The Politics Of Fear

Leaked RNC document reveals that the GOP will attempt to fundraise off scaring the shit out of their donors with words like "socialism" and pictures of President Obama as the Joker.

Also water is still wet, and ice is still cold.

Yawn

Steele's Days Are Numbered

In the course of a regular daily conference call between senior Congressional communicators, House and Senate aides berated RNC staffers over Steele's comments that the GOP would not be able to take back the House, and that even if they did, the party would not be prepared to lead.

A senior Senate aide brought up Steele's comments, arguing that he was ruining what should be several days of glowing press for the GOP in the wake of retirement announcements from Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chris Dodd (D-CT).

"Steele is setting us far back with his comments and it needs to stop," the aide said, according to 2 sources who were on the call.

RNC research director Jeff Berkowitz called the Senate aide out of line, but the Senate aide called Steele a "fool," sources said.

Hotlineoncall

If you think this information somehow got leaked accidentally you are crazy. Someone wants everybody to know that at least one Senate leadership aide not only thinks RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a fool but actually said so on a conference call with their peers. I don't think Steele will make it to April as head of the RNC, but after reading through this account several times I think I might be too generous with that estimate.

This Dude Right Here....

I stopped paying much attention to RNC Chairman Michael Steele quite a while ago because the guy has been such a clown since being elected that he does more to hurt the Republican cause than help it. But its one thing to look like a joke and try to fool the good white folks in the GOP into believing that he has some kind of special insight into the hip hop culture, its quite another when he starts stuffing his pockets with money by leveraging his position as RNC Chairman. I figured for awhile that there was no way possible for them to fire Steele because he was their token, meant to fight President Obama tooth and nail for the heart and soul of brown Americans. But now, after this, there ain't no way in hell they can keep him in his position.

And if they do, won't that be an example of the same kind of affirmative action practices they claim to hate?

I mean seriously, if the DNC sat down and imagined the perfect RNC Chairman to drive the GOP off the cliff could they have done any better than Michael Steele? I don't think so.

Turning The Tables On Michael Steele And The GOP

This is a pretty nice take down of Michael Steele and his spurious op-ed in the Washington Post the other day by Steve Pearlstein also in the Washington Post.

An excerpt:

On the issue of end-of-life care, Steele was uncompromising: In a Republican world, no government funds could be used to pay doctors to provide information about living wills, hospices or palliative care, whether seniors and their families ask for it or not.

"Government programs that seem benign at first can become anything but," Steele explained in articulating the new philosophy. Once back in power, look for Republicans to apply the same approach to issues such as flu vaccinations, disaster relief and air traffic control.

According to Steele, Republicans will also seek to outlaw "any effort to ration health care based on age." You don't have to be a lawyer like Steele to understand that would effectively make it a federal crime for any hospital to refuse a heart transplant to a 95-year-old, or for any doctor to refuse to prescribe Viagra to a sexually precocious seventh-grader. Although Steele did not indicate what the penalty would be, he did not rule out the death penalty.

Indeed, Republicans seem determined to preserve the uniquely American system under which health care is rationed today -- on the basis of employment status and ability to pay. According to the respected Institute of Medicine, this market-based approach to rationing has held the number of untimely deaths each year to a mere 18,000 uninsured souls. Thanks to Medicare, all of those victims are younger than 65, but apparently that is the kind of age-based rationing that real Republicans can embrace.

After reading his broadside, one is left wondering exactly what health reform plan Steele thought he was attacking. At one point, Steele claims that Democrats would prevent Americans from keeping their doctors or an insurance plan they like. Later, he warns that government will soon be setting caps on how many heart surgeries could be performed in the United States each year. Where is he getting this stuff? Has the chairman of the Republican Party somehow gotten hold of a top-secret plan for a government takeover of the health-care system that GOP operatives snatched during a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters?

If all that sounds spurious and unsubstantiated, it is. And like many of the overstated claims in this column, its purpose is to highlight the lies, distortions and political scare tactics that Steele and other Republicans have used to poison the national debate over health reform.

Have you no shame, sir? Have you no shame?

Me being the cut throat bastard that I am, would love to see Democratic strategists go after the GOP with similar memes even if they aren't necessarily factually correct. I for one am tired of only being on the receiving in of the misinformation, maybe its time we put out some of our own.

Im just sayin.

In Related News...

