This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Republican National Committee

  • GOP V1 has landed

    So the GOP emailed to tell me they’ve put together a website so you can find opportunities to volunteer for Republican campaigning;

    Dear Jonn,

    We know that a lot of Americans are tired of seeing this White House mismanage our country, but in the past it’s sometimes been difficult to find opportunities to fight back. At the Republican National Committee, we understand the importance of volunteering, so we’re doing something to make it easier than ever before.

    I’m writing to let you know about a new tool that’s been launched at GOP.com. It’s called Volunteer Match, and it’s a network that collects volunteer opportunities for this election cycle. That includes opportunities to volunteer for campaigns, state parties, and RNC Victory Centers. It lets you create your own profile and search for volunteer opportunities. It also lets you specify how you feel your skills would be best utilized, and connects you directly to organizations looking for help. Using Volunteer Match, you can search for opportunities in your area and find the ones that best suit you. Whether you’re looking to get involved on a national, state, or local level, Volunteer Match is the tool to make it happen.

    We built Volunteer Match so that you can make an impact. Volunteering is the surest way for you to make a difference this fall. And make no mistake: you are going to make the difference. You can start today by signing up for Volunteer Match, and then forwarding this email to two friends who you think are ready to stand up for their country.

    Yours,
    Gentry Collins
    RNC Political Director

    But, you know what’s missing? A reason to help the GOP win the next election. I pumped money into the elephant party for twelve years and got jackasses. That’s not making a difference, that’s being taken for a ride.

    And, oh, what kind of volunteer opportunities are there in West Virginia? I can sign up for their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter or buy GOP gear to wear around my town. Whoo-hoo – feel the energy? It’s like C Montgomery Burns designed their outreach program.

  • Change you can believe in

    If the polls can be believed, the magic of the Obama Inauguration has ended. Public Policy Polling puts Mark Hoffman 15 points ahead of Bill Owens in New York’s 23rd Congressional District. And that’s before Joe Biden gets there today and insults widows, orphans and puppies. In New Jersey, Christie is polling higher than Corzine – agains, if polls can be believed – by the PPP

    ;

    Chris Christie leads Jon Corzine 47-41 in PPP’s final poll of the New Jersey Governor’s race, with Chris Daggett at 11%. Corzine had pulled to within a point of Christie on our poll three weeks ago after trailing by as many as 14 points over the summer, but his momentum has stalled since then and Christie’s built his lead back up to 4 points last week and now 6.

    And the Washington Times claims that McDonnell is double digits up on Deeds;

    Virginia Republicans Robert F. McDonnell and Bill Bolling struck an unusual deal to unify the top of the GOP ticket more than a year before Election Day. Instead of running against the then-Virginia attorney general for the gubernatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. Bolling deferred to Mr. McDonnell and sought re-election to his current office.

    So far, the plan appears to have paid off. Heading into Election Day on Tuesday, both candidates hold double-digit leads over their Democratic opponents. Mr. McDonnell is quick to praise his fellow Republican for putting his political ambitions on hold.

    Of course, the lesson of the Virginia upset is party unity – like the Contract with America plan of Newt Gingrich which worked well for Republicans in 1994. In fact, it worked so well that Republicans never did it again – apparently frightened by it’s awesome power of success. Who needs a political party that is successful?

    The lesson of the New York election is to run real conservatives, not phony country club Nelson Rockefeller conservatives.

    The lesson of New Jersey is to let the Democrats be themselves – they can turn off voters all by themselves without any help from Republicans.

    But, I’m pretty sure the Republican Party will take all of the wrong lessons from these three successes and screw themselves in time for next year’s midterm elections.

  • A blow struck for conservatism

    Dede Scozzafava dropped out of New York’s 23rd District race for John McHugh’s vacated seat, according to the Watertown Times (found at Ace with flaming skull);

    “It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my party will emerge stronger and our district and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations.

    “On Election Day my name will appear on the ballot, but victory is unlikely. To those who support me – and to those who choose not to – I offer my sincerest thanks. Dede.”

