Text Steele for GOP change
posted at 12:00 pm on November 23, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Michael Steele has embarked on an assertive campaign for the RNC chair, and he’s already giving a taste of what he has in mind for new leadership. At his new website, Steele offers a way for people to text-message their ideas to the RNC:
Do you have a great new idea for the future of the Republican Party or just think their is room for improvement? Now you can text your ideas directly to Michael Steele. Text Steele to 66937 today!
To send a text simply follow these steps:
1 – Select messages on your cell phone
2 – Dial the Short Code 66937
3 – Enter Message “Steele” and send
4 – You will then receive a return message confirming your registration. Just repy back – Y.
5 – You are now able to text your ideas to the Steele website. To do that -
- Select Message and dial the short code 66937
- Start your message with @Steele (and then text in your thoughts)
Steele also has a handy widget for following the suggestions as they come in:
The RNC needs major infrastructural change to catch up to the Democrats, and this is exactly the kind of engagement that change should bring. Howard Dean and Barack Obama turned text messaging into a GOTV powerhouse in the final days of the election. Steele seems to have recognized the gap and is giving a demonstration of his intent if given the chance to lead the GOP for the next four years.
That’s impressive, especially given the short time frame in which Steele has worked to produce this. Check out the entire site, and text your ideas to Steele, too. The next RNC chair has to start thinking out of the box, and Steele looks like he’s ready to perform.
Update: The Republicans need both a comprehensive, rational message and an infrastructure to communicate it to compete in national elections in 2010 and beyond. The RNC’s responsibility runs more towards the latter than the former. They need to build the infrastructure to reach voters in ways that will make them pay attention and in methods that make the communication more efficient.
Text messaging may seem gimmicky, but it allowed the DNC and Obama campaign to almost effortlessly make millions of crucial GOTV contacts to self-identified sympathetic potential voters to push them to the polls on Election Day. They especially outperformed the GOP in reaching younger voters by doing this exact thing.
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It was the clearly delineated position O took, which you can read about here…and the fact that Mac took NO position at all on something she feels very strongly about.
We talked at length on numerous occasions. She spent many hours over several days objectively researching this and read every link I sent her. Mac’s position and efforts on prevention of domestic violence are pathetic. What can I say? I didn’t agree with my daughter’s choice but I was glad she took the time to thoughtfully investigate the issue about which she was most passionate.
Obama’s email campaign and text messaging made him seem, to her and others like her, no doubt, to be someone she could relate to.
Read my notes, above, in this post. It wasn’t JUST the texting and emails…blah blah blah. You can reduce it however you want, but you will be wrong if this is the shallow conclusion you come to.
LEBA on November 23, 2008 at 5:37 PM
His misogynistic treatment of Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, ‘sweetie’ press reporters, and reduced pay for female campaign staffers led her to the thoughtful conclusion that Barack Obama was more sympathetic towards women?
Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, twenty years with Jeremiah Wright, voter intimidation, campaign finance fraud, privacy violations, Civilian National Security Force proposals, ACORN election fraud, and Obama’s documented roots in socialist ideology didn’t give your thoughtful college educated daughter pause?
sharrukin on November 23, 2008 at 6:01 PM
Late to the thread, but thank you for correcting that matter.
All the same, returning to the original point:
Yes, KW64 misspelled sentence, but he or she is right about the correction, contrary to the following comment:
No, Steele needs the expletive there not the possessive pronoun their.
The sentence KW64 was correcting was the first that Ed quoted:
KW64 is absolutely correct. I like Steele a great deal, but he should get a copy editor to read over the material before posting it. It’s a silly mistake, certainly not the end of the world, but get it corrected and move on.
BuckeyeSam on November 23, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Now you know how I feel as her mother! She works as a counselor in a shelter for victims of domestic violence. She is on the front lines and up to her eyebrows in a very difficult, low paying, but very rewarding job. The politics around this issue are fairly simple: support and protect victims, and enforce existing laws against perpetrators. Mac just didn’t speak at all to these points and Obama did. And doofus Biden is the author of victim’s rights legislation (though it was later found to be unconstitutional) and is revered in this service community as someone who really cares for victims of DV.
So what can we learn from this discourse? Young voters use the internet to do their research. They use and value email and text messaging. Digital forms of communication are relevant, useful, highly effective, and at least moderately persuasive for this group, perhaps for identificatory reasons which we should not discount. We are fools if we don’t make full use of these here-2-stay methods, particularly when trying to sway the youth vote.