RNC Chairman Michael Steele and three Republican Governors blow off the annual conference for the Hispanic civil rights organization, La Raza, leading their spokeswoman Marie Watteau to release this statement.

“You should certainly speak to the Republican Party about why they’re not here,” Watteau told me. “The Latino community is open to hearing from both sides, which is why both parties were invited. The Republican Party not being here may demonstrate a lack of commitment to our community.”

Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination for the Supreme Court was voted out of committee today with only a single Republican vote. The vote came after each Republican who voted no took the opportunity to take more shots at her.


Have fun in that abyss, GOP.

Ponies, Unicorns, And Pixie Dust

As you may have heard by now RNC Chairman Michael Steele gave a speech this morning at the National Press Club to slam President Obama's health care reform push. Now I try not to waste too much time on Michael Steele because the man has shown himself to everyone to be an outright buffoon.

I believe there is bipartisan consensus on this.

But I just had to share a few of his "reform proposals" with you because he is just such a moron. Mind you about 80% of his speech is nothing but sloganeering and soundbites trying to throw President Obama and Congressional leadership under the bus. Honestly he probably should have stuck to that. But instead he tried his hand at showing that the GOP is not just the party of no. That they have their own ideas too. LOL yeah, that's a good one!

So lets take a look see shall we.

Lets' have doctors and hospitals post pricing and outcomes. In this day and age, why aren't the cost of all tests, treatments, procedures and office visits -- as well as effectiveness of treatments posted openly on the internet. That'll bring down costs.

First off let me acknowledge that I do believe this is a good idea for the sake of transparency. But to say that just by posting prices and outcomes online that will in and of itself reduce costs is foolish on its face. First of all it is going to COST MONEY to set up a system whereby you post those prices online. Second of all It is highly likely that such a system would be done in such a way that the average person can't understand it. Does this have potential to HELP bring down costs? Of course it does. If people actually can figure out the information and they start bargain shopping for their health care then it may have an effect. But there is no way in hell to say unequivically that it will help nor could you possibly quantify how much it might help if it did at all.

Then we change the law so you can take your health insurance with you if you have to change jobs, eliminating expensive and unnecessary insurance turnover. That'll bring down costs.

Can someone explain to me how he plans on doing something other than Cobra coverage when you leave a job where your employer pays either all or some of your premium? And again if you set such a system up is it supposed to just magically change and everything work well without creating a new expensive beauracracy to oversee it? Again this is so vague as to be laughable that he puts it forth as an actual policy position.

Let's support new paperless, computer-age health care IT systems to reduce the cost of health care management as well as reduce medical mistakes. That'll really bring down costs.

Hey stupid, we already did that. Remember that stimulus bill you keep slamming? Yeah, it was in there moron.

I truly can't understand why this guy keeps going out publicly and making a fool out of himself like this but as a Democrat I will take it. His rhetoric and his delivery are both so ridiculous that its hard to see how anybody, even his own supporters, take this man seriously. I don't think President Obama is spending much time worrying about Michael Steele speeches I can tell you that much.

Oh and one more thing, I am continuing my boycott of MSNBC until such time as they fire Pat Buchanan, but for the rest of you Steele will be on Hardball with Chris Matthews and I would be willing to bet the farm that Tweety will twist him into some YouTube moments.

"Obama Democrat"

The RNC makes a funny. The really funny part however is that I expect after the ass kicking they recieve next fall, the surviving GOP members will start trying to paint themselves as "Obama Republicans".

In related news, Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey*, Chris Christie has endorsed Judge Sotomayor's candidacy to the Supreme Court. Hmmm not only does his endorsement mean less than nothing, its also at odds with the majority of Republicans in the Senate. I wonder why he would announce the endorsement of President Obama's nominee...


*Updated to correct the state where Chris Christie is runnng for governor.

Shorter RNC: "We Need The Fairness Doctrine!"

I can't take credit for the framing, that honor goes to commenter flounder on Greg Sargent's blog. However all of the bellyaching from the RNC and Congressional Republicans over ABC News' decision to air a health care special with President Obama, smacks of calls for the fairness doctrine don't you think? I mean their main complaint is that "both sides" aren't being heard correct?

Who knew that the GOP were socialist lefties?!

And kudos to ABCNews for clapping back at the RNC.

We Don't Need No Stinking Outreach!

