Okay, for the last of these, we’ll first check in with the Loyal Opposition:

The National Republican Congressional Committee remains committed to embattled GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava in the upstate New York House special election, even as many of the party’s top names throw their support to Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.

Two party officials tell POLITICO that the NRCC will continue to air TV ads propping up Scozzafava in the days leading up to the Nov. 3 contest and plans to keep up a near relentless barrage of press releases slamming Hoffman.

Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and has a close relationship with leading labor officials in her region, has been the target of sustained criticism from conservatives who claim she is too liberal for them to support her candidacy.

Asked why so many prominent Republicans had thrown their support to Hoffman, the official responded, “We’re dealing with data, not hopes and dreams.”

Yeah, right. And what we’re dealing with is a party that has abandoned principle and is now about power, and nothing else. I’ll let Bill, who presents some worthy ideas here as well, expound on how we’ll eradicate the Leftist blight — and how we won’t:

Doc Zero is a new shooting star in the firmament of the Blogosphere, and this post is an excellent example of why that is. Still, I’m mildly irritated by yet one more call for “a logical, consistent vision to place before the voters,” as if such a thing is mysteriously impossible to come by, or has never existed.

How about: Individual liberty. Respect for the Constitution as it was written. Smaller, less expensive, less intrusive government. Strong national defense. Patriotism. Self reliance. The American Dream that you can build a good life, and your children will build a better one.

Not many words there – but most Americans will easily understand them, and if you asked them to choose between those notions, and the beliefs of the left, similarly condensed, I believe the vast majority would vote for the conservative vision.

What does the left stand for? What is its vision?

This: Collective cooperation. A “living” Constitution that changes to fit whatever the left wants (it) to mean. Larger, more expensive, more intrusive government that always knows better than its citizens. Shame for your country. Reliance on the state. The notion that we consume too much, and that we must accept a future in which our children have a worse life than we do, for the good of all.

I ask you: How can that compete with our own ideals and vision?

We don’t need to find a new vision. We just need to understand that the old vision is perfectly good and shines just as brightly as it did back in 1776 when it ignited the most beneficial and moral revolution ever to succeed on the face of this planet.

Amen to all that. One more link via Bill:

The Republican establishment made another miscalculation last year. They underestimated the resolve and force of the tea party movement. These folks are ticked. They are angrier at the Republican establishment than they are at President Obama and his Marxist minions. In fact, this trouble was brewing all through the presidential campaign and even before. It all started, really, with the notion of “compassionate conservative” — an idea both insulting and inherently false. Conservatism is compassionate. Conservatism is something to be proud of, not something to hide.

So the Republicans have seemed as stunned with the tea partiers as the tea partiers are stunned at their party. The grassroots folks have had it. They’re tired of being disrespected. They’re tired of being told to pipe down and go along to get along when the candidates the party picks stink and then lose.

The Republican Party has a choice. They can continue to antagonize those who vote them into office or they can start paying attention. They mistakenly buy the D.C. bubble philosophy that moderation is the way to find good candidates. What they’re seeing is a base willing to lose if the Republican Party doesn’t change its ways.

A friend on Twitter said to me last night: “Sarah Palin has the base, she has to find a way to reach out to the moderates and independents.” I retorted: “The Republican party might have the moderates and independents (which I question since those people chose Obama over the moderate McCain), they have to find a way to win the base.” The base won’t be discounted any longer and they have found their champion in a very powerful Sarah Palin.

The GOP can possibly be a useful tool in the coming struggle — or it could continue being an obstacle to real, meaningful change. Remains to be seen which; I’m not overly sanguine about it, frankly. But we’ll see.