Normally, I root for the openly far right Republican primary candidates because I think the “moderate candidate” is equally far right, just more quiet about it. In this case, though, I’d vote for the moderate guy if I lived in his district and it was an open primary:
Before State Senator Roy J. McDonald, a Republican, voted last year to legalize same-sex marriage, he told reporters that anyone unhappy with his position could “take the job and shove it.”
[….]Mr. McDonald’s challenger, Kathleen A. Marchione, the Saratoga County clerk, is running an insurgent campaign, dialing voters from a windowless office next to a Subway sandwich shop. She accuses Mr. McDonald of having deceived the voters who elected him by changing his position on same-sex marriage, which he voted to oppose in the past.
“People feel betrayed,” Ms. Marchione said. “I’ve heard that a lot — that they feel betrayed by our senator, that you said one thing, you do something else.”
Mr. McDonald makes no apologies for his vote.
“I’m in the party of Abraham Lincoln — I’m very proud of that,” he said. “I’m not in a party of a bunch of right-wing nitwits. It’s Abraham Lincoln. It’s everybody’s included. And I feel that’s very important.”
There was nothing in it for McDonald to support gay marriage. The only reason to make that vote was because he thought it was the right thing to do. And to top it all off, he probably helped the state Republican party by taking the issue — which definitely favors those who support equality in New York State — off the table.
If he gets repaid by being voted out of office in favor of some nut job, that sucks. Maybe it’s inevitable, given the direction of the Republican party, but it still sucks.
Jewish Steel
Oh?
arguingwithsignposts
We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.
DougJ
@arguingwithsignposts:
Ha ha!
It’s not so uncommon in NYS though.
Mary G
O/T but for a little sign of sanity, a good column on Confessions of a Former Republican.
Joel
Off topic, but Nate Silver’s now-cast has Obama at >90% chance of victory. Mean-regressed forecast has him at ~80%.
Baud
I don’t know if it’s just effective campaigning by the Obama people, but I’ve been hearing more and more stories about assumed-to-be-mythical reasonable Republicans supporting Obama (like that pizza guy).
Maybe if he loses, McDonald will be one of those people.
BGinCHI
I think this guy knows what Abe Lincoln did to vampires, too. He fucking slayed them.
Slay on, McDonald.
raven
Richard Engel up on Rachel
lamh35
So someone said that Fox had a pic of the then “unconcsious” Abm Stevens on the front page. I thought it was disgusting exploitation. So I refused to click on it. I was on Sullivan’s site and I just happened to be reading his latest post and low and behold he had the had the picture on his front page above his usual fold. I don’t know why, but it pissed me off. I think it woulda been better if it was below the fold. I don’t like the idea of Sully using the Amb photo as his latest arab spring pic. IDK, maybe I’m just tripping. But I oculd have done without the pic.
raven
@lamh35: I dunno that I disagree but there were some pretty intense pics and video of Gaddafi going to Allah.
Jewish Steel
@lamh35: He’s got a family, kids right? That’s pretty cold.
dmsilev
Joe Scarborough takes to the pages of Politico to publicly wail and cry about Romney. It’s Scarborough, and it’s Politico, so the accuracy quotient is low, but the schadenfreude content is high.
DougJ
@lamh35:
I agree with you completely.
Lev
I read that article and damn if I didn’t come away hoping McDonald will pull it out. I was even halfway tempted to send him $10, only I didn’t on account of it’s too late to matter, the election’s tomorrow. Pulling for him to win, though.
I think it’s because he’s not only standing by his vote, but he’s giving the other side no quarter. I haven’t seen that level of defiance on the part of a moderate Republican since…I don’t know when.
MikeJ
@DougJ: How did Sully ever get out of the point and mock category?
lamh35
@raven: go to Sully site and you’ll see the pic and tell me it doesn’t disgust you.
This guy is not the same as Ghaddifi. The pic is of people I guess trying to help him, but still, with all I”ve read about the guy today and the pics I”ve seen and the video that I saw where he introduced himself to the Libyan people, seeing the pic did not sit well with me.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with Sully showing the pic, but like I said I wish he had put it below the fold.
Svensker
@lamh35:
Yeah, my brother put it up on his FB page to show the world what filthy mud people Mooslims are. Pissed me off on about 8000 levels.
lamh35
@dmsilev: is this part of Scarborough pre-Presidential run in 2016?