What can I say about Michael Steele that hasn't been said before. Honestly after watching Steele wingnut out on FoxNews for the better part of last year, when his name was mentioned as a candidate to chair the RNC I thought it would be a great move.....for Democrats. But I have to admit that even I couldn't have predicted the lengths to which this man would go to help out the Democratic Party. His prolific "foot in mouth" disease is the gift that keeps on giving and it seems he just can't help himself. Having said that I believe that yesterday he out did himself.

First of all I think everyone would acknowledge that if the Republican Party is ever to make a comeback it will need to make inroads into two constituencies that they have not done well with lately, women and minorities. You would think that outreach to those two voting blocks would be one of the chief goals of any new chairman of the RNC. And you know what, maybe it is a goal of Michael Steele, but as usual he has a very odd way of showing it.

Every Friday Steele guest hosts Bill Bennett's radio show. For that reason quite a few liberal and progressive watchdog groups tune in on Friday to catch the gaffes that they at this point can assume the very reliable Steele will give them. So yesterday he presented his fans and foes with this ditty:

STEELE: The problem that we have with this president is that we don’t know [Obama]. He was not vetted, folks. … He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.” Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe? … So we don’t know. We just don’t know.

Now just because I am a black man doesn't mean I can speak for all other minorities, obviously. However I can say for me that one of the things that pisses me off is when someone implies that the only reason I or any other minorities achieved a level of excellence is because of the color of our skin. It gives the impression that OBVIOUSLY no minority could make it on their own merits, they simply MUST have been helped by some mythical "white liberal guilt". And yet here is Michael Steele trying to further that notion in order to try to delegitimize President Obama, our first black President. But the problem of course is that this notion exists not only in politics but also in the business world. And many minorities have experienced a touch of this in their personal life. The wondering about whether we were "affirmative action" hires. The whispers about our abilities match up with our white counterparts. When Steele says these things on the radio you have to wonder if he thinks that this is the way forward to bring more minorities into the fold of the Republican Party. But then you remember that this is a guy who doesn't "think" much apparently before he speaks.

But Mike Steele wasn't content to just potentially offend minorities yesterday. You see the RNC also put up an attack ad against Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi which was supposed to hit her for saying the CIA lies to Congress "all the time" last week. Now I would like to be able to show you the ad so you could have a frame of reference to how offensive it was but it has since been taken down. But have no fear, Politco has a scathing criticism of the ad up, a criticism that may well have been the very reason why the RNC under Steele's leadership decided to take the ad down.

But when you see Nancy Pelosi, the Republican National Committee wants you to think “Pussy Galore.”

At least that’s the takeaway from a video released by the committee this week – a video that puts Pelosi side-by-side with the aforementioned villainess from the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger.”

The RNC video, which begins with the speaker’s head in the iconic spy-series gun sight, implies that Pelosi has used her feminine wiles to dodge the truth about whether or not she was briefed by the CIA on the use of waterboarding in 2002. While the P-word is never mentioned directly, in one section the speaker appears in a split screen alongside the Bond nemesis – and the video’s tagline is “Democrats Galore.”

The wisdom of equating the first woman speaker of the House with a character whose first name also happens to be among the most vulgar terms for a part of the female anatomy might be debated – if the RNC were willing to do so, which it was not. An RNC spokesperson refused repeated requests by POLITICO to explain the point of the video, or the intended connection between Pelosi and Galore.

But what isn’t open to debate is that the waterboarding conflict has been accompanied by a cascade of attacks on the speaker, not as a leader or a legislator, but as a woman.

Earlier this week, Pittsburgh radio host Jim Quinn referred to the speaker on his program as “this bitch”; last week, syndicated radio host Neal Boortz opined “how fun it is to watch that hag out there twisting in the wind.”

There has also been a steady stream of taunts about the speaker’s appearance, and whether it’s been surgically enhanced. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said, “I think if Speaker Pelosi were still capable of human facial expression, we’d see she’d be embarrassed.”

Even erstwhile presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee took the time to pen a poem that begins:

“Here's a story about a lady named Nancy / A ruthless politician, but dressed very fancy.”

One might argue that face-lift and fashion gibes are just sauce for the goose these days – especially given the president’s crack about John Boehner’s perma-tan during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

But “hag”? The P-word? Really?

Not only is it bad form, say Democrats and women’s advocates, it’s bad politics. “

They can’t seem to distinguish between a backroom smirk among the boys and something you put out in public,” says former Hillary Clinton senior adviser Ann Lewis of the RNC video.

