At her desk, with a fuzzy elephant face down on a bookshelf behind her, she recalled the exhausting end days of her campaign. Violet semicircles hung below her teary eyes as she recounted how Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and other conservative leaders excoriated her for less-than-orthodox positions on gay rights, abortion and organized labor. Her nose reddened as she recalled her abrupt exit from the special election to replace John M. McHugh, whom President Obama had appointed as secretary of the Army earlier in the year.Sniffle, sniffle. It's just so... tragic. Her reasoning behind throwing her last-minute support behind the Democrat?
The conservative movement's third-party candidate, Doug Hoffman, expected her support but, she said, the newcomer accountant "had no integrity." Plus, the Democrats were so nice! They called. They sympathized. They made her feel good about tossing her support to Bill Owens, who -- with her help -- became the area's first Democratic representative in more than a century.Dede Scozzafava saying someone else lacks integrity. Now that's a good one.
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She heard through friends that Palin insinuated she had been "anointed" by a "political machine" because county chairs handpicked her as the nominee. Beck denounced her as "ACORN-supported" and an "Obama-Lite Republican."...And which of these allegations is false exactly?
Her aide rang to say former governor George Pataki, who had encouraged her to run, was going with Hoffman.The next day, she tried to keep her spirits up at events, but the betrayal by Pataki, who is mulling a Senate run, stung. Around 6 p.m., she and her husband pulled over at a Stewart's convenience store on the rainy drive home from her Watertown campaign office. An aide called with dismal poll numbers. For hours, they sat, with Scozzafava staring at the windshield wipers going back and forth. Her husband counted the people using the convenience store's ATM to pass the time. Mostly, she just cried.
Boo-hoo. Way to rebut those stereotypes about over-emotional women, Dede. If your entire campaign morale rested on the support of one man's vocal support, you were doomed from the start.
The Washington Post article describes how White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel organized Democrats to help console her. Andrew Cuomo called, followed by Sen. Chuck Schumer. Rep. Steve Israel traveled to the district to meet with her at the behest of the White House and they discussed "precedents for a Republican dropping out of a primary to endorse a Democrat.""One man who did call me was Bill Owens," she said. "He didn't ask for an endorsement, he just said, 'I hope you're doing okay.' "
Unbeknown to Scozzafava, the kindly gesture was the first salvo in a White House-orchestrated initiative to win her endorsement.
She even received a message that said former President Bill Clinton was trying to reach her. (Apparently this was something positive to her...?) How nice those Democrats are--all warm and fuzzy who are only concerned about her fragile feelings, not some silly election!
The article concludes with a warning from Scozzafava about how trecherous and exclusive Republicans are:
"There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln," she said, her face now flush. "If they don't want us with them, we're going to work against them."We love you too, Dede! XOXO!
Update: Is it a coincidence Dede's weeping tale is published at the same time Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is going about whining that the GOP "is a party (GOP) that doesn't respect women, a party that doesn't believe women are equal to men. I don't think they attract women to their party. I think they repulse women"? With all do respect, congresswoman, I disagree.
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