Next Generation of Conservative Leaders Line Up for Hoffman

Thanks to President Obama’s appointment of John McHugh as Secretary of the Army, conservatives have the opportunity to see whether Republican leaders will stand up for conservative principles or simply fall in line behind any warm body with an ‘R’ after his or her name.

The 23rd district of New York is a Petri dish for the future of the Republican Party. There are three candidates in the race – Democrat Bill Owens, newly-crowned Republican Dede Scozzafava and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Thanks in large part to bloggers like Erick Erickson and Robert Stacy McCain, the race has garnered national attention. In the modern media era, even the most obscure election can set the motion for a conservative comeback.

Unfortunately, Republican Party leaders, both locally and nationally, have abandoned conservative principles to pursue an empty victory.

Conservative and Republican activists are angry about the appointment of the very liberal, ACORN-backed candidate Scozzafava. American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene first wrote about the race in The Hill in late September, “When New York Republicans face a special election, party leaders meet in what we used to call ‘a smoke-filled room,’ select a nominee and shove their choice down the throats of the faithful. In this traditionally Republican district, that means Republicans are today being told to rally ’round Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava — who favors card-check, abortion, gay marriage and higher taxes and thinks Congress ought to be authorizing more rather than less spending.”

Following his column, Keene and the ACU-PAC organized the first conference call with candidate Hoffman and conservative bloggers. Since then, conservatives have been paying close attention to whom their presumed leaders are endorsing. It’s no surprise that those Republicans with a modicum of power in a Democratic Congress are endorsing Scozzafava. Following disastrous elections for Republicans, now is the time when it is not only safe, but essential to our future, that leaders stand up for principle, not power.

I’ll leave it to others to criticize those who blindly endorsed Scozzafava. And I say “blindly” because I would hate to think these people have the same beliefs as Scozzafava. At this point, ignorance is their best defense. Beyond that they’re left with either endorsing her because their afraid to stand up for conservative principles or their afraid of losing small crumbs of political power. The NY-23 race is a test of political courage.