“It’s an attempt to demean your opponent, rather than debate them. If they’re serious that this is an issue of national security, then you’d think that one would want to debate it on the merits,” she says. “It’s almost as if they can’t help themselves.”

Now make no mistake, I generally don't have a problem with a political ad being a parody or an attempt at humor. But its hard to see this ad as anything other than a hamfisted attack on Speaker Pelosi's femininity. While I support Speaker Pelosi on most issues and I truly believe that she has been honest while discussing the CIA briefings I will be the first one to admit that her handling of the subject was bungled last week in her press conference. There was plenty of fertile ground for the RNC to attack her on the substance of her response, yet they decided to forgo all of that and just go to her looks and "feminine wiles". Seriously. Now I don't imagine that this ad would have offended ALL women in the middle, but I do believe it would have offended many of them. And Michael Steele still decided to put the ad out at a time when the Republican Party is bleeding members from almost every demographic. Way to build that big tent buddy.

Nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to politics and anything can happen between now and the midterms and between now and the next Presidential election in four years, but at some point Michael Steele and the RNC might want to realize that they need PEOPLE to win elections. As long as he keeps pulling this kind of stuff the issues might not even matter. If you can't get enough voters to like your party enough to vote for it's candidates then you won't win many elections. Its just that simple.

President Obama Must Be Psychic

Remember this part of President Obama's speech yesterday?

As our efforts to close Guantanamo move forward, I know that the politics in Congress will be difficult. These issues are fodder for 30-second commercials and direct mail pieces that are designed to frighten. I get it. But if we continue to make decisions from within a climate of fear, we will make more mistakes. And if we refuse to deal with these issues today, then I guarantee you that they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future. I have confidence that the American people are more interested in doing what is right to protect this country than in political posturing. I am not the only person in this city who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution - so did each and every member of Congress. Together we have a responsibility to enlist our values in the effort to secure our people, and to leave behind the legacy that makes it easier for future Presidents to keep this country safe.

Well right on time I present you with one of those 30 second ads President Obama predicted fresh from the RNC.





Now most people realize that the image of the child playing in the field is taken from the infamous "Daisy" ad Lyndon Johnson released in 1964.



Of course that was a whole other level of fear mongering back then. Still the fact that the RNC thought it would be a good idea to use footage from that particular ad just serves to make it more ridiculous than actually effective. Don't get me wrong, Democrats opened the door to such attacks against them, but, at least in my assessment, using that footage will just make the RNC lose even more credibility. Let's look back at what happened back when the original "Daisy" ad actually ran.

The ad was designed to capitalize on comments made by Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater about the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Vietnam. The Johnson campaign attempted to portray Goldwater as a dangerous warmonger who would needlessly, and recklessly, escalate the conflict in Vietnam.

As soon as the ad aired, Johnson's campaign was widely criticized for using the prospect of nuclear war, as well as the implication that Goldwater would start one, to frighten voters. The ad was immediately pulled, but the point was made, appearing on the nightly news and on conversation programs in its entirety.

So to recap, the war and torture endorsing RNC used footage from an ad that was meant to scare people over Barry Goldwater's war mongering that had to be pulled almost immediately by President Johnson because of blowback from its obvious fear mongering. Yeah, just keep it up RNC. At this rate you might actually insure that Republicans don't win the Presidency again for a generation.

D'oh

Greg Sargent makes a very astute observation about Michael Steele's bad timing.

This is some unfortunate timing: RNC chair Michael Steele will launch a new effort today to proclaim that the GOP is making a comeback — less than 24 hours after newly released polling revealed in fresh detail that the Republican Party is in extraordinarily dire straits.

Steele will make a big speech today to RNC officials which focuses the party on “winning the future.” He has an accompanying Op ed in The Politico that proclaims that the “Republican Party has turned a corner.”

But unfortunately for Steele, this bold assertion comes right at the moment when the political classes are digesting new Gallup polling that finds the number of people self-identifying as Republicans has plunged among almost all demographic subgroups.

Other optimistic noises coming from Steele today are similarly challenged by polling data. Steele’s Op ed claims that the GOP represents the “concerns of a majority of Americans.” But a recent New York Times poll found that only 20% trust Congressional Republicans to make the right decisions about the economy, and only 27% trust them to make good decisions about keeping us safe.

