McClatchy reports that Under fire from own party, N.Y. Republican quits House race

WASHINGTON — Under fire from prominent members of her own party who said she wasn’t conservative enough, the Republican candidate for an open U.S. House seat in New York abruptly withdraw from the race Saturday just days before the election.

State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava said she was trailing in polls, unable to raise money and unlikely to win. She told supporters that while her name would still be on the ballot Tuesday, she released all of them from their pledges and said they could vote for anyone.

Ms Scozzafava was a moderate Republican and long-time party member who had been selected by Republican county chairs to replace another moderate Republican who was the Congresscritter for the 23^rd district, which is most of the northern section of New York state. She was basically hounded out of the race by out of state whackos as a “Republican in name only”.

This is a special election, so turn-out is the key to success. The district is normally Republican, but there is no way of telling how this will play out. Joe Biden is scheduled to be in the area for the Democratic candidate, and Ms Scozzafava’s name will still be on the ballot, so party line voters will still vote for her.

The whackos spent more time attacking her, than the Democratic candidate. It looks like a Stalinist purge.

Whether you celebrate Celtic New Year’s Eve [Samhain], the evening before All Saints Day [Halloween], or the posting of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 [Reformation Day], have a happy one.

Wikipedia does its normally thorough job of covering all of the bases on the holidays that share October 31^st.

I’ll include my remembrances of Halloweens past.

These “harvest festivals” aren’t fooling anyone and they are more in the tradition of the “pagan” Samhain, than the “Christian” replacement, Halloween. You should get with the “program” and have the congregation start nailing their complaints about the way things are run to the main door of the sanctuary. 😈

[Don’t forget to turn back your clocks before going to bed.]

I’m Not Evil

It’s only the black cats that are evil… well, and the fluffy white cats who hang around with evil geniuses… OK, so some people are nervous about calicos… I guess Ted means you have to include the tuxedo cats… but no one thinks brown and beige tabbies are evil.

[Editor: Ted is found at Poor Mouth , and he is proud to be listed with evil cats everywhere. Despite appearances Excise is more of a klutz that evil… I mean: is that face evil? Really? You think so?