With the withdrawal of moderate Republican state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava from the race to fill the 23rd Congressional district seat New York, there seems to be some familiar echoes from Michigan’s not too distant past.

Remember Dr. Joe Schwarz? He was the Congressman for the 7th Congressional District, a district drawn by the GOP in 2000 to be a safe Republican seat. Schwarz made the terrible mistake of not sticking to GOP orthodoxy, he voted against a same-sex marriage bill in Congress and told voters he would support Roe V. Wade, though he himself opposed abortions.

That wasn’t good enough for a plucky back benching GOP state representative named Tim Walberg was shocked, shocked he said, that Schwartz would sully the good name of the GOP with such treachery. Thus, in 2006, with pockets full of cash from the Clubs for Growth folks, Tim went to Washington and Joe went back to being a doctor.

Walberg barely beat out his opponent, Democrat Sharon Renier. Renier lost by only four percent and raised only $50,000. In 2008, Democrat Mark Schauer bested Walberg by 2.3 percent. Former preacher and Moody Bible Institute fundraiser Walberg is already spoiling for a rematch, and has declared his intention to challenge Schauer, going so far as to have South Carolina Congressman Joe “You Lie” Wilson fly in for a fundraiser.

The battle between Joe and Tim was the beginning of what Susan Demas at MLive.com calls the “Republican civil war.”

And the Club for Growth and other conservative media darlings are showing upstate New York how to play Tim’s game. They have flooded the coffers of conservative Douglas Hoffman, and shined the national spotlight on him. Such right celebs as Tim Pawlenty, the GOP Gov. of Minnesota, and Sarah Palin have endorsed him.

Hoffman, despite not being in the GOP, is the true conservative and thus earning the support from the Club and conservative circuit.

This is exactly what Congressman Thaddeus McCotter warned against recently in a Human Events editorial. That editorial concluded:

The GOP must philosophically accept — not ideologically reject — members’ differing views of how to apply these permanent principles to present challenges. Republicans cannot indulge in intellectual rigidity and internecine purges that create more chaos. Only by uniting can the Republican Party and its enduring legacy as an institution of American order, justice and freedom lead our nation thorough globalization’s transformational challenges.

Newt Gingrich echoed McCotter on Fox News recently (via the Advocate):

“So this idea that we’re suddenly going to establish litmus tests, and all across the country, we’re going to purge the party of anybody who doesn’t agree with us 100 percent — that guarantees Obama’s reelection,” Gingrich said. “That guarantees Pelosi is Speaker for life. I mean, I think that is a very destructive model for the Republican Party.”

Newt and McCotter are right, the more the GOP move to litmus tests and internecine purges the more marginal the party could become.

And state lawmakers might take heed, since many of them are eying runs for higher office. The bigger question is, will they listen, or will they be swept up in a quest for purity, focusing more on pleasing hardcore activists than on fixing problems like our budget?

Time will tell on that, but with Bishop holding onto the cuts only pledge in budgeting, the carving for next year’s budget will make this Sept. surprise seem like a Disney film.