I wish the quote above were about John McCain, but alas no, it's yet another twist in the funniest saga in the GOP these days (although I think Big Bad John's Video is in close running for the title of funniest aspect of the Republicans this year).
No, this is about NY-13, Vito Fossella's old seat.
To catch you up, Vito Fossella was arrested on DWI charges, and it turned out this paragon of Republican values was on his way to visit his second family (mistress and daughter). He eventually resigned and a daily comedy ensued where the GOP tried to find someone else to take the seat. They eventually settled on Frank Powers, who then died 3 weeks later. (As Crashing Vor diaried last week in Dead Man Running, despite his unfortunate demise, the GOP has still filed his name to run for the seat).
A date-by-date summary of the saga from swing state project:
May 1: GOP Rep. Vito Fossella (NY-13) is arrested on DWI charges in Virginia.
May 6: Rumors rage that GOP Rep. Vito Fossella is involved in an extramarital affair and has an out-of-wedlock child after details of his DWI arrest are made public.
May 8: Rep. Vito Fossella (NY-13) admits to fathering a child in an extramarital affair.
May 9: Several local NY papers call on Rep. Vito Fossella to resign.
May 19: GOP Rep. Vito Fossella (NY-13) announces his retirement, creating another vulnerable open seat for Republicans to defend.
May 22: In a major disappointment for the NRCC, the GOP's top choice to replace Vito Fossella (NY-13) in the House, Richmond County DA Dan Donovan, declines to run.
May 29: State Sen. Andrew Lanza, the GOP's second choice to succeed Vito Fossella (NY-13), officially declines to run.
May 29: Failing to convince a top-tier (or second-tier) candidate to run for Fossella's seat, the Staten Island GOP nominates some dude named Frank Powers, a retired Wall Street executive and MTA member.
June 4: Francis M. Powers, the son of NY-13 GOP candidate Francis H. Powers, seeks to run on the Libertarian Party line against his father in the hopes of denying him the seat. While Powers' bid is ultimately unsuccessful, the event badly embarrasses Staten Island Republicans.
June 5: Staten Island Conservatives buck the state party and press to give their endorsement to Democrat Mike McMahon.
June 22: NY-13 GOP candidate Francis Powers dies at age 67.
June 25: Former Assemblyman Matthew Mirones pulls his name from consideration after briefly mulling the open seat race to replace retiring Rep. Vito Fossella (NY-13). NY1 broadcaster Lisa Giovinazzo also declines to run, leaving former Rep. Guy Molinari, the dean of Staten Island Republicans, exasperated.
That brings us to now, when the NY GOP leadership has decided to to ensure that one of its own, former Assemblyman Robert Straniere, does NOT win the election.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to stop him," said former Rep. Guy Molinari, who used to represent the area and is one of the biggest GOP names in New York, in an interview with Election Central. "And if that means defeating him and a Democrat wins, that's okay, too. I would rather have someone that's honest and would do what's right for the country, than support him."
"He lies about everything," Molinari later added. "How do you pick a man like that to go to Congress?"
Molinari claims that Straniere is unelectable, having lost renomination to the Assembly after 24 years of service. He also accuses Straniere of squatting in a house after selling it, eventually being evicted.
The comments to the article, as expected, basically run the gamut from "sounds like a perfect qualification to be a Republican" to "But we picked a president who lied about everything, " with the exception of this gem:
If Straniere is an enemy of Molinari, he's automatically a friend of mine. At the risk of letting politics get local, Molinari and D'Amato were the vilest pair of scheming shits that ever oozed when they slid, during the years when they pulled their pandering bullshit on behalf of Staten Island, fucking around with Holland Tunnel toll patterns for the sake of Staten Islanders on the Verrazano Bridge. I know, it's a molecular story of no interest to those outside NYC, but those of us who had to deal with it and fight back will never forget. The only fun was the culture wars between all the jaded art/Euro-trash SoHo denizens and the big haired gumchewers from Staten Island. Things got so bad that the Community Boards insisted on separate meetings.
All you need to know is that Guy Molinari is a scheming criminal. If he says black, I say white.
Democrats, meanwhile, seem to have rallied around Michael McMahon, a New York City Councilor. All of which leads to the rather obvious conclusion that Top Republican Concedes They Are Likely To Lose Key House Seat.