Elephant lessons

Wesley Pruden:

Elephants are supposed to have long memories, but not all do. The royal household in Thailand even assembles its elephants once a year so a holy man can preach an annual sermon to the gentle beasts, urging them to mind their manners in the presence of the king. As eloquent as the homily may be, it has to be repeated the following year.

Our own royal elephant needs a frequent sermon, too. This one will be preached Tuesday in the 23rd Congressional District of New York, but repentance and reform of the elephant popularly known as the Grand Old Party rarely lasts very long.

A quirk (actually a perk) in New York election law requires the party chairmen in the counties of the district to choose the party's nominee to fill an open seat between regular elections, so naturally the potbellies in the suits chose someone whose sole qualification was that she was inoffensive to the other party. The selection of a state legislator wonderfully named Dede Scozzafava - which sounds like someone eager to repay the party hacks with scuzzy favors - suited the Republican establishment in Washington right down to the ground. Mzz Scozzafava favors abortion, same-sex marriage, the whims of union bosses and all the things that give modern Democrats a buzz and a tingle. She was a perfect fit for the traditional Republican campaign battle cry: "Vote Republican: We're Not (Quite) As Bad As You Think We Are." The national party chairman and the National Republican Congressional Committee quickly endorsed her. Newt Gingrich, ever on the scout for an opportunity to live up to the noble traditions of the party, quickly followed.

And then angry conservatives took a hand, as they invariably do when Republicans win in spite of everything they can do to undermine unexpected breaks of good fortune. They took up the cause of Doug Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line, and when his polling momentum propelled him past the party nominee, the party chiefs withdrew their endorsements when no one any longer cared. The result is that the election is in doubt today; the Democratic candidate may well win, anyway. But the lesson should be obvious enough, even for hard heads.

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I think Hoffman would have won in a primary and that is one lesson for the GOP. Pick the guy the party wants. Another lesson is do not beleive liberals when they describe anyone as "moderate." I am hard press to think of one position Scozzafava had that was consistent with any of the recent party platforms. She was a liberal and she was rejected because she was a liberal.