Hoffman: I think you’ll see more average people like me running for office
posted at 10:05 pm on November 2, 2009 by Allahpundit
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The money part comes at 1:28. A fine populist sentiment. And, just maybe, a Gingrichian nightmare waiting to happen.
In fairness, he did also say this in an unaired part of the video:
Hoffman called Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee who dropped out of the race over the weekend, an “ultra-liberal” – but denied the GOP is at war with itself, or that the race offer a glimpse what’s to come in next fall’s midterm elections.
There is room for moderates in the GOP, said Hoffman. “I think this was a unique situation where the candidate happened to be more Democrat than Republican,” he told CNN’s Mary Snow and Shirley Zilberstein. “And basically, I was fighting to stand up for the values and ideals of the Republican Party.”
If it’s a “unique situation,” why forecast primary or third-party challenges from average joes elsewhere? Hmmm. Below the Hoffman clip you’ll find today’s monologue from Beck. Compare and contrast his point with 8:20 left about choosing between the progressive and the Marxist progressive with Limbaugh’s point about voting for McCain here.
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Hoffman and Palin represent what the Founders had in mind when designing our political experiment in representative democracy. The power of government should come from the people governed, not a permanent oligarchy of professional politicians. The citizen-patriot chosen by and representing peers should determine the direction of the government. Government’s powers are limited by the Constitution, much to the dismay of too many in the the current ruling class.
onlineanalyst on November 3, 2009 at 6:39 AM
I think the founding fathers wanted average people running for office, they wanted citizen representatives…not an entrenched political class.
Terrye on November 3, 2009 at 7:14 AM
He’s just saying that we should challenge liberal republicans elsewhere – pretty much what we’re all saying. True “moderates”? Sure, I suppose if we have to we’ll take someone who sells out about 30 percent of time, if they don’t do so on the big issues like cap & trade and obamacare. But we will NOT choose between two liberals, both who would sell us out 90+ percent of the time. Its just not worth it. I’d rather lose the seat to the leader of Code Pink than have a RINO.
jeffthevoter on November 3, 2009 at 7:52 AM
Hoffman seems like a reasonable kind of guy. Dede really wasn’t moderate. She supported EFCA, for one. I’ve never seen a moderate Republican support EFCA. And, I agree with Rush that her endorsement of a Dem says it all. She was a liberal in a GOP label.
What I still don’t understand is how the GOP party there ended up recommending her.
AnninCA on November 3, 2009 at 7:56 AM
Wasn’t it Buckely who said we would be better off if we picked the first 100 people off the street or in the phonebook to represent us in congress? Or something like that?
Queen0fCups on November 3, 2009 at 8:09 AM
I eagerly await the year when the people come out and vote all 435 idiots in Washington out on their butts. I could care less about party. The dems and/or GOp is not what is killing this country slowly, it is the 98% reelection rate of Congress. Outlaw gerrymandering, expand the house from 435 to at least 1400, impose term limits. If the government is too big to be run by avg citizens then it is too big. You should not need a PHD nor a law degree from Havard to read and understand the US consitution.
Throw the bums out
unseen on November 3, 2009 at 8:15 AM
I reject the premise that Hoffman and like minded are extremists. We represent the moderate middle. Tim McVeigh is the extremist, and John McCain and Lindsey Graham are Liberals. It’s time for the GOP to return to the true center, and we’re going to work very hard to make that happen.
davecatbone on November 3, 2009 at 8:17 AM
NY-23 was unique in that there was no primary. I think voters are going to start paying more attention to primaries, and we very well might get more average conservative candidates running. Hopefully, that will lead to better candidates on the Republican ticket, but not necessarily to third party challengers. If there is a good conservative candidate in the primary who can’t get the nomination, maybe there not that good.
I have to admit, I’ve never paid much attention to primaries before, and did not get interested in politics until the last year or so. But you can bet I’m never going to miss voting in a primary again. I have to believe there are many people like me out there, who are determined to get more involved in having a say as to who the Republican party nominee is in every race, local and national. All those people who moan about the fact that we never have a good choice in the general elections (yes, I am one of them) need to get involved in making sure we do have a good choice. I really think that will happen.
mbs on November 3, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Hey, now, I like Coburn and Inhofe, my Oklahoma Senators. There are a few good ones, but yes, most of them need to go.
mbs on November 3, 2009 at 9:05 AM
No. NY is unique with its Conservative Party setup, and there was no primary. Scuzzywuzzy was selected by the local Republican “leadership,” probably using the time tested “it’s her turn” method of candidate selection.
Even the Losertarians can’t upset the conservative tidal wave that’s coming in the next 1 & 3 years.
