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Republican National Chairman Michael Steele on GOP Senator Arlen Specter’s Party Switch
Republican National Chairman Michael Steele responds to a question during a news conference before the Vanderburgh County Right to Life fundraising dinner in Evansville, Ind., Thursday, April 16, 2009
Republican National Chairman Michael Steele:Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not.
Let’s be honest-Senator Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.
Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.
And, there is a possiblity that former Pennsylvania United States Senator Rick Santorum will run against Pat Toomey for the GOP nomination.
A Santorum vs. Specter race will be a sight to behold.
Technorati Tags: Arlen Specter, Michael Steele, Rick Santorum
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National Republican Senatorial Committee WIMPS OUT and Endorses Arlen Specter for Re-Election
Republican Senators John Cornyn, R- Texas (Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee), Arlen Specter, R- Pennsylvania and Lyndsey Graham, R- South Carolina in 2006
Even with the latest polls showing Pennsylvania United States Senator Arlen Specter in deep trouble for re-nomination in 2010, the National Republican Senatorial Committee endorsed him today.National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn released a letter today offering a full-throated endorsement of Sen. Arlen Specter in his coming primary against former congressman Pat Toomey, a decision driven by a concern that the challenger cannot win a general election in Pennsylvania.
“My job as head of the NRSC is to guide the GOP back to a majority in the Senate,” wrote Cornyn in a letter to Pennsylvania Republicans. “I can’t do that without Arlen Specter. With him as our nominee, I can target our campaign resources toward beating Democrats and growing the Senate Republican Conference.”
The implication of those lines is clear: if Toomey is the Republican nominee next November, “campaign resources” may not flow from Washington to Pennsylvania.
This is BULL for Specter is a non-reliable vote for the Republican Party at best. Plus, he is 79 years old.
The national GOP committees for years have done nothing but support incumbent Senators regardless of whether they vote with the party or have a chance to win a general election.
Flap recommends that folks donate to their candidate of choice in these 2010 races and stay far away from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
And, in a further disappointment, looks like RNC Chairman Michael Steele changed his mind.
Technorati Tags: Arlen Specter, Pat Toomey, John Cornyn, National Republican Senatorial committee, Michael Steele
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Sarah Palin Continues Plan to Attend Indiana Right To Life Fundraiser
From the Vanderburgh County, Indiana Right To Life Website
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may be OUT with regards to a Washington GOP fundraiser in June but WILL attend a Right to Life findraiser in Indiana on April 16th. Palin will be taking three days of vacation time to speak at the Vanderburgh Right To Life Dinner in Evansville, Indiana.On April 16, Palin will be attending the Vanderburgh County Right to Life dinner in Evansville, IN, as well as a breakfast the next day for S.M.I.L.E., a nonprofit organization for people with family members who have Down syndrome. Palin’s spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, said Palin will be taking a “36-hour vacation” to attend the events in Indiana. Palin’s political action committee will pay for the travel.
Palin was replaced as the keynote speaker at the Republican dinner in Washington by Newt Gingrich. The event’s organizers grew tired of waiting for her to commit to the party’s big spring fundraising gala.
Stapleton said Palin would not agree to political events until after April 20, when the Alaska legislative session ends. “She is focused on Alaska,” Stapleton said today.
And while Palin’s camp claimed no hard feelings about being replaced by Gingrich, Stapleton said, “She probably would have said yes if they could have waited.”
Stapleton could not explain why Palin would say yes to a political event in Indiana and not attend a political event in Washington. However, she did note that Palin wanted to honor her son Trigg, who has Down syndrome, at the S.M.I.L.E. event in Indiana.
It’s possible there could be a huge increase in political travel by Palin after the legislative session in Alaska ends. “There are thousands of requests” for appearances across the country, Stapleton said.
Palin has to run for re-election in 2010 and is expected to be in Alaska conducting the people’s business. She has to balance her events outside the state and WILL have to limit them.
