Bill Kristol vs. Dede Scozzafava
OK, this is getting good. The campaign of Dede Scozzafava, the moderate Republican candidate in the NY-23 special election, has blundered into an all-out war with The Weekly Standard. First, reporter John McCormack asked Scozzafava a series of questions that irritated her and inspired her to call the cops to check on him. Then, a Scozzafava spokesman attacked McCormack, claiming that he “repeatedly screamed questions” and “followed the candidate to her car, continuing to carry on in a manner that would make the National Enquirer blush.”
In response, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol is going after Scozzafava’s campaign.
“„I have full confidence in the truth of John’s account. And I won’t allow a desperate campaign to try to tarnish the fine reputation John has built as a fair and accurate reporter — and, for that matter, a very decent and mild-mannered young man. As it happens, I was standing near John’s desk in the office this past Friday. The phone rang. It was Scozzafava campaign spokesman Matt Burns, who didn’t like something John had reported, and started yelling abusively at him the moment he answered the phone. We could hear Mr. Burns ten feet away. I gather Mr. Burns called later to apologize. I suppose John would accept another apology by the Scozzafava campaign.
This is not what a struggling campaign needs to deal with two weeks away from an election. One more reason why it’s tough to find Republican strategists in Washington who think Scozzafava can win.