Akzed on November 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Hey, now, I like Coburn and Inhofe, my Oklahoma Senators. There are a few good ones, but yes, most of them need to go.
mbs on November 3, 2009 at 9:05 AM
i like some of them too doesn’t mean I would vote for them again. they have had their time on stage. they All need to exit and allow new blood, new ideas in. By voting in people we like over and over again we allow them to gain addtional power over us.
unseen on November 3, 2009 at 9:25 AM
Oh, goodness. That’s not how I see either of them. But, labeling is all about personal perspective.
AnninCA on November 3, 2009 at 9:26 AM
this is how you fight: if only bush undertood this…
http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2009/11/quit-making-things-up-joe-biden.html
unseen on November 3, 2009 at 9:29 AM
I really hope he is right, first we need to get rid of all the LAWYERS, anybody but me notice most people running for office are lawyers, why is that? Most money for little work?
I do know there are some honest lawyers but they are not in politics.
Career politicians, like Pelosi,Franks, etc. who never had an honest job in their life and making decisions about ours,I for one will never again vote for any candidate who is a lawyer or professional politician, give me a plumber,carpenter,bookeeper just an honest hardworking person who loves this country. God Bless our Military and keep them safe
concernedsenior on November 3, 2009 at 9:35 AM
You make a good point. One of the things I always liked about Coburn is his insistence that he won’t become a career politician, and that he would not run beyond 2 terms. Once they become career politicians, I agree, they become all about the power, not about the service.
mbs on November 3, 2009 at 9:45 AM
concernedsenior on November 3, 2009 at 9:35 AM
an added beefit of getting rid of the lawyers bills might go from 1990pages to I don’t know ten.
I think we should have a consitutional amendment that all bills passed by congress must be no longer than 20 one sided double spaced pages using a font of 12. that way the majority of Americans and Congress could read and understand the laws being voted on.
bills of 1990 pages serve only the power brokers as they allow corruption to flourish and liberties to recede
unseen on November 3, 2009 at 9:53 AM
More average people??!! Hell YES, I’d trust my country more to people I’ve met in here than those currently in power.
Jeff from WI on November 3, 2009 at 9:58 AM
I don’t know why anyone should be troubled by honest, average, Americans, running for office against career politicians. Why choose a career politician? Why?
I like average common sense people. I believe the harder the decision the more common sense applied the better.
Many Republicans have made too many comprises with their own conscience. They buy votes to compete with Dems who buy votes. And here we are.
This is a positive thing.
Actually THIS is change I can believe in.
petunia on November 3, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Recent polling did show that 40% of Americans identify as conservative.
I don’t think McCain and Graham are Liberals…. but I do think they are prefect examples of compromising common sense to what they can get through the liberals in congress.
These guys have been in Washington too long.
Amnesty. That is where McCain goes liberal. But really I think it is more a lack of will and imagination. Amnesty was done by Reagan but it failed miserably. Not because Reagan’s model was flawed. But because of enforcement of the plan.
The plan was to keep illegals out from 1984 forward. That is why Amnesty as proposed by McCain can’t be supported.
Border patrol first. Then we deal with who is here and their status. We should not even talk about amnesty until we have control of our borders!
That isn’t liberal or conservative that is common sense.
That is what is wrong with McCain and Graham.
petunia on November 3, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Glenn Beck is currently this country’s most important person.
Anybody who listens to him for any length of time and concludes anything else is a fool or an anti-American statist.
Nobody, not Rush, not Hannity, not Levin, not Laura says it as clearly as he does. Maybe Palin or some other politician can get there, but they haven’t yet. Politicians are bound by their parties, no matter how common-sensical they are.
And don’t give me that clown crap about Beck either. He is plenty smart. Much smarter than the obsequious “gays” and “progressives” who set aside their “inclusiveness” to hate him with a blind fury no conservative could ever generate. Why is that, do ya think?
Humor IS the way to convince people. That’s exactly why they hate him.
notagool on November 3, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Coburn and Inhofe are my Senators too. And I too have liked Coburn’s stand on Term Limits. We need to start electing like-minded individuals. If they aren’t for term limits they shouldn’t count on our vote. Until we get a majority of Congress people taking office on the basis of term limits, it will never happen. The insiders will never give their power away.
Christian Conservative on November 3, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Rush is wrong about McCain. McCain and his ilk would be a difference in degree, not kind. He was and is in favor of C&T and would have gladly signed whatever health-care bill Pelosi handed him, though both of these policies would have been significantly watered down. McCain is a big-government progressive in the stripe of Teddy Roosevelt.
In essence, we dodged a bullet in McCain (a guaranteed slide to socialism) by jumping onto the interstate (where we at least can try to dodge the traffic). That’s a hindsight observation, though. Just like Pyrrhus, we had to fight (vote for McCain), but now that we’ve been forced to retreat and regroup, we can bolster our strengths and win.
Not every victory is a win, and not every defeat is a loss. Republicans win when they’re conservative. They lose when they stop being conservatives.
spmat on November 3, 2009 at 12:22 PM
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