Frank Rich (hearts) Hoffman

The liberal New York Times columnist has embraced Conservative Doug Hoffman, not for his politics, but for what Frank Rich thinks this campaign is doing to the Republican Party.

The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. On Saturday, the battered Scozzafava suspended her campaign, further scrambling the race. It’s still conceivable that the Democratic candidate could capture a seat the Republicans should own.

But it’s even better for Democrats if Hoffman wins. Punch-drunk with this triumph, the right will redouble its support of primary challengers to 2010 G.O.P. candidates they regard as impure. That’s bad news for even a Republican as conservative as Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose primary opponent in the Texas governor’s race, the incumbent Rick Perry, floated the possibility of secession at a teabagger rally in April and hastily endorsed Hoffman on Thursday.

It’s been a bizarre experience, looking at the North Country through the lens of national media figures like Rich.

Here’s an example of Rich’s view of our corner of New York state:

…without the federal government largess that the tea party crowd so deplores, New York’s 23rd would be a Siberia of joblessness. The biggest local employer is the pork-dependent military base, Fort Drum.

A Siberia of joblessness. Nice. Read the full article here.