This man is definitly not a “Beta Male”.

Of course, the best result is a Hoffman victory. That may still happen. But the worst result is a Scozzafava victory. Not only will she be a reliable vote for the Democrats on every point that matters, but whe will cause the House Republicas to tie themselves into knots trying to keep her on the reservation. Better a reliable Democrat in front of us than a stealth Democrat to our rear.

beachgirlusa on October 25, 2009 at 8:04 PM

Certainly can’t disagree with Paglia on those two issues. Actually, she’s spot on about a number of conservative positions, though she’s a true liberal, by her own admission.

If more were like her, we could actually have a civil discourse.

Add on a few reasonable term limits, and we’d have some real reform.

ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on October 25, 2009 at 8:47 PM

One more change.
Return to the system where state legislatures appoint senators.

So if Doug Hoffman winds up splitting the GOP vote and helps elect Bill Owens what will have been learned here?

Boxy_Brown on October 25, 2009 at 4:31 PM

That Democrats gain when Republicans nominate Democrats.

This isn’t a One size fits all society.

AnninCA on October 25, 2009 at 12:56 PM

Which is why liberalism and big govt solutions ALWAYS fail.

Shooting Rogue Stars will wipe out the RHINOsaurs and here’s to their extinction!

chickasaw42

A+

AnnInCA – I’d like to say I agree with you, but we can’t go there anymore.

This is why we need another thousand House reps; right now it’s a mini-Senate full of a bunch of mini-Senators, far too many from carefully gerrymandered safe districts who need to pay little or no attention to issues back home.

A House seat matters a lot from a national-policy standpoint, and until we do something to dilute the influence of individual Representatives in national politics we’ll have to treat them as a quarter of a Senator.

JEM on October 25, 2009 at 1:15 PM

This is indeed the problem. Jonah Goldberg has written several times (for example, here) about the fact that originally, there was supposed to be one Representative for about every 30,000 citizens. The current ratio is closer to one for every 500,000. Quadrupling the number of representatives in the House would make each congressman far more responsive to his actual district, and far less able to stuff bills with pork and gerrymander his district to make sure it stays in his pocket forever. It would also give interest groups far less pull in the House.

Add on a few reasonable term limits, and we’d have some real reform.

The second decade of this century will be an existential war for the American soul

DZ… I love how you can take twenty thoughts that I think sometimes and distill them down to 15 or so words.

Indeed, his style and prose remind me of Camille Paglia, a great writer and thinker, though I disagree with her politically, of course.
TXUS

She’s an intelligent, interesting person and she certainly can hit the nail on the head:

But no, reporters have been too busy playing mini-badminton with every random spitball about Sarah Palin, who has been subjected to an atrocious and at times delusional level of defamation merely because she has the temerity to hold pro-life views.

Liberal Democrats are going to wake up from their sadomasochistic, anti-Palin orgy with a very big hangover. The evil genie released during this sorry episode will not so easily go back into its bottle. A shocking level of irrational emotionalism and at times infantile rage was exposed at the heart of current Democratic ideology

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/11/12/palin/index1.html

So if Doug Hoffman winds up splitting the GOP vote and helps elect Bill Owens what will have been learned here?
Boxy_Brown on October 25, 2009 at 4:31 PM

Three things:
1>GOP can not hope to put liberals up for election and expect the base to Shut Up and follow.
2>GOP needs conservatives more than conservatives need GOP – Erick Erickson (redstate.com
3>Squishes are not welcome – Me

The Three Stooges meet Ronald Reagan