LEBA on November 23, 2008 at 6:41 PM
The RNC had BETTER find a Conservative to lead them of they are FINI.
nelsonknows on November 23, 2008 at 6:56 PM
I don’t see Steele that way at all. I think he realizes that there are many messages and voices in media against Republicans and Republican ideas, and he counters them by being available to media. My impressions of his on-air appearances from the Convention through today have been very positive overall. I realize he is not conservative enough for many here, but my gut feeling is he has all the basic components we need to organize the party, hone a message, utilize technology, and help Republicans move forward.
I’m also not in the “Kill the RINOs camp”. I understand the frustration at the nomination process with open primaries in some states, and the disappointment in McCain’s lackluster campaign. But booting out more moderate members isn’t a magic bullet to cure the ills of the Republican Party. Of course we should run Conservative candidates on national and state wide tickets, but I’d rather see a moderate Republican in a House seat or a state legislature and have a majority in said body, than be a minority in the more liberal to moderate areas of the USA.
For example: Would you rather have a moderate Republican in Barney Frank’s seat or just keep sending Barney back to COngress every year? And if you believe a true conservative could win that seat, please identify who, and how he/she will do it.
Red State State of Mind on November 23, 2008 at 6:59 PM
I see where you are coming from. I would recommend this book for your daughter…
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass by Theodore Dalrymple
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Bottom-Worldview-Makes-Underclass/dp/1566635055/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227484963&sr=1-2
It is a very good book and despite its English setting, something everyone should give thought to.
sharrukin on November 23, 2008 at 7:11 PM
Appeal to the youth vote by reminding the young that THEY create their own futures with their earnings. THEY can have the choice and opportunities to save or spend or give to charities. THEY can invest for a better life for themselves. Nobody does it better than the individual.
onlineanalyst on November 23, 2008 at 7:12 PM
You want to know the kind of thing you are up against? I don’t watch the news, but someone I was just talking to watched the CBS evening news tonight and they did a story from some little town called Postville in Iowa. It seems the government went in and rounded up a lot of illegals who were working there and now the place has shut down. Two people they interviewed had worked there for years, one for 14 years and one for 18 years and now they are both out of work and can not pay their mortgages. The churches are saying they are overwhelmed. This little town just lost a major employer and there is nowhere else for most of these people to go to work.
That is how the issue of illegal immigration is played out on the news. That is why so many Republican politicians support temporary workers programs and other policies that some hardliners do not like.
Because while conservatives simply see these issues as a matter of illegal vs legal…a lot of Americans see it as something more personal.
So conservatives need to find a way to make their policies not only relevant, but something that helps rather than hurts. They are losing the PR battle on issues like this, big time.
Terrye on November 23, 2008 at 7:21 PM
onelineanalyst:
Just reminding the youth that they need to get the kind of skill or education needed so that they can take care of themselves would be good.
Terrye on November 23, 2008 at 7:22 PM
People that cozen up to RINOs haven’t learned a damned thing from history.
1. Reagan and 2 landslides
2. G.H.W. Bush riding on the legacy of Reagan in 1988
3. G.H.W. Bush turns RINO and loses to Clinton in 1992
4. An ineffectual old RINO runs as fodder against Clinton in 1996
5. G.W. Bush BARELY beats two weak candidates in 2000 and 2004 and governs farther and farther to the left as time passes.
6. The GOP nominates the biggest RINO of them all in McCain and who carries McCain on their backs? TWO conservatives, Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber.
The Numbers don’t lie people, CONSERVATIVES carry the GOP and always will. It’s simple, you CANNOT OUT-LEFT THE LEFT! The numbers don’t lie so the GOP, RNC and Republicans had better learn this QUICKLY!
nelsonknows on November 23, 2008 at 7:24 PM
I believe that the first two items that you list are determined at each state’s level. Work on getting your state government (or the state party organization) to change its rules.
I have never understood the objection to showing photo IDs and registration proof at the polling places. No one is allowed to drive a car without being able to produce a license and an ownership card. Why shouldn’t voting be even more sacrosanct.
Abolish McCain-Feingold. Make all donations transparent and traceable.
Abolish federal funding for organizations that use their offices for partisan politics. Period.
onlineanalyst on November 23, 2008 at 7:26 PM
Hey, look at that. You dropped the qualifying statement that came before:
Q: Your views on gun control?
