I have slight different take on this story than Michelle Malkin and Dan Riehl do… It’s not that I disagree they both raise very valid points It’s just that think I there’s a larger issue here than the Beltway GOP racing to cover their, um, assets (emphasis mine):
At a meeting of Washington conservatives this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed pride over GOP success in last night’s election. But questions about NY-23 remain — so I asked him whether there was an effort to get New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in that race, to endorse Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.
“There was a huge effort,” he replied.
When asked about rumors that the New York Republican Party picked Scozzafava because of the advice of Washington insiders who felt she would be a more electable candidate, Boehner rolled his eyes. “We told them to hold off on a decision, to work with us, but they went ahead and did it.”
So if she was a rotten egg, why spend money? “All the money spent on that race was anti-Owens money, not pro-Scozzafava money.“
Well that’s bullshit, the NRCC did run web ads attacking Doug Hoffman:
This we’re I differ from Michelle and Dan, I’m willing, for the sake of argument, to take Boehner’s first statement at face value… When you combine Boehner’s remarks with Pete Sessions’ statement on NY-23:
“After two special elections in New York, there is no doubt in my mind that the candidate selection process lacks openness and transparency and should be changed to a primary system so voters can have a say in who their respective parties nominate.”
Sessions hits the nail on the head, we’ve now been through two winnable special elections in New York that the state GOP has fumbled badly… That’s what we need to be focused on here. The state party bosses who hand picked Dede Scozzafava in spite of her rather progressive voting record in the State Assembly effectively turned the general election into a primary battle and it cost us the race.
Bottom line the process by which candidates are chosen needs to be more open and transparent, whether it’s through a primary system or caucuses doesn’t matter as long as the voters have chance to express their opinion on who is chosen to represent them.