The problem for Steele of course is that he is hamstrung by his own party. Right now the inmates are running the asylum so any true attempt at outreach will be seen as weakness and met with scorn and derision. The GOP has convinced itself that it is the voice of the American people. And no matter how many times the American people shout from the hills in elections and polls that they don't agree with the GOP, Republicans still aren't trying to hear it. Recently the talking point I have heard is that the American people just haven't caught up to the GOP way of thinking yet, but supposedly this will all change soon. Yeah, good luck with that. I don't hold Michael Steele in high regard at all but right now he is in a no win situation. You can't have the party pushing to purify itself and expect to bring people into the fold. So while Steele is going to get fired eventually and some of it will be his fault, the truth is the problems the GOP is having are fundamental and not likely to change anytime soon no matter who is leading them.

Just Quit Already

Michael Steele has caved to his RNC detractors and agreed to give away his authority to handle the purse strings. Obviously I am not an admirer of Michael Steele but damn man, why not just resign instead of letting people punk you every other week? Does he not understand the meaning of the words "man up"? Check this out.

Under nearly constant fire from conservatives since his Jan. 30 election, Mr. Steele last Wednesday accused the resolution's proponents of a power grab "scheme." It looked like an impasse, with a showdown - and a possible no-confidence vote in Mr. Steele - coming at a special meeting called for May 20.

But closed-door negotiations between Mr. Steele and his representatives and Mr. Pullen and the dissident group reached an accord. It represents the first time in memory that rebel members of the Republican Party's national governing body have successfully taken on the party's historically powerful national chairman and his loyalists.

For all that tough "hip hop" talk he engaged in after winning the chairmanship dude has sure gotten his ass handed to him on a regular basis.

GOP Circular Firing Squads

Its beginning to look like Democrats won't have to expend a lot of energy fighting Republicans in the midterms because the Republicans will do the job for them. Yesterday Newt Gingrich sparked a new round of cannibalism when he referred to RNC members who were trying to undermine Michael Steele's authority as chairman as basically being self important egomaniacs. Well as you might expect, that didn't go over very well.

Defending Steele’s tumultuous start, Gingrich said the chairman might be under fire from some in the committee because he “probably has not yet learned the art of massaging the egos of RNC members.”

“They all think they’re precious, and they all think they should be taken care of, and they all think the job of the chairman, first of all, is to make the RNC members happy,” Gingrich said of the committee’s 168 members.

Tennessee GOP chairwoman Robin Smith objected to that suggestion, saying that “RNC members, on the whole, are committed individuals who sincerely work for the best of our party.”

“Forming circular firing squads only gives aid to the Democrats who are doing quite nicely in undercutting the public trust in our government,” Smith said.


Ada Fisher, committeewoman from North Carolina, said RNC members are not “as ego driven as some professional politicians and pundits would like to believe.”

“Most of us are not receiving large sums from being on television, serving as commentators, giving speeches or writing books, nor do we devote our waking hours to playing politics,” Fisher said in a thinly veiled jab at Gingrich.

snip

“Newt is right that RNC members believe they are ‘precious,’” said California committee member Shawn Steel. “However, Michael is more popular than ever. He communicates much more frequently than the prior chair."

North Carolina Republican party chair Linda Daves, who backed South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson during the race for the RNC chairmanship, knocked the members who are now pushing the resolution to regulate Steele’s financial powers.

“I think some of the members should spend more time trying to build the party on the state level and spend less time trying to micromanage the RNC and trying to tear down Michael Steele,” Daves said.

Norcross argued that the good governance resolution is only being proposed to fill the vacuum left by the retirement of veteran RNC comptroller Jay Banning, who was let go by the committee last month after more than 30 years. He said that oversight of the chairman’s purse strings by the committee is nothing new.

“Newt ought to get his facts right,” Norcross said. “My ego does not need to be taken care of, but my Treasurer does.”

This issue is now fracturing the RNC from within and I am sure that such a public spat won't be good for fundraising. My advice for the DNC and other Democratic groups is to just stand back and stay out of it. Let them knife each other to shreds while we reap the benefits. There is no need to try to hurt the RNC at this point, they are doing a damn good job of handling that all on their own!

The GOP Doesn't Trust A Black Man With Their Money

What other impression could you come away with after reading the Washington Times article about how some in the RNC are trying to take Michael Steele's right as Chairman to determine where to spend money away from him?

A battle over control of the party's purse strings has erupted at the troubled Republican National Committee, with defenders of Chairman Michael S. Steele accusing dissident RNC members of trying to "embarrass and neuter" the party's new leader.

