Civil War in New York’s North Country
The GOP’s ideological purists who prefer irrelevance to compromise fail to appreciate both New York’s politics and its geography.
The Party’s legitimate nominee, Dede Scozzafava isn’t “liberal” for a New York Republican; we have a history of moderation on social issues.
And New York’s 23d Congressional District isn’t “upstate,” the phrase that reflects the provincialism typical of Beltway and New York City media to describe everything north of Westchester, from Albany to Watertown to Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Jamestown, Corning and Elmira.
The 23d is the North Country of New York — not Texas, Tennessee or Alaska.
As with Florida’s Senate race, to build a successful national coalition, the GOP had better soon understand that this is a VERY big and diverse country, and that not all Republicans have in common the values of Denton, Texas. It doesn’t make them any less “Republican” or any less committed to the conservative principles of liberty and limited government. You don’t build a winning coalition by drawing smaller and smaller concentric circles around yourself.
