Lead Zeppelin

What the fuck are American conservatives up to now?

That is, those conservatives pulling away from the Republican Party because they claim it isn’t conservative enough, and are rallying around a new, rapidly morphing blob of right-wingers who regard Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh as their guiding lights.

The reason I bring this up is an odd three-candidate race for the seat in New York’s 23^rd Congressional District – a contest between Democrat Bill Owens, Republican Dede Scozzfava, and Doug Hoffman of the so-called Conservative Party whose banner several apparently ex-Republicans (e.g. Rick Santorum, Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Sarah Palin) are now flocking to despite none of them living in New York state.

So what do these righties have to gain by supporting Hoffman? Allegedly, their backing is grounded in the belief that the GOP has lost its way, and must rediscover its “core values” (e.g. no health care reform, born-again fiscal conservative, ACORN is evil, etc). In one respect, these out-of-state Conservative Party boosters are absolutely right: the GOP is indeed lost in the wilderness with no Moses to guide them. As such, it is apparently the belief of Santorum, Palin, Thompson, et al., that perhaps a Hoffman victory will be the first step toward a modern-day conservative revival.

If so, while I have no issue with third party candidates, if Doug Hoffman is the guy who these fringe Republicans are holding up as their new savior, their party is in much, much worse shape than I ever thought.