Randy Pullen, the RNC's elected treasurer, former RNC General Counsel David Norcross and three other former top RNC officers have presented Mr. Steele with a resolution, calling for a new set of checks and balances on the chairman's power to dole out money.

The powers include new controls on awarding contracts and spending money on outside legal and other services.

Mr. Steele could not be reached, and a spokesman for the RNC chairman declined to comment on the move.

The resolution prompted a top Steele supporter to issue a scathing attack against Mr. Pullen and his allies after they had asked Mr. Steele to support the "good governance" resolution at a special meeting of the full national committee set for next month. The party spent about $300 million in last year's elections.

"I urge you to reject this hostile attempt to embarrass and neuter the chairman of the RNC," Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in an e-mail to the 168-member national committee.

Mr. Pullen and his allies need signatures from RNC members from 16 states to force the resolution to the floor for a vote by the full party committee at the May 20 special meeting.

snip

"This resolution is an attempt to usurp the chairman's authority in a completely unprecedented and historic manner," Mr. Priebus wrote to the other party chairmen and national committee members from the 50 states and five U.S. territories.

Mr. Priebus, who heads the transition team for the newly elected chairman, also urged the resolution's sponsors "to stop playing political games and begin thinking about what they can do to help our party move forward as we face the elections of 2009 and 2010."

Now I don't agree with Michael Steele on pretty much anything, however what they are trying to do to him here is just wrong. Why after all these years are they trying to rules now when Steele is Chairman? And they wonder why people believe the GOP is racist.

At What Point Do You Get Off The Crazy Train?

To all my Republican brothers and sisters, is this REALLY the kind of party you are proud to be a part of?

Republican state party leaders are rebelling against new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele for failing to dub President Obama and the Democrats as "socialists." And the rebels insist that the label matters.

Even though Mr. Steele has called his Democratic adversaries "collectivists," at least 16 state leaders say the term lacks the pejorative punch needed to sway public opinion and want all 168 members of the Republican National Committee to debate and vote on it.

It is the first time in memory that a sitting national leader of the Republican Party has faced a public challenge over his ideological leadership by conservative members of his own national committee.

snip

Mr. Bopp, a constitutional law lawyer and hero to conservatives for arguing a Supreme Court challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, said he had presented Mr. Steele with a petition bearing the signatures of RNC members from 16 states - the number needed under RNC rules to convene an extraordinary meeting of the full committee next month.

Mr. Steele has twice rejected requests by Mr. Bopp, who leads two conservative caucuses within the RNC, to call the special meeting.

The petition calls for open debate at the extraordinary meeting on three conservative resolutions that for the first time directly involve the RNC in policy and ideology.

"In just a few months, the goal of the Obama administration has become clear and obvious - to restructure American society along socialist ideals," Mr. Bopp said in summarizing the first resolution. The resolution's chief sponsor is Washington state RNC member Jeff Kent, and it calls on the Democrats to be "truthful and honest with the American people by renaming themselves the Democrat Socialist Party."

snip

"Just as President Reagan's identification of the Soviet Union as the 'evil empire' galvanized opposition to communism, we hope that the accurate depiction of the Democrats as a Socialist Party will galvanize opposition to their march to socialism," Mr. Bopp wrote in his e-mail.

Mr. Steele previously offered to issue a joint statement with signers of the resolution, but they turned down his offer and insisted on a debate and vote by the full RNC membership - a state party chairman and a national committeeman and national committeewoman from all 50 states and five territories.

Oregon RNC member Solomon Yue, a founder of a conservative caucus among RNC members, said, "We must refocus the public's attention to the Democrat Party's stampede to socialism and we must make our socialist president's every legislative victory so costly that he will lose the war in 2010 and 2012."

Publicly, Mr. Steele has shied away from using the socialist line.

"We don't see this president so much as a socialist as we see him as a collectivist," he told Fox News. "When you strip away this idea that the individual matters, for this concept of the collective - all of us pulling together and working towards some governmental goal - that's what I'm more concerned about."

But in an April 6 memo to RNC members, Mr. Steele said that "Democrats are indeed marching America toward European-style socialism, and I will continue to criticize their dangerous policies in that regard - but I believe these proposed resolutions will accomplish little than to give the media and our opponents the opportunities to mischaracterize Republicans."

I have no words.

