"A test that uses a single indicator to prompt a decision."
That's how the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines "litmus test" when it's used as a political metaphor (emphasis mine).
That makes no difference to MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell and Joe Scarborough, who see a new "litmus test" for the GOP developing out of the New York 23rd Congressional District special election.
Scarborough, appearing with Mitchell on MSNBC shortly after 1:15 p.m. EST, slammed potential 2012 presidential hopeful Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) for arguing earlier today on his "Morning Joe" program that there's no room in the GOP for what may be called "Dede Scozzafava Republicans" who are far [left] afield from the Republican mainstream.
Pawlenty made clear that what deep-sixed Scozzafava with conservatives was not one or two issues, but the totality of her stands on issues, which were decidedly left-of-center on economic and social matters. Nonetheless, Scarborough and Mitchell agreed that Pawlenty was instituting a "litmus test" which would hurt the Republican Party in the future.
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, even drew the Reagan card on Pawlenty, seeking to paint the Minnesota governor as a violator of the Eleventh Commandment.
Here's the transcript of the video portion embedded above (audio available here):
ANDREA MITCHELL: Let me play a little bit of your conversation with Tim Pawlenty, because it was so telling.
Gov. TIM PAWLENTY (R-Minn.) on the Nov. 3 "Morning Joe": If Olympia Snowe disagrees with us on one or two things, there room for her? Of course. There is a range of behavior and issue positions we can accept and celebrate in the party, and there's room for all of that. But you can't be so far out of that range that you become Dede Scozzafava.
MITCHELL: So he's applying a litmus test. You kept going after him and after him and he is sticking to a litmus test as to who can be a Republican, ignoring what part of the country they're from. That doesn't make any sense.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, I mean, let's get this straight. We got the guy from Mississippi saying we'll take moderates in Maine. We got the guy from Minnesota saying "No, I've got a litmus test you have to follow or else you're not a member of my party." I think in this case, let's hand it to the open-mindedness of our Mississippi native, Haley Barbour, because he's exactly right. He understood what Ronald Reagan understood.
SCARBOROUGH: And that is, remember Reagan in '76? He asks Schweiker, one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate, from Pennsylvania, to be his running mate in '76. He said, "If I win, I'm going to have Schweiker with me." That's something, with all due respect to Tim Pawlenty, didn't sound like he got this morning.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
So, minimum standards of performance and agendas are now
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 16:33 ET by Willis_Leon_Johnsona 'litmust test'?
Hey Joe?
Maybe it's another way of stating
"NO COMMUNISTS OR SOCIALISTS NEED APPLY."
Your new career is dissolving your brain little buddy.
http://gjresult.com
Okay
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:06 ET by rjwest21First, Pawlenty screwed up. He should've said "sure, I'm glad to have a Republican senator in Maine" because a liberal Republican is better than a liberal Democrat (presuming that they'd vote for the Republican majority leader & endorse the GOP for prez and the like). Not everyone is a Reaganite.
Second, Olympia Snowe isn't Scozza-gone-afava. AFAIK, Snowe didn't endorse Barack Obama or other Democrats to defeat conservatives. She may not vote the way I like on many issues, but there's a fine line between saying you don't want moderates or liberals and saying that you don't want people who endorse Democrats. THAT is where Pawlenty screwed up.
GOP got "played"
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 00:26 ET by TexasMom0517Rahm Emanuel played this congressional district like a violin- give a reliable Republican an offer he can't refuse, then get an extremely left wing RINO, who supports bailouts and card check, as the GOP nominee. If Scozzafava had stayed in the race and won, Pelosi would have had her vote on most issues. With Owens, Pelosi gets his vote- the Dems win, either way. Owens was a wild card they didn't expect and the time and support was too little and too late.
The RNC was asleep at the wheel and does not understand what the Tea Parties represent, so the party can be played like this again.
Agree
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:46 ET by doug1950Now, how hard would it be for Obama to fire the new Sec. of the Army for some trumped up infraction now that he has his old congressional district seat sewed up? Army flubs up a mission or operation and the Bama blames his new Secretary of the Army. He wins again. All Repubs need to get their collective heads out of their backsides. This was a calculated assignment and manuever. I do not believe in coincidences.