A short 36 hour midweek trip to Indiana is probably a better move than a Washington “elite” dinner in DC. There will be plenty of time for those when Palin relaunches on the national political stage.
The Indiana event will also feature Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin
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Ken Blackwell Comes Out With a Long Knife for Michael Steele; Update: Mike Huckabee is troubled by Steele Abortion Comments
+++++Update+++++Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee expresses his disappointment with Michael Steele
Comments attributed to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele are very troubling and despite his clarification today the party stands to lose many of its members and a great deal of its support in the trenches of grassroots politics. Since 1980, our party has been steadfast and principled in believing in the dignity and worth of every human life. We have supported a Constitutional amendment to protect life and the party
has taken the position that no one individual has the supreme right to own another person in totality including the right to take that life. For Chairman Steele to even infer that taking a life is totally left up to the individual is not only a reversal of Republican policy and principle, but it’s a violation of the most basic of human rights–the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. His statement today helps, but doesn’t explain why he would ever say what he did in the first place.
The Republican National Committee Chairman field, January 2009
Right now, Mike Duncan does NOT look so bad.You know the Flap over RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s interview with GQ and his comments on abortion – after the disaster of criticizing Rush Limbaugh and equating the GOP convention attendess with Nazis.
Ken Blackwell:“Chairman Steele, as the leader of America’s Pro-Life conservative party, needs to re-read the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, and the 2008 GOP Platform. He then needs to get to work — or get out of the way.”
Flap would say that Steele is on a very short leash, remembering Ken Blackwell’s endorsement of Steele is what lead Steele to victory over Katon Dawson.
The long GOP knives are out for Steele.
Technorati Tags: Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell
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Michael Steele – Abortion, Gay Marriage – The GQ Interview
Republican National Chairman Michael Steele
The Michael Steele GQ interview is here.Some conservatives may NOT like it but Flap understands what Steele is doing – It is called OUTREACH.
On the other hand, it is Steele’s inconsistencies on the abortion question and OTHERS that have some wondering what utility Steele brings to the national GOP and Republican National Committee.
I have seen the man speak with conviction and passion at conservative events and leave everyone mightily impressed, but now we have to wonder whether Steele just tailored the message for the audience, as he appears to have done with Hughley and GQ. I don’t necessarily buy that, as he has easier ways to get media air time than being in the Republican Party, but it’s hard not to ask the question these days.
One thing is certain: he’s a lot less media savvy than most of us thought. And since he doesn’t seem to have much skill in organization, we have to ask ourselves why we should support his continued tenure as RNC chair.
Looks like to Flap that Michael Steele is a good pitchman on television and sells himself well, but that is all. California had that problem with Arnold Schwarzenegger – much to its later detriment.
Technorati Tags: Michael Steele, Republican National Committee
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Michael Steele OUT As Republican National Committee Chairman if GOP Fails to Win in New York?
Former president George W. Bush’s Republicans, groping their way from their November elections rout, need a “hip-hop” makeover to court younger voters, the party’s chief said in an interview. “We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets,” Michael Steele, elected in late January as the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the Washington Times.
So say ex-RNC staffers.Wishful thinking from the LEFT mostly and stirring the pot.
Jim Geraghty has the RIGHT view.
But, Steele must quickly organize his staff and demonstrate that he has command of the party apparatus as a change agent.
Technorati Tags: Michael Steele, Republican National Committee
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Video: Who is the Republican Party’s REAL Leader? Rush Limbaugh
TV Ad which will air in DC and national cable channels tomorrowThe Far Left including the Americans United for Change continue to demonize for ol’ El Rushbo in his Democrat Faux Flap with RNc Chairman Michael Steele.
The ad is actually quite funny. I like the part where Rush is jumping and a jiggling around.
The fact is the Democrat LEFT has to divert attention away from the thus far “FLAILING AND FAILING” Obama Administration:
- The Economy is in a shambles, falling apart and markets are crashing after Obama’s budget and Economic Stimulus Bill
- America and Obama is humiliated by Russia regarding Iranian missile defense and the selling out of allies Poland and the Czech Republic. And, now Hillary Clinton must now bail out the rookie Obama.
