Doug Hoffman, Conservative Party candidate for NY-23, in his own words *UPDATE*

If you’re wondering who Doug Hoffman is, this is your chance.  Learn why he’s running against two liberals for the US House, what he stands for, and what he’s no longer willing to stand for.

New York Post

UPDATE

And for my many dear Republican friends who are afraid we’re making too much of this, consider this wonderful column by Doctor Zero on Hot Air:

This race is a microcosm of our strange politics, which have become like a speeding car with jammed door locks, cut brake lines, a dead steering wheel, and air vents that pump nitrous oxide. Everyone is dimly aware the country is heading for the edge of a cliff, but no one can muster the energy to search for alternatives. . . .

The other story, playing out in the background, is the second act of one political saga beginning, even as another draws to a close. The rising star of Sarah Palin passes over the melancholy ruins of Newt Gingrich, who spent the last of his credibility endorsing Scozzafava. The Republican Party of Gingrich dies, unloved and irrelevant. Something else is replacing it. The new opposition party is not guaranteed of victory – such guarantees are issued to no one. Palin may never choose to campaign for an office beneath its banner, but she’s an integral part of its identity. She’ll certainly never be a governor, or anyone’s vice presidential candidate, again. For the Republicans, it will never be 1996 or 2006 again. There’s no more room for school-lunch debacles, government shutdown miscalculations, Trent Lott, George Allen, Mark Foley… or Newt Gingrich.

There are three positions for Republicans to take on NY-23:  I support the party’s choice; I think the party screwed up; or I lack the political courage to state a position. One of these positions is political suicide with the Tea Party people. 

Can you guess which one?