David Frum and the Weekly Standard are talking about the Dede Scozzafava, the GOP candidate for NY-23and her position on card check (not to mention her calling the cops on a reporter).

Frum has this to say about her supposed support for the Employer Freedom of Choice Act (otherwise known as “Card Check”):

As weird and unpleasant as Scozzafava’s call to the cops may be, let’s not lose the lede: The Republican candidate in NY-23 supports card check. That’s not a vote forced on her by the shape of her district. It’s a personal ideological adventure. The state Republican party leaders who handpicked Scozzafava have a lot to answer for…

Now, I don’t support Card Check even though both my parents are union members. I find it unfortunate if it is true that Scozzafava would support it. But I think Frum’s pooh-poohing of Scozzafava relveals a bit of double-standard that takes place when moderates run for office. More center-right Republicans tend to be put through the wringer by conservative groups, making sure every jot and tittle hues to some high conservative standard. Scozzafava has been been under fire by many of these groups and conservative bloggers and journalists have done their best spin her record and deem her not conservative enough.

The funny thing is, conservative candidates are not viewed with the same scrutiny. Since they say all the right things, they are lavished with praise even though they might not stay true to conservative principles. During the years that the GOP ruled in Congress, there was talk about the evils of raising taxes, but at the same time these legislators went spent us into a deficit. None of them ever recieve the hard questions or pestering that someone like Scozzafava gets. They are lionized as “true conservatives” even though they have betrayed their fiscal conservative principles.

You won’t find such silliness on the Democratic side. They are willing to support someone who is not totally loved by the base because even though they might disagree on some issues, they know that the candidate will support the Democratic agenda and will add to their governing majority. Also, while the base might scream and shout, they are not as organized as the Right is in trying to sink an impure candidate.

Come November 3, NY-23 will probably go to the Dems for the first time in a long time because conservative activists have deemed Scozzafava as not “conservative enough,” and have done what they could to sink her canidacy. This will enlarge the Democratic majority, that then will allow things that are an anathema to Republicans, like Card Check.

But hey, at least we have our “principles.”

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