A few more thoughts on NY-23

First, courtesy of Josh Painter (who is, among other things, the chap responsible for the Bloggers for Sarah Palin blogroll to which this blog belongs), a worthy reflection on what Gov. Palin accomplished with her endorsement of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman:

The media buzz today will be mostly about one aspect of the endorsement—Sarah Palin distancing herself from her party. But she has also distanced herself from her potential rivals for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, should she decide to seek it. . . .

With her endorsement of Doug Hoffman, Sarah Palin has taken a stand in solidarity with the gathering storm known as the grassroots movement in this country. The disaffected conservatives, conservative libertarians, common sense independents and blue collar Democrats (aka Reagan Democrats) who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore always seemed to us to be former Governor Palin’s natural base constituency. These are the the people who have turned out for TEA parties and Townhalls across the country, but there are many more of them who were not able to demonstrate, but feel the pain none the less. It’s a big step for the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate to take toward earning their trust as the national public figure who best voices their concerns.

As for the Republican Party, its establishment has refused for too long to listen to the rank and file, and now it has officially been put on notice by Sarah Palin. Hopefully, it will finally pay attention to the voices of the people. Nothing else has seemed to get through to the GOP leadership. Even a recent Rasmussen poll which shows that 73 percent of Republican voters say Congressional Republicans have lost touch with their base hasn’t seemed to have had much impact on those who run the GOP Congressional and Senatorial committees. . . .

Former Governor Palin may have just taken the first big step toward leading the Republican Party back to its Reagan roots. She has thrown down the gauntlet. Now let’s see if she will pick up the banner and hold it so high that the troops will rally around it.

Second, some news about Hoffman’s ostensible Republican opponent, Dede Scozzafava, from RedState:

Jack Abramoff, present jailbird, was convicted of all sorts of crooked schemes. One of his favorites was to funnel money through various organizations into the hands of other people.

It appears Dede Scozzafava is funneling RNC, NRCC, and donor dollars through her campaign account to her family. . . .

Scozzafava doesn’t look to be just an ACORN candidate, but also more and more looks like an Abramoff Republican.

Read the post for the details, which are appalling—she can’t even wait until she’s elected to start siphoning money off the top. The more I hear about this woman, the worse the GOP (and especially the NY GOP) looks for putting her forward.

And three, all the attention he’s been getting from major conservative figures has definitely given Hoffman’s campaign a major boost; a lot of the credit for that goes to Gov. Palin, though certainly not all of it. It’s good to know he appreciates her.