"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
Stacy McCain interviews Randy Altschuler of New York’s 1st Congressional District. Randy is a businessman seeking to save the country in general, and New York in particular, from doctrinaire liberalism.
This blog wishes good fortune on Randy’s efforts.
by Smitty
Stacy McCain checks in with Doug Hoffman of NY-23, who falls tragically short of giving Stacy the big scoop about an announcement to occur next week that is ‘nominally undecided’, concerning Doug’s future.
We rather hope that Doug retains the non-command of political double-speak, the refreshing modesty, and the honest approach to challenges.
In an article about the Tea Party movement, the Los Angeles Times re-writes the history of Doug Hoffman’s campaign last year in New York’s 23rd District:
Many Republican Party leaders have welcomed [Tea Party involvement in local GOP organizations], particularly because they worried that the energy driving the tea party movement might create a third party that would split the conservative vote.
That scenario played out in New York’s 23rd Congressional District in a special election last year, a cautionary tale in Republican circles because it led to a Democrat capturing a longtime GOP House seat. . . .
Having spent so long covering that campaign, this blame-the-conservatives revisionism angered me, and I responded in the Hot Air Green Room:
From start to finish of the NY23 campaign, then, the Republican Party was exclusively responsible for electing the Democrat.
Any attempt to foist blame for the Democratic victory in NY23 onto Hoffman and his supporters is a willful perversion of the actual history of that campaign. . . .
Please read the whole thing. Don’t let yourself be bamboozled and misled by MSM spin.
Julia Vitullo-Martin in the New York Post:
Tribeca is embroiled in a bitter neighborhood-school war that some residents say is jeopardizing its sense of community, as well as its future. It’s a story repeated from time to time all across New York. The key question will be decided tonight: Which families will be forced out of the beloved PS 234?
The school is widely deemed the city’s best public elementary school, in part thanks to fervent community support. But over the last decade, the neighborhood has transformed itself from a commercial to a mixed-use area, with thousands of new residents, including young families — and PS 234 is bursting at the seams . . .
Across the street from PS 234 is the 35-story 101 Warren (sometimes called the Whole Foods complex), which opened in 2006. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, its 228 condo units have sold for between $1.175 million and $12 million. In the same complex as PS 234 is the 30-story, 258-condo 200 Chambers St. Both developments were marketed as “zoned for 234” — a status now much in dispute. . . .
OK, I don’t normally cover New York City school-board issues and some readers might be scratching their heads, but there’s an explanation.
People sometimes ask me why I smoke Parliament Lights — kind of an effete brand for a populist Old School guy — and the answer is Continue reading The Battle of P.S. 234 →
Mr. K at Jumping in Pools reminds us that the breakthrough Scott Brown made in Massachusetts was, to some extent, made possible by Doug Hoffman’s campaign last year in New York that fell painfully short of victory:
[Democrat] Bill Owens would violate four campaign promises in his inaugural 24 hours of work, outraging citizens and voters across the 23rd congressional district, and resulting in Doug Hoffman seeking the Republican and Conservative nomination once again to challenge Bill Owens in 2010, leaving an interesting election to be held in November.
The Hoffman campaign was a trial run for a new style of grassroots effort. The Brown campaign in Massachusetts learned valuable lessons from what happened in NY23, and conservatives owe a debt of gratitude for Hoffman’s courageous example in standing up to the GOP insiders who tried to foist the RINO Dede Scozzafava on us.
While I was in Massachusetts this past week, I heard some disturbing news: Two other candidates — including a wealthy investment banker — are challenging Hoffman in this year’s GOP primary to take on Owens in November. To which I respond, not just no, but hell no!
Doug Hoffman has earned this shot, and those of us who were inspired by his campaign last fall need to unite to make sure he gets it.
Please contribute to Doug Hoffman’s campaign today. Whether it’s $10 or $20 or $50 or $100, every dollar counts toward ensuring that a year from now, we can be proud to call him Congressman Doug Hoffman.