Joe
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 16:55 ET by doug1950violates the 11th Commandment almost daily. He may be worried because he will most likely fail any litmus test that precludes liberals from being in the GOP. They are the ones who don't get it. Conservatives are tired of being lied to and used by "moderates" to keep them in power positions within the Party. It goes to illustrate they don't really care to be in control of the Congress just as long as they are in the circle of power in Washington. They have become content to play second fiddle just as long as they get to come to the dance. IN fact, I think they prefer it, meanwhile the rest of us are sick of the stink of mediocracy in our elected officials.
Anyone
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 16:56 ET by Joe CamelDoes anyone really care what these folks have to say? I mean, really, five viewers for their shows...me thinks no one cares what they think.
I know I could happily go
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:46 ET by motherbeltI know I could happily go the rest of my life without ever hearing another word from Annnn-drea Mitchell!
WHAT'S IN A NAME...
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 16:59 ET by danybhoyScozzafava is very liberal, & should not be in the GOP. But I think the biggest problem is not so much that she was on the ballet, but how she got on the ballet. No primary, but instead was installed by NY GOP hacks. Whoever made that call should be bounced as well.
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
Getting her in the "ballet" was easy...
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 18:25 ET by Mitch NJit was squeezing her into the tutu that was the
real challenge.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, I
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:07 ET by motherbeltJOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, I mean, let's get this straight. We got the guy
from Mississippi saying we'll take moderates in Maine. We got the guy
from Minnesota saying "No, I've got a litmus test you have to follow or
else you're not a member of my party." I think in this case, let's hand
it to the open-mindedness of our Mississippi native, Haley Barbour,
because he's exactly right. He understood what Ronald Reagan
understood.
Right, Joe.. how dare the GOP ask their members to support anything???
If everyone just supports what they want, what's the point of having parties anyway?
Let's not forget Abraham Lincoln's famous quote: Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one.
And of course Reagan could ask the most liberal Republican to run with him. He would still be the Big Dog....Schweiker would have no authority on policy!!
Do you think if he won with Schweiker in '80 (btw, why didn't he ask him then?) that Schweiker would have convinced him to raise taxes instead of lowering them?
litmus test for the future.
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:10 ET by AvitarThey are very right that Dede failed the Litmus test but examin those failed the Republican Litmus test before her, People likd David Duke were Democrats who tried to move into the Republican Party. That a Ralph Nader operative got into a New York Republican Chairmanship does not make a Socialist acceptable.
It is important that the voters know that Someone will stand up to ANDREA MITCHELL and defend the principles that this country was founded on. Since the rise of the Press Barons at the end of the nineteenth century the media has moved so far left that they will not tolerate an American in their ranks. I expect to see everyone who is right of Joe Stalin to continue to move into Fox News.
I happened to catch this
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:15 ET by bigtimerI happened to catch this segment this afternoon, I also caught him this morning with the same spin...he's really a pathetic fool the majority of the time...still glad he's out of congress...sad though the way he's sold his soul to msnbc.
He was humorous yesterday with his imitation of Olbie...but it never makes up for the BS he throws out there during the week...attempting to tell us how we conservatives are supposed to see things if we had any brains....I mean only Joe who wants to be Somebody Someday knows the way.
...and it was mentioned awhile back that he may be Presidential Material.
...LMAO! Now that is hilarious.
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart
Scarborough is burning his bridges.
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:47 ET by motherbeltScarborough is burning his bridges. And the Democrats will leave him
stranded on the shore...or maybe "on the porch" as he will never be
good for anything, to liberals, except window dressing.
Just another "even Republican."
mb... What a perfect
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:50 ET by bigtimermb...
What a perfect description...
...'Window Dressing' indeed.
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart
→ Window Dressing
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 17:54 ET by Cool ArrowOr perhaps, mounted above the hearth?
ACORN - creating or saving votes since 1970
You take away from the real trophies if he's
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 21:14 ET by FastEdequated with other above the hearth - joe is a lib, masqureading(sic) as a conservative - he hasn't gotten over his juvenile outlook when he won on RR's coattails. He doesn't have the gunpowder to blow his nose, and his "lectures" to his listeners is almost as annoying as listening to the O-man on his better days.
Proud member of the MOB - Move Over Barack, we want our country back!
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
Democrats invented the litmus test
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 18:05 ET by Baltimore_BethSeriously -- a Democrat complaining about litmus testing? How many pro-life Democrats are there? How vocal are they allowed to be?
