Glenn Beck's puppet, Doug Hoffman, concedes... again

By Michael J.W. Stickings

It's over. The mentor/puppeteer may not agree with his decision, but Conservative insurgent candidate and Republican favourite Doug Hoffman has un-unconceded, or re-conceded, in NY-23.

The gap between Hoffman and Democrat (and winner) Bill Owens narrowed due to an undercount in some counties, with Hoffman pulling to within about 3,000 votes, but absentee ballots expanded Owens's lead.

Hoffman's second concession runs in sharp contrast to his rhetoric last week. Even as he trailed Owens by a near-insurmountable margin, Hoffman alleged that labor unions and ACORN were responsible for electoral fraud and urged his supporters to donate money to help him contest the results of the election.

Hoffman has toned down the blame game, playing the role of victim of a nefarious plot -- as conservatives do so well (see Palin, Sarah) -- but he remains aggressively defiant. When he unconceded, he called the election "stolen." He is now saying that there were "problems" but that a recount "would most likely not change the election outcome."

So what is it? Were the problems so insignificant as to change nothing if rectified? Or were there no problems at all, just simple human error that was addressed and excuses that continue to be spun, including by Hoffman himself? It's like he wants to have it both ways: continue to present himself as the victim while acknowledging that he lost fair and square.

Hoffman -- who mentions "the government chambers and boardrooms that shape America," as if government and business are all that mean anything -- clearly intends to run again next year as the candidate of "common-sense conservative values" (i.e., extremist right-wing ideology). In the meantime, Glenn Beck will have to find another willing puppet to manipulate.