- And, how many tax cheats are either in the Administration or have been disqualified even after Obama vetting.
I can understand why the television ads will run featuring Rush – comic relief from weeks of Obama downers.
Technorati Tags: Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, Americans United for Change
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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele Says He’s Open to Cut Off Specter, Collins and Snow from GOP Funds
RNC Chairman Michael Steele told Neil Cavuto that he is open to cutting GOP funding for the 3 Senate traitors who voted for the largest spending bill in US history. Steele says he will wait and see what the state GOP parties decide about the traitors. Senators Specter, Snowe and Collins voted in favor of the trillion dollar pork-bloated bill.Good bloviating by Steele but when the rubber meets the road, it is ONLY the 8o year old Specter who is up in 2010 that this really affects. The GOP will eventually lose these three sets in the Northeast unless they rebuild the party and recruit some better candidates.
So, the GOP has a dilemma.
Exit Question: Does the RNC support moderate U.S.Senators who are meeting the needs of their blue state constituents and vote GOP most of the time or do they throw incumbent and long-time Senators over the side because of a few votes?
Technorati Tags: Michael Steele, Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Republican National Committee
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Video: RNC Chair Watch – It’s Michael Steele
Michael Steele, the former Lt. Governor of Maryland was elected this afternoon as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.The Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in its history Friday, just shy of three months after the nation elected a Democrat as the first African-American president. The choice marked no less than “the dawn of a new party,” declared the new GOP chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Republicans chose Steele over four other candidates, including former President George W. Bush’s hand-picked GOP chief, who bowed out declaring, “Obviously the winds of change are blowing.”
Steele takes the helm of a beleaguered Republican Party that is trying to recover after crushing defeats in November’s national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress put Barack Obama in the White House.
GOP delegates erupted in cheers and applause when his victory was announced, but it took six ballots to get there. He’ll serve a two-year term.
Here is Michael Steele’s acceptance speech:
Congrats to Chairman Steele.
Exit Question: When do we get to work, rebuilding the Republican Party?
Technorati Tags: Republican National Committee, Michael Steele
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RNC Chair Watch: Who Will Win?
The Republican National Chairmanship race culminates today with an election. C-Span will begin live television coverage at 10:30 AM EST.Republicans are looking for a national party chairman to lead a GOP rebirth after losing control of Congress and the White House in back-to-back elections.
Their choice when they vote Friday was to give former President George W. Bush’s hand-picked party chief, Mike Duncan, a shot at turning around the Republican Party by re-electing him to a second-two year term or choosing a fresh face from one of his four challengers.
No one was expected to get the required majority of the votes on the first balloting by the 168-member Republican National Committee.
Those challenging Duncan are former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson and Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis.
A fifth — former Tennessee GOP Chairman Chip Saltsman — dropped out of the race on Thursday with little explanation, saying only in a letter to RNC members: “I have decided to withdraw my candidacy.
So, who will win?
GOP insiders say Friday’s contest to elect the next chairman of the Republican National Committee will be a long and drawn-out affair, with multiple ballots necessary to determine the winner.
The RNC’s voting rules require a candidate to collect a simple majority of 85 votes in order to claim victory. In the absence of a consensus choice among the field of five candidates, though, the election appears destined for numerous ballots, involving many hours of deliberations punctuated by intense lobbying and political horse-trading between votes.
Public estimates of the five candidates’ support have tended to place incumbent RNC Chairman Mike Duncan at the head of the pack, followed by former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, with Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell behind them.
Televison coverage begins on C-Span in little less than an hour and there will be extensive coverage from the RNC Winter Meeting Floor on Twitter. Follow Flap here and Follow the hashtag #RNCCHAIR here for up to the minute commentary.
Flap has endorsed Michael Steele for the Chairmanship.
Stay tuned…..
Technorati Tags: Republican National Committee, Michael Steele