Friday’s Wall Street Journal reports on how Tea-Party conservatives are successfully trying to damage a moderate Republican’s shot at a vacant Congressional seat in Upstate New York that has long been a Republican seat. The Republican in question is Dede Scozzafava, a Republican State Assemblywoman who is running to suceed John McHugh, a Republican congressman that was tapped by President Obama to be Secretary to the Army.

Tea-Party conservatives along with other hard right activists have been trying hard to sink Scozzafava’s candidacy because of her socially liberal views on abortion and gay marriage. They have tried to paint her as a tax and spend liberal. Back in August, I wrote a blog post at Republicans United about the attacks that were then mounting against Scozzafava and I also did some digging around. Below is that that post are some of the highlights from that post showing her true record.

I decided to look into some Scozzafava’s views on various issues while in the New York legislature. There is a lot of info, but here are some of the highlights from Project VoteSmart. Let’s look at taxes:

Maintain Status a) Alcohol taxes
Maintain Status b) Capital gains taxes
Maintain Status c) Cigarette taxes
Maintain Status d) Corporate taxes
Slightly Decrease e) Gasoline taxes
Slightly Decrease f) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Slightly Decrease g) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Slightly Decrease h) Sales taxes
Maintain Status i) Vehicle taxes
Undecided k) Should the state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
No l) Should accounts such as a ?rainy day? fund be used to balance the state budget?
No m) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
Yes n) Should the New York Legislature list discretionary spending item by item in the budget?

Well, she doesn’t look like a tax and spend liberal. What about crime?

X c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
X d) End parole for repeat violent offenders.
e) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
X f) Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
g) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
X h) Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes.
X i) Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
X j) Eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal sex cases.
k) Eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits seeking damages in sex cases.
X l) Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing pseudophedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine).

Hmm…maybe she doesn’t support the death penalty, but she does seem to be tough on crime. What about guns?

X b) Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.

No namby-pamby liberal there. One should add that Ms Scozzafava recieved a grade of “A” by the NRA Political Victory Fund in 2008 and an “F” from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence in the same year.

If that’s not enough, the liberal-leaning Albany Project blog also did some digging around and found out the shocking truth: Scozzafava is a conservative. They state:

The conclusion I draw from looking over numerous pieces of legislation is that Scozzafava on most issues is nothing more than your average Assembly Republican. Most of the votes that she did support the Democratic (or progressive) positions came when the whole Assembly voted unanimously for a bill. Scozzafava’s conservative positions are not reflected in the mainstream media, where she is labeled a “liberal” because of her stances on two social issues that, while important, should never define any candidate and should never be the sole indicator of a candidate’s ideology.

I see Scozzafava as someone who is far from the Glenn Becks of the world. But that doesn’t mean she is not conservative. The modern-day conservative is a different breed, but a lot of what Scozzafava stands for resembles an old school conservative. At best, she’s a moderate with conservative leanings. At worst, she’s a conservative Republican whose liberal stances on two social issues have given her an inaccurate label.

As I said in a recent post, what bothers many conservatives who are against Scozzafava is her stance on two social issues. Because of this she is tarred a “liberal” even though the rest of her record is pretty conservative.

If Scozzafava were to make it to Congress, my guess is she would stand with her party 80 percent of the time. Ronald Reagan had something to say about having someone as their 80 percent friend and not their 20 percent enemy. It’s too bad his supposed heirs have missed the message.