Freedom Line Blog

No waffling, we were flat-out wrong about the possibility of Doug Hoffman winning the special congressional election in NY-23.  That rather significant part of the equation was a bridge too far, too fast, and we just got carried away by the effort, by the momentum (which was genuine) and by the weird dynamics of a race that behaved like a game of pinball rather than politics.

In the end, the Wicked Witch of the North, Dede Scozzafava was able to exact revenge by backing Democrat Bill Owens and drawing away enough votes to deny Hoffman the victory.  Regardless, her future is not going to be that of “a great leader,” Bill Owens’ appreciative words from one clueless backbench hack to another.  Owens will get his lapel pin and his year, during which we suspect he won’t become one of Nancy Pelosi’s acolytes.  No one could be that dumb.

For conservatism, however, the victory of shoving a dose of grassroots reality down the throats of Republican Party bosses cannot be underestimated.

As someone once said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  Now, who’s paying attention to the Florida Senate race?