Beating The Challenge Flag

Last week in Upstate New York's 23rd Congressional district, Conservative Doug Hoffman, trailing in the polls by 5,335 votes, conceded the election to Democrat Bill Owens. Believing that he had barely won his own town of Oswego, and only 7% of the vote left to count, Hoffman graciously offered congratulations to Owens.

That opened the door for Nancy Pelosi to quickly swear in Owens in time for Saturday's House vote on Health Care Reform, a rare weekend vote. Like a football team that knows it must run a play quickly before the challenge flag is thrown by the opposing coach, Pelosi and her cohorts believe they got the snap off in time. The shiny, new Congressman Owens, who throughout his campaign opposed health care reform measures, helped seal the "victory" on Saturday for his party.

But Hoffman's concession may have been a bit premature. There were problems with the counting of ballots in Oswego, we now learn, that may have altered Hoffman's decision on election night. On election night, Hoffman's camp believed they had won Oswego by only 500 votes, but inspectors found that the margin was more than triple that amount at 1,748 votes. According to Hoffman campaign spokesman Rob Ryan, "I don’t know if we would have conceded on election night. I’m someone who doesn’t like to look back. But would we have taken longer to make a decision on election night? Probably, if we knew it was only 3,000 votes making the difference."

Despite the fact that New York State had sent a letter to the House Clerk explaining that it had not certified the election because no winner had been declared, with Owens still leading by 3,000 votes it was ruled legal for Pelosi to officially swear in the new member. Along with Democrat John Garamendi, who also won a special election in California, Pelosi had the 218 votes needed to pass the House version of health care reform legislation.

But there are still 10,200 military and overseas absentee ballots to be counted. While Hoffman's chances to overcome a deficit of 3,000 votes is still remote, it is possible. What that would mean for the vote on Saturday is unclear, but it is certain that Owens would be forced to vacate the seat. Republican Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana said he voted in favor of the bill only after he saw that the Democrats had the needed 218 votes. If Hoffman is indeed the ultimate victor, would they have a re-vote? And would Cao reverse his vote if the Democrats only had 217 votes?

It remains to be seen, and the ramifications will interesting. It will also be fascinating to watch the reactions of the House leadership if this turns foul for them.

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Silent Screams

I have long been loathe to stray too far from the Republican party in support of a third party candidate simply because of the prospect of spoiling any chance of unseating a Democrat. Ross Perot comes to mind for he was instrumental in giving us President Bill Clinton. My mind is slowly changing, however, as I come to realize that the party to which I have been a lifelong member has demonstrated lately that it is not all that different from the Democrat party, it is only a different hue.

This was in evidence in New York's 23rd Congressional district on Saturday when Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race with Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative party member Doug Hoffman. On Sunday, rather than embracing Hoffman, she threw her support to the Democrat Owens, betraying the Conservative wing of the Republican party and revealing that she was a liberal RINO who would have done us no good at all had she stayed in and won. Since Sunday, Hoffman - a third party candidate - has surged in the polls.

Politico is also reporting that this is not an isolated movement, as Conservatives are lining up even now in preparation for 2010, and plan to challenge Republican incumbents and candidates alike. Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks, an organization that has been closely aligned with the tea party movement, refers to it as the "tip of the spear". While developing inroads into national politics is most definitely an uphill battle, it is not only possible but, as we're seeing of late, more likely by the day.

The reasons are plain to see. There are many amongst the Republican party who yearn for a return to Conservative ideals for the brand, keeping the party alive while transforming it back to the days of Reagan. But with betrayal after betrayal, such as those of Arlen Specter and Dede Scozzafava, no assurances will any longer suffice. If the mere threat of a serious challenge by Conservatives appears to alter the current course of the Republicans, what guarantees do we have that, once elected, they won't revert back to their liberal ways?

We allowed the left to basically thrust John McCain upon us, thus ensuring the election of the most radical person ever to occupy the White House. After ten months on the job, the only positive Obama has produced is the tardy fervor of ordinary Americans, once reticent to mobilize, to suddenly become a genuine force to be reckoned with, as evidenced by the spate of Town Hall meetings last summer. Certainly it was Democrats who bore the brunt of America's fury but Republicans couldn't possibly ignore it.

But they did, and they continue to ignore it at their own peril. Third party candidates historically have come to the fight naked and alone, offering little challenge and receiving nothing but scorn. Now they lead an army of angry citizens disgusted with the state of our nation and frustrated at their once silent screams; legions of people infuriated at Congress for their refusal to obey the halt order. As we demand that they leave our health care alone, they plow ahead defiantly, not forgetting but arrogantly denying that they work for us.

Well, it is no longer party time. The party is over, but we'll leave the lights on so that a brave new wave of true representatives can see the mess they will have to clean up without tripping over the debris. And the debris is strewn across the nation as the wreckage of a mid-flight explosion of an airliner, on a much grander scale.

Through their obsequious manner - even when they controlled Congress - the Republicans have abandoned us and the nation, paving the way for every imaginable fetish to be normalized. Now these once deviant thoughts and lifestyles are no longer normal, they are preferential in the eyes of government. What was once unspeakable is now portrayed as mainstream, and those who oppose it are the weird ones. How in God's name did we get to this point?

Forty years ago it would have been political suicide to publicly revere someone like Mao Tse Tung, but now a White House official speaks loving of the monster and those who gasp at such a thing are considered the kooks. It is quite astounding.

The only alternative left is to shun both parties and start from scratch. This is as good a time as any to start.

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