    So with Joe Biden making an appearance in Watertown with Democrat Bill Owens on Monday, victory is all but assured for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

    I think that was the bravest thing Scozzafava could have done and I commend her…braver still would be the Republican Party supporting Hoffman unconditionally like the Conservative Party of New York has unconditionally supported countless Republican candidates since the Conservative Party was founded in 1962. Since their founding, no Republican has won the governorship of New York without the endorsement of the Conservative party. Now it’s time to return the favor. I’m sure that’s what influenced George Pataki to endorse Hoffman yesterday – now for the rest of the GOP to follow suit.

  • Tea Partiers endanger GOP?

    The Wall Street Journal runs a typically elitist article today entitled “Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy ” in which the party bosses complain that the members of the party think the party rank-and-file know more about the type of candidates we want than the establishment.

    In upstate New York, Dede Scozzafava, 49 years old, is the choice of local party leaders to defend a Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, an abortion-rights candidate who could appeal to independents. Doug Hoffman, 59, is a local accountant backed by tea-party activists who has jumped into the race declaring himself the real conservative.

    Mr. Hoffman has siphoned so much support from Ms. Scozzafava that their Democratic rival has vaulted into the lead, according to a poll released Thursday. The election is Nov. 3.

    Imagine that – the people don’t want to be told who their candidate will be in the next election.

    The party’s strategy for attracting moderate voters risks alienating activists who are demanding ideological purity, who may then gravitate to other candidates or stay at home. It’s a classic dilemma faced by parties in the minority — tension between those who want a return to the party’s ideological roots and those who want candidates most likely to win in their districts.

    The whole problem with Republicans is that they don’t understand that we can’t run candidates for whom we think Democrats will vote. Every time Republicans have run as conservatives, they’ve won. Every time they try to make Democrats happy, we lose.

    To prove his point, Naftali Bendavid, the article’s author, uses Florida Senator Charlie Crist as an example. he’s facing a primary challenge from Marco Rubio, a grass roots candidate;

    He has adopted policies such as an aggressive approach to global warming that appeal even to Democrats. Those very policies infuriated conservatives, as did Mr. Crist’s decision to campaign with President Barack Obama on behalf of the president’s $787 billion stimulus package.

    “He was Judas to the Republican Party in the state of Florida and across the country,” says Robin Stublen, 53, of Punta Gorda, co-state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, a loose national coalition. “He sold us out for 13 pieces of gold.”

    A spokesman for Mr. Crist said the governor made sure stimulus dollars went to items important to Florida voters.

    To me that proves that neither Crist nor Bendavid don’t understand the whole stimulus issue. We don’t want to be bought off – we want to be left alone. A freakin’ Republican campaigning for the stimulus, f’Pete’s sake.

    Brian Walsh, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group that coordinates GOP Senate campaigns, says the party has chosen strong candidates. “It’s healthy to have debates about the future direction of the party,” says Mr. Walsh. But he adds, “We want to make sure we have candidates on the ballot in the best position to defeat the Democrat candidate.”

    Enjoy the next few decades of being out of the majority, Brian.

  • McCain to make GOP in his image

    After his stunning victory for Barack Obama last November, John McCain has decided that he needs to prepare the electoral battleground for even more victories for the Democrats by making the GOP more like McCain, writes Politico‘s Alex Isenstadt;

    It’s all part of an approach that is at odds with most other recent failed presidential nominees, whose immediate response to defeat was to retreat from the electoral arena. But those familiar with McCain’s thinking say he has expressed serious concern about the direction of the party and is actively seeking out and supporting candidates who can broaden the party’s reach.

    In McCain’s case, that means backing conservative pragmatists and moderates.

    “I think he’s endorsed people with center-right politics because he has an understanding that the party is in trouble with certain demographics and wants to have a tone that would allow us to grow,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is McCain’s closest friend and ally in the Senate.

    Yeah, nothing like expanding on a losing strategy. McCain’s problem through the whole election is that he tried to be a Democrat which turned off conservative voters. The article goes on to disparage “shrill voices” – but this is the kind of crap that makes voices shrill. Conservatives want someone they can vote for without holding their noses – my nose is still somewhat deformed from posting in support of McCain last year.

