A day after dropping out, Assemblymember Scozzafava endorsed her Democratic opponent, over the insurgent Conservative Party challenger who alternately tarred her as a socialist and a sell-out. Probably not hard to see how that decision came about.
The NRCC is sticking by Hoffman. But they’re basing their support on a flat-out distortion:
There are only two candidates that remain in this race and voters are interested in two things. The candidate best positioned and suited to protect Fort Drum and continue the legacy of John McHugh is Doug Hoffman as the Republican leadership pledged to secure support for him on the House Armed Services Committee earlier today. Secondly, only Doug Hoffman is willing to stand up to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and put the brakes on her agenda of massive government takeovers and less jobs.
Hoffman, of course, made headlines by pleding to refuse all pork — even that targeted at protecting and funding Fort Drum.
Hoffman is an ass, but you’re a bit off here. He pledged against “pork,” not earmarks. Pork is defined in the pledge he took as:
-Requested by only one chamber of Congress
-Not specifically authorized
-Not competitively awarded
-Not requested by the President
-Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding
-Not the subject of congressional hearings
-Serves only a local or special interest
So while it might be stretching it, he will be able to request earmarks for Drum by getting a Senate co-sponsor (not too hard) and putting some element of the earmark up for bids (even if it’s only the bottlecap manufacturer). The Presidential request thing he can safely ignore as long as he accompanies it with rhetoric about what a bad doo-doo head the current one is, and “national security and the safety of the people” makes a good slogan to suggest that it’s not purely a local interest.
Just thought you might want to note that there’s a ton of wiggle room, even if Hoffman himself likes to imply there’s not.
Posted by Alexander Davis | November 2, 2009, 3:38 am