Jack Davis is, of course, the former Democrat trying to run in NY-26, which is up for a special election this spring (the Republican/Conservative Party candidate, equally of course, is Jane Corwin). Davis, having been completely unable to get any traction in getting elected thus far, has decided to go one step further than such Democratic party luminaries such as Michael McGuinness and Alan Grayson; instead of putting up a phony Tea Party candidate, Davis is running as a phony Tea Party candidate himself. Fortunately, Davis is apparently not particularly bright, because his campaign manager (one Curtis Ellis) is on the record as writing things like this:
The [Tea Partiers] are essentially replaying the ’60s protest paradigm. (We’re aging boomers ourselves, so we know it when we see it.) They fancy themselves the vanguard of a revolution, when in fact they are typical self-absorbed, privileged children used to having their way — now — and uninhibited about complaining loudly when they don’t. It’s the same demographic Spiro Agnew called “an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.”
Spiro. Agnew.
Ellis – who is a progressive and former Talking Points Memo diarist – is now claiming that he’s matured since then – ha! Just kidding; he’s precisely the same, but it’s the Tea Party that’s apparently grown up, so now he can deign to use them for the glorious vision of getting a long-time rich guy with a taste for a Congressional seat firmly ensconced in Washington, all for the greater glory of… well, I guess Curtis Ellis. Jack Davis himself is kind of… well, crazy. As in, “Let’s bus African-Americans out to the farms to pick crops!” crazy, which is a major reason why Jane Corwin is the official Republican/Conservative, and frankly best, nominee.
And I have to say: in addition to being crazy, Jack Davis is kind of arrogant in his assumption that Tea Partiers are idiotic enough not to notice any of this. In that he is well matched by his campaign manager, I guess.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
While I do agree with Jack Davis being off the wall and his campaign manager being disingenuous, I strongly disagree that Jane Corwin is the best nominee. David Bellavia is a far better candidate in almost every respect. There are only two problems with his candidacy. Money and he won’t bow down to the party bosses. Money can be fixed, and the other is a feature not a bug.
I was up in NY 26 gathering signatures for David and the response of the people there was great. This may be an upset for the party machine and a lesson to the GOP nationwide.
http://bellaviaforny.com/
Dan, I liked David myself and said nice things about him when he was trying for the nomination in 2008; but he didn’t make it then, to the best of my knowledge he’s not held public office since, and he’s up against a candidate now who has both the GOP and the Conservative lines. This isn’t RedState, so I don’t officially care if you push for the third-party candidate; but I’m a Republican and I’ve signed off on Corwin for the special. That’s how it goes.
Moe,
The difference appears to be how we view the present situation in the U.S. and in New York. I’m a Republican also, I also ran for Congress in 2010. I’ve dealt with the Republican party in NY and, frankly, it has no interest in the overall situation in the U.S., it has no interest in conservatives, and has no interest in letting motivated outsiders, particularly Tea Party candidates, run for office. I also don’t think holding prior public office is a prerequisite for running for Congress, neither did the founders. I have no questions about what David has been doing the past few years running Vets for Freedom. I have lots of questions about Jane Corwin’s associations which are less than conservative in nature.
So I will continue to support David and any other true conservative against any nominee the NY GOP deigns to hand choose. We’ve had lots of experience now with their track record and it isn’t pretty.
:Shrug: It’s a free country, Dan.