GOP = Fringe Of America

I have offered the opinion before that today's Republican Party is now run by the fringe of America. We used to be able to kind of laugh off something some far right kook said but the problem is now those far right kooks actually hold positions of power in the GOP. Whether its Michele Bachmann in Congress or Mark Sandford on the state level or Rush Limbaugh who as a radio host seems to have the most power in the Republican Party of anybody. Well I know some people think that its just not true and that there are moderates in the party who will lead it back to prominence but increasingly the evidence is just stacking up in my favor. Check out this official questionaire posted at the official RNC webpage and tell me this is in any way, shape, or form "moderate".

Just a few examples:

1. A recent national poll reported that nearly 25% of Americans want the government to pass more socialism. Do you agree or disagree?

4. Do you oppose so-called "card-check" legislation, which eliminates secret ballot elections during unionization drives and puts workers at risk of intimidation by labor bosses?

6. Should Republicans in Congress oppose the new wasteful government spending programs passed in the recent "stimulus" bill by the Pelosi-Reid Democrats designed to "spread the wealth"?

8. Should we do everything we can to block Democrats who are trying to shut down conservative talk radio with the so-called "fairness doctrine"?

9. Should we resist Barack Obama's proposal to spend billions of federal taxpayer dollars to pay "volunteers" who perform his chosen tasks?

11. Should bureaucrats in Washington, DC be in charge of making your health care choices instead of you and your doctor?

1. If Barack Obama tries to gut the USA PATRIOT Act and other important laws that promote the safety and security of all Americans, should Republicans in Congress fight back?

5. Do you think U.S. troops should have to serve under United Nations' commanders?

7. Should we fight military-cutting efforts in Congress, such as the proposal from liberal Barney Frank to slash the Pentagon budget by 25%?

8. Even though Barack Obama pledged to meet personally with the likes of Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, should Republicans continue to focus on supporting democratic movements in oppressive states like Cuba, Venezuela and Iran?

Now again, this isn't a spoof. Someone sat down and took time out to actually come up with every single one of those ridiculous leading questions. I just wonder why they didn't include something like "Do you oppose President Obama's plan to allow him to sleep with underaged white girls once a week while smoking crack?" The RNC should be ashamed to have this posted on their website. But they aren't because in the immortal words of Coach Denny Green "They are who we thought they were".
Its about time everyone just started accepting that fact.


(h/t Benen)

Can't You Just Smell The Diversity?

I have to admit that I really was surprised that there are five black RNC members. I mean I knew Mike Steele and Ken "Bojangles" Blackmen were running, but where in the helll did they find the other three?

"Four Degrees And A PHD"

After dancing a jig and shucking and jiving for the GOP, Ken Blackwell is second from last in pledged votes in the race for RNC chairman according to YourRNC.com. Ken I think you might want to consult with this song from Trick Daddy entitled "Amerikka". Just substitute the words "Republican Party" for America and I think you will get the picture.

It's "President Elect Obama" BITCH!

What would we do without all of the Republican WEAKSAUCE to laugh at? Today they decided to have a televised debate to help seat a new RNC chairman. Who couldn't have predicted that when asked each of these morons would say Ronald Reagan was their favorite Republican President. I mean fuck Abraham Lincoln right? But to get to the title of my post, the "Brothers Brothers" Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell were also on stage for the debate. When every panelist was asked who their worst Republican President was Steele showed how totally spineless he was in refusing to pick one. But Ken Blackwell is a TRUE Republican so he wasted no time in naming not only one but TWO bad Republican Presidents, one off them being the FAIL that is the current President Bush to throw under the bus. Again predictable. But check out how this disrespectful muthafucka refers to President Elect Barack Obama.

NORQUIST: Ken?

BLACKWELL: Hoover, because he opened the door to big government activism, and I think that unfortunately, President Bush in the last few months, has opened up the door to Mr. Obama’s big government.

That's why I am glad that sell out ass bastard is on the other team. We don't need cats like him no matter what his skin color.




(h/t Thinkprogress)

Sorry We're Fresh Out

Did anybody in America need a memo to tell them this?

It was in light of this history that I decided in early November to commit the RNC to a similar, policy-focused effort. Republicans have grown accustomed to having our party recognized as the "Party of Ideas," but we must acknowledge that many Americans today believe the party is stale and does not deserve that label.

Uhmmm is RNC Chairman Mike Duncan going to send out another memo saying water is wet?


(h/t TPM)