  • White House charges “astroturf”

    I’ve written over the last few days about how the Democrats aren’t very happy with folks using the same tactics that they used against Republicans for eight years in regards to the healthcare debate. The White House jumped into the fight yesterday when Naked Emperor released a video which had the President in his own words describing this healthcare as the impetus for single-payer, government-run healthcare. Somehow, the White House got away with calling the President a liar.

    The Washington Times writes this morning that now the White House is accusing Republicans of “astroturfing” the discussion with organized groups of professional protesters funded by well-heeled lobbyists. Really? Have they seen the RNC’s website lately? here’s a screen shot for you;
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  • Tales from the Powell side

    The Washington Post is reporting this morning that Colin Powell is going on CBS’ Face The Nation to explain to the rest of us Republicans how we can be more like Colin Powell. Like Dick Cheney, I was surprised that Powell still considers himself a Republican after supporting the most anti-Conservative candidate to run for president from the Democrat Party.

    Some of the quotes from Powell in the article are staggeringly ignorant coming from a person I formerly considered fairly bright;

    The appearance will come just days after Powell, one of the country’s leading black political figures, told an audience in Boston that a new Republican Party is “waiting to emerge.” Earlier this month, he said the party is in “deep trouble” because “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less.”

    The party should realize that the country has changed, he said, adding: “Americans do want to pay taxes for services.”

    In April, he appeared on liberal host Rachel Maddow’s TV show, telling her, “I am a Republican, yes,” but saying the party should reduce its emphasis on cutting spending.

    But even if you think these quotes from Powell are based in ignorance, you can’t look away from that car wreck called the Republican Party as they plant their lips firmly on Powell’s ass;

    “We are not going to get to a majority if we weed out people who disagree,” said Rep. Mark Souder (Ind.). “I’m very conservative, but we need people like him, even if we disagree on some issues.”

    Sen. John Thune (S.D.), a member of the GOP leadership in the Senate, said Powell is “one of the greatest leaders of our generation, and he is at heart a Republican.”

    I’ll admit, I haven’t liked Colin Powell as a Republican ever since he coined that stupid “conservative with a heart” phrase. Conservatism is compassionate in that we think you can do better for yourself and your family than some heartless bureaucrat in Washington. For Powell, or anyone else, for that matter, to think that we need to qualify our individual conservatism with divisive labels, they’re missing the whole point of Conservatism.

    I don’t know about the rest of you, but I didn’t join the Republican Party because it has a cool-sounding name. I looked at Jimmy Carter’s Administration, counted his lies to the American people and watched them drive poor people further into poverty and dependence. I decided that Democrats and government is not the Big Answer to our problems. A landslide number of Americans agreed with me when we voted Ronald Reagan to replace Carter and his band of ignoramuses.

    If the Republican Party isn’t about smaller government and lower taxes, it’s the Democrat Party with a different name. We don’t need Colin Powell in the Republican Party, we don’t need to drop to our knees every time he walks in the room. As Dick Cheney says in the Washington Post article;

    I didn’t know he was still a Republican.

    He’s not and we need to stop acting like he has anything of substance to add to the discussion.

  • Republicans’ strategy for 2010; be Democrats

    According to the Washington Times this morning, three bubbleheads, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Eric Cantor met in Alexandria, VA yesterday to announce that Democrats have a better strategy than Republicans, so we should be more like them.

    “You can’t beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don’t like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that,” Mr. Bush said.

    The former president’s brother, often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2012, said President Obama’s message of hope and change during the 2008 campaign clearly resonated with Americans.

    “So our ideas need to be forward looking and relevant. I felt like there was a lot of nostalgia and the good old days in the [Republican] messaging. I mean, it’s great, but it doesn’t draw people toward your cause,” Mr. Bush said.

    “From the conservative side, it’s time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about the past because, you know, things do ebb and flow.”

    Now, until this morning, I liked Jeb Bush, I liked Mitt Romney, but they claim they’ve been listening to Americans and this is what they’ve come up with. What Americans were they listening to? ACORN-Americans? Washington Post trolls?

    After the “Tea Parties” this is what the leading Republicans come up with? Like I’ve been saying since 2005 – I don’t give my money to the Democrats because I disagree with their policies, so why should I give my money to Republicans who are supporting those same policies?