The Right's resurrection?

Peter Collier of Front Page Mag thinks that Hoffman's victory was to have been a sign that the right is back (link). Excerpt follows...

Preparing for a possible but far from certain Hoffman victory (and echoing the old Communist principle of “maximizing the contradictions,”) Kaine had a new story line ready for such an outcome. It wouldn’t be so bad because it would represent a further purge of the moderates from the Republican Party, which soon will definitively have been taken over by the dread Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Lynn Cheney, and other extremist mullahs. A Hoffman victory would foreshadow, Kaine grimly chortled, other conservative/moderate bloodlettings in next year’s Republican primaries for the Florida Senate and Texas Governor nominations. It would mean that a brutal cell division promoted by the Palinites was shrinking the Republican Party to such insignificance that in 2012 it would face a Goldwater-like catastrophe.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen has shown how shallow this analysis is and how vain the hopes behind it. Republican voters do indeed overwhelmingly regard themselves as conservative (which is why in NY-23 they rejected the emotionally moist and politically limp Scozzafava, who was for abortion, Obamacare, the Obama stimulus, and the scurvy card check legislation promoted by anti democratic union moguls, and who, immediately after pulling out of the race, embraced her Democratic soul mate Owens and began recording robocalls for his candidacy.) But only slightly more than half of conservative voters see themselves as Republican. This means that to broaden their outreach, Rasmussen points out, Republicans should look to the right. “The sweet spot for Republicans,” Rasmussen concludes, “are core issues that unify conservatives while dividing more moderate voters.”

I think it is undeniable at this point that Rick vs. Kay could be a future battleground for this movement to punish moderates and reward conservatives...

Not having a "D" or "R" by your name is still a critical downside for people trying to run for office as mavericks... the two party system still exists, and the lesson from NY 23 is that we can't let elites pick our nominees... primaries are important.