What if I described a congressional candidate who:

• had a record of voting for massive tax increases
• was friendly to ACORN
• supported the Obama stimulus package
• endorses "card check" legislation to abolish the secret ballot in union elections
• favored same-sex "marriage"
• is strongly pro-choice
• has run on the ballot line of the Working Families Party -- a creature of ACORN, SEIU and the teachers union.

Based on that, to which party would a person guess the candidate belonged? Is there any doubt 100% of responses would be "That's a Democrat"?

Disturbingly, the candidate I am describing is the National Republican Congressional Committee's anointed candidate in the special election for New York's 23rd congressional district: Dede Scozzafava. The NRCC is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars -- money donated by Republicans in order to advance Republican principles -- to elect someone who is to the left of the Democratic candidate. Indeed, the Democratic candidate is attacking Scozzafava as a taxer!

To call Scozzafava a RINO is an insult to RINOs.

It's true that Winning is the immediate object in an elections, but it presupposes a purpose for pursuing victory. Exactly what would the GOP gain by electing Scozzafava? Reduce the massive Democratic majority in Congress by a single vote? That makes zero sense when you consider Scozzafava would have sided with the Pelosi majority and Barack Obama in transforming this republic into a European-style welfare state. There's an old saying that "a party without principles is merely a conspiracy to seize power" -- an adage that captures the NRCC's role in this fiasco.

It's one thing to back candidates who fit the district. But it's quite another for the NRCC to spend hundreds of thousands of Republican donor dollar to elect a crypto-Democrat when there's a viable conservative candidate in the race.

It's not too late for the NRCC to perform some political triage and salvage it's credibility by ceasing its support for Scozzafava. It can establish credibility with the burgeoning Tea Party/town hall grass roots reaction by shucking the establishment Beltway mindset and swinging its support to the conservative candidate in the race, Doug Hoffman. Hoffman, running on traditional limited government themes, is within striking distance of Scozzafava. The Club for Growth and other right groups have spent approximately half-a-million on his behalf. If the NRCC came to its senses and put its resources behind the genuine Republican in the race, it's very likely Hoffman would win. And as a bonus, the NRCC would demonstrate itself to be a body interested in advancing GOP principles, rather than merely piling up the GOP body count in Congress untethered to some larger purpose.

In a perfect world, Scozzafava would run under her true colors, as a Democrat. Or barring that, decide to be true to her principles -- such as they are -- admit that running as a Republican is tantamount to lying to the voters, and withdraw from the race, thus preserving a measure of political integrity.

In the final analysis, if the choice were between Scozzafava and Democratic candidate Bill Owens, the best outcome for the GOP would be an Owens victory. Then, Republicans would have a chance regroup around a Hoffman candidacy in the regular election next year. After all, the 23rd congressional district has sent Republicans to Congress since the 19th Century, and ending a temporary Democratic occupation of that seat in 2010 would be preferable than enduring a term-after-term of a crypto-Democrat like Scozzafava.

UPDATE: While I think philosophical reasons alone merit Scozzafava's exit, it bears mentioning that character issues also call for her giving herself the boot. As Jim Geraghty posts on NRO, Scozzafava field a false police report when she called the cops of Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack for having the temerity to ask her questios about her beliefs.

Party loyalty only goes so far, and in the case of Scozza fava, it has stretched beyond the breaking point.

*EDITOR'S NOTE: Help out the true conservative in this race, Doug Hoffman, by visiting his website and contributing to his campaign: DougHoffmanforCongress.com. He will need all the resources he can get in these last days before the election!