telling that they managed to screw up the NY-23 congressional race so badly that they lost the seat in a district that has been solidly conservative since the 19th century. Polls also tell us that the American people still don’t like Republicans a lot. And the party still doesn’t have any real leaders; the most talked-about figures are controversial and tend to divide the party. The Republican challenge is to find ways to connect with the substantial amount of voters who are unhappy with President Barack Obama’s policies. They haven’t been too successful yet since many also have an unfavorable view of the GOP that has lasted since Bush was in the White House.

The New York race very clearly put a spotlight on the rift within the party. In a Washington Post article today, Republican State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, who ran for the House seat but dropped out, talks about how she was targeted by the party’s conservative elite who couldn’t stand her moderate views. She describes the opposition against her as “organized”. Scozzafava goes on to say, “There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln. If they don’t want us with them, we’re going to work against them.” And that’s what she did. When former New York Governor George Pataki withdrew his earlier support of her, and RNC chairman Michael Steele did as he always does (cave in to the right-wing loudmouths), she dropped out and backed Democrat Bill Owens who went on to win the seat.

One of the people who campaigned against her was Sarah Palin who remains one of the most divisive figures in America today. One could easily argue that Palin’s behavior, along with the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of this world, helped secure Owens’s victory. It should be considered another nail in the coffin of Palin’s political career. Now she’s also back to talking about her “death panels” again. As a liberal, you gotta love her shtick. Republicans (at least those who think of the GOP as the Party of Lincoln) should be very afraid of her, though.

In the YouTube clip above, Keith Olbermann offers his take on the New York race on his Countdown show.

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