BTW, I love Keith Olbermann’s reaction to the rumor that Joe Scar was contemplating a run.
Keith tweet: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
“Oh Sweet Jesus. John Edwards has a better chance of being elected President. THIS year”
dslak
@Svensker: I guess he failed to realize that the people trying to help him were Muslims?
poco
Well, claiming to be in the party of Abe Lincoln is a winning strategy–just not now. But that has to be the GOP’s strategy going forward–if they are not going to lose all elections in the future–given the future demographics of this country.
DougJ
@MikeJ:
I took him out because he was writing too much good stuff about the presidential campaign.
raven
@lamh35: I said I didn’t disagree with you.
BethanyAnne
Link to the song :)
arguingwithsignposts
@DougJ: Fuck that Tory prick. His click-whore ass and the OTB ought both to be in monitor and mock.
geg6
Sadly for this guy, he is in a party of lunatics. It’s a Stalin era purge that has swept this guy up and he’s a kulak, not a comrade.
I have been too busy to comment much lately, but I just have to say that I have never seen a worse human running for president (and I’ve seen a lot of presidential runs at 53) or a more incompetent campaign than we are seeing now with top business man, W. Mitt Romney. I think I’ve seen it all and then Mittens opens his piehole and spews idiocy and walks away with a self-satisfied smirk and not a thought about our dead.
arguingwithsignposts
@geg6:
I was going to disagree, but then I remember that Dick Cheney wasn’t at the top of the ticket.
mainmati
I like his St Paul on the Road to Damascus conversion but if he is disgusted with his party he can just switch and become a Democrat or an Independent.
SenyorDave
@geg6: I’m also 53, and I was also thinking that Mittens is the worst candidate in my lifetime put up by either of the two main parties. He’s got it all – a bad candidate and a bad person.
DougJ
@mainmati:
He wouldn’t get elected though. He has real power by staying a Republican and in this case he really used it for the good.
ranchandsyrup
The actors in the Muhammad movie are pissed that they were overdubbed and duped.
http://gawker.com/5942748/it-makes-me-sick-actress-in-muhammed-movie-says-she-was-deceived-had-no-idea-it-was-about-islam
Eta: dammit wrong thread.
devtob
@Lev: Don’t bother giving him money — McDonald has outspent Marchione by more than 3-1.
He may well still lose the GOP primary, a low-turnout affair in which the tea party/bigot base is more inspired to vote than moderate/hereditary Republicans.
Both will be on the November ballot no matter what happens Thursday, Marchione on the Conservative line and McDonald on the Independence line.
Which will make an upset win by the excellent Democratic candidate — Claverack Supervisor Robin Andrews — a surprisingly even bet.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Baud:
Today I had to pick up a computer from an 83 year old former marine, tea party nut and local Republican party big wig. When I delivered the computer to him a year ago, there were two friends there who were party big wigs too and they were discussing an upcoming party meeting. It was clear they didn’t like Obama and were looking forward to their primary candidates for President battling it out. As I was carrying his computer out of the house today, this old guy told me that the guy who had referred him to me (for computers and service) told him that I was someone he could trust.
Then he added “… unlike those Mormons.”
I laughed as it was the only response that came to mind for the way he said what he did and then kept on topic, thanking him for his business.
I don’t think this is good news for Mitt Romney!
Randy P
@Mary G: Thank you. That was good to read. Gives me hope.
RaflW
Along the theme of repub nut-jobs, today’s WaPo reader poll asks if the Dem convention helped Obama. The results, as you might by now guess, with 29,752 votes cast, is: Yes – 73%; No – 27%.
Tah dah!
Odie Hugh Manatee
@dmsilev:
Somebody needs to tell Mourning Ho that its hand-wringing, not “hand-ringing”. As much as he does it you would think he would know how to spell it.
Thanks for the link, I’m sipping my wingnut whine now. It’s bitter but it’s best served that way.
cckids
Doug, wouldn’t have tagged you as a Wicked fan.
Bob2
But Doug he fluffs his new coworker Megan’s posts again on education
FNWA
I read the AmCon article this morning when a friend linked to is on FB. My recurring thought after practically every sentence was, “No shit, dumb ass.”
NonyNony
@geg6:
I object! This assumes facts that are not in evidence!
I’m not certain that Mitt Romney could pass a Turing Test. A Honda Asimo robot shows more empathy than Romney does.