A Democrat complaining about a litmus test is as ridiculous as fact-checking an SNL skit.
The two faces of Joe
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 18:09 ET by fenngibbonCompare this appearance by Scarborough with his mocking of Olbermann yesterday.
The guy needs liberals to play off of; left to his own devices, he seems to revert to "attack the Republicans" mode.
Yesterday
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 21:33 ET by TexasMom0517"Morning Joe" was fun to watch yesterday, but after a few minutes of the pontificating this morning, I switched to "Imus" again. Joe must have taken his salt peter today!
Calling Scozzafava a Republican is like saying that Olbermann went to an Ivy League school. He may have gone to Cornell but not really, if you know anything about the Ivy League.
Are you ...
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 21:38 ET by CO2MakerAnn Coulter? Only she brings out that fact to chastise Keith "I can see a real Cornellian from my bathtub" Olbermann.
A college counselor
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 23:23 ET by TexasMom0517Who knows that I can get students into the Ag or hotel schools fairly easily- the standards are waaaaaaay easier. Ann Coulter's right and Olbermann KNOWS it. Only the college is private and uses Ivy admissions standards, the rest of the schools are part of the NY state system. Confusing, yes, but great for a college counselor.
Here's another example
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 19:27 ET by celatorHere's another example illustrating why wikipedia cannot be trusted: they call Andrea Mitchell a journalist. No, really, they do.
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
Its funny because teh GOP
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 19:31 ET by Dan The Man 2Its funny because teh GOP leaders chose Dede and the people recognized a bad choice and rejected the Choice. It seems to me it is teh people not a machine GOP as they imply it was. The people are in charge in the GOP, well at least in this case. So these idiots are stupid.
I got your litmus
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 21:44 ET by sam.i.amtest right here!
If you support the democrat, you are not a republican.
see Colin Powell
If you endorse the democrat, you are not a republican.
see Dede Scuzzufuva
If you leave the party, you are not a republican.
see Arlen Specter
If you are not a republican, then republicans do not give a sh*t about what you have to say about what it is to be a republican.
How about someone that's close!!
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 22:06 ET by pbthinkerThere's only one thing that happened in New York, the Republican Party left the voters with NO choice in the election. The Republican and the Democrat agreed on 90% of the issues so the Republican would have supported Pelosi most of the time. Why bother?
Olympia Snowe is just fine, for Maine. She'll agree with the Republicans more than Dede Scozzafava would have. The problem is, do we want more Olympia Snowe's in the Senate. you have the Democrats trotting her out as a symbol of their bi-partisanship. Personally, if I were Olympia Snowe, I'd be insulted by how I was being used.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
Stand for something
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 23:28 ET by TexasMom0517If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything!
Scozzafavva would have done nothing but give cover for Democrats who wanted to claim "bipartisanship" on anything she voted for. Arlen Specter's change to the D. was no loss, since he has no principles anyway.
I have a series of litmus
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 01:25 ET by fitzfongI have a series of litmus tests: If you support cap-and-trade, you are a Democrat as far as I am concerned, so I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat. If you support Card Check, you are a Democrat as far as I'm concerned, and I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat. If you support single payer socialized medicine, you are a Democrat as far as I'm concerned, so I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat. If you support Sonia Sotomayor, you are a Democrat as far as I'm concerned, so I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat. If you support the bailouts of Chrysler, GM, Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac, you are a Democrat, and I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat. If you support amnesty and a "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens, you are a Democrat as far as I'm concerned, so I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat. If you support the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts, you are a Democrat as far as I'm concerned, so I'd sooner vote for the real Democrat.
This means that I will support the primary opponents of John McCain, Charlie Crist, Mark Kirk, Chris Smith, Bob Inglis, Olympia Snowe, Lindsey Graham (unfortunately must wait a few years for this scalp), and should the Republican voters be dumb enough to nominate these pseudo-Republicans, I will support their Democrat opponents. Clear enough for you, Andrea and Morning Joke?
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best
Re Tests
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 11:26 ET by slickwillie2001Right; there's nothing wrong with litmus tests for Congressional candidates. The litmus test concept got a bad name originally when used in Supreme Court and lower court appointments, where there is a valid legal argument against their use, declaring a position before hearing arguments, pointing out a path for a future challenge, and all that.
Let's use more litmus tests for our candidates.