The REAL Palin Story

I wasn't impressed with the Sarah Palin story in Vanity Fair yesterday. Most of it was rehashed stuff that politics junkies like me already had seen reported other places. The rest of it was stuff that I think common sense would have allowed you to believe without the need for the story. The people who support Palin are never going to read that article and change their mind about her and the rest of us which is the overwhelming majority of the country don't need to know any more "dirt" to turn us off from Sarah Palin.

However the fallout from the article is really worth paying attention to. This GOPolitico article detailing the attacks and counter attacks that were launched after the article was published is pretty interesting reading. The primary reason is that Bill Kristol's role as Sarah Palin's primary promoter and sponsor is being exposed to the masses. And the by product of that is that every "news" organization whom employed Kristol during the election season including the New York Times and of course FoxNews as having allowed blatant propaganda to be disseminated through their organization without ever forcing Kristol to divulge his ties to the McCain campaign.

Ok and I will admit that there is a "juicy soap opera" feel to it also that is pretty compelling. I don't know that anybody has improved their profile any more than Steve Schmidt since the election came to a close. The guy helped to run one of the worst, most inept presidential campaigns in history and yet after the election he started to speak truth to power. He has been frank about what the GOP needs to do to change their political fortunes and it doesn't involve just using the words "freedom" and "socialism" more. And he has also of course come out in support of gay marriage. Something that, of course, would have been a lot braver move had he done it during the campaign, but still better late than never, right?

Well after how he conducted himself in the GOPolitico documented, drama filled back and forth, I can only see his star rising even further.

Bill Kristol, not so much.

Well I am not going to excerpt from the article because I have major issues with GOPolitico has a news organization, however if you like to watch the GOP implode right before your very eyes, I would say click on the link and go crazy.

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!