A: My views are pretty much in line with the governor’s. I grew up under some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. You can have all the gun control laws in the country, but if you don’t enforce them, people are going to find a way to protect themselves. We need to recognize that bad people are doing bad things with these weapons. It’s not the law-abiding citizens, it’s not the person who uses it as a hobby.
And also neglected to mention the NRA endorsed him.
Steele isn’t a gun-grabber. Fail.
Enoxo on November 23, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Thanks!! I just ordered it. Looks great…and I appreciate the constructive help.
LEBA on November 23, 2008 at 7:40 PM
Your ideas for assuring security and validity of votes at the pollsat 5:15 pm are excellent, crosspatch.
LEBA, your points about how youth today interact and share information are vital and true. The RNC and its candidates have to communicate in a variety of meaningful ways.
Conservative leaders need to get out in front of the cameras at every opportunity to provide a succinct message on the topics or bills of the day.
onlineanalyst on November 23, 2008 at 7:43 PM
Dear Mike,
Get out and take Danforth, McCain, Ridge and Todd-Whitman with you.
If you want to stay, turn right and forge ahead.
Thanks,
Betty
Elizabetty on November 23, 2008 at 7:44 PM
7. Energy Independence – tell the American people the true story of our resources and why we shouldn’t be spending a $0.10 on foreign oil.
Explain to them all of the jobs that will be created, and all the wealth that will be infused into the economy to get it back on track.
At the same time, promise to defund ALL organizations that get federal money to sue every time anyone wants to drill or mine for our resources.
8. Defund the ACLU – promise the American people that all federal funding to the ACLU ends immediately, as well as Tort Reform Legislation, i.e. “Looser Pays” to stop frivolous law suits.
9. Promise the American people that ALL federal politicians and bureaucrats will have to start paying for their own gas, food, and travel.
10. Promise the American people that pay raises to any politician or bureaucracy has to be by a vote of the American people.
……………… more to follow as I think of them.
Seven Percent Solution on November 23, 2008 at 7:50 PM
Steele, this is a great gimmick. Maybe I am already too old to understand the allure of technology. I’m not 30 years old. However, I must admit that it has a function on some level.
Just don’t expect gimmicks to save the GOP, give deference to the fundamentals, like values. Rumor is a better communicator than text message. We just need to harness the power of the flight of Rumor. I am speaking with a hint of greek mythology by way of reference.
Thank you.
anti-boomer on November 23, 2008 at 8:04 PM
anti-boomer, I thought I knew my greek mythology pretty well, but I had to look that one up! Interesting.
4shoes on November 23, 2008 at 9:09 PM
Can’t text, not long enough…I need to send him a PowerPoint presentation with an action plan, suggestions for a pre-platform with basic issues to be tackled (AND HOW), monthly chats with the blogosphere, and much much more.
I am welcome to suggestions as to specific people scanned, studied and cleared of any RINO germs. About the jive talking it reminds me of the movie “Airplane”…hilarious!
ProudPalinFan on November 23, 2008 at 11:07 PM
This is complete nonsense and has got to stop – from Powerline:
TennDon on November 23, 2008 at 11:19 PM
Will do.
I think we still need to get together in San Diego for drinks. The next 4 years are going to be a real roller coaster and we’re gonna need some R&R.
csdeven on November 23, 2008 at 11:36 PM
I live in England so I can’t send Steele a text. But I’m a conservative American, so here goes:
First, we need to reconstitute conservatism among the base and let them know we mean business. We won’t get anywhere without reigniting the fire.
Second, the information campaign is important. No more of this “republicans are rich, white racist dudes who beat their women and children.” The left has created this image, and it’s an illusion to villainize conservatism.
Third (but equally important) we need to inspire patriotism. Conservatives truly love America. We need to highlight this and illuminate our founding fathers. Think: Michael Steele standing outside the Jefferson Memorial giving a public service announcement about the responsibilities that come with freedom (like how the AdCouncil does).
Good idea, eh?
Black Adam on November 24, 2008 at 12:49 AM
so, is fama’s modern sister the media? There is something to be said about eschewing criticism and simply stating what we desire to be heard. Jindal does it by way of just sticking to talking points. Palin does the “opposite” directly engaging most questions, relying on her enchanting personality and allure to carry the day. It may work on men. But, women clearly love the charm that accompanies the strength.
anti-boomer on November 24, 2008 at 1:12 AM
Is everyone having as much fun as I am, imaging the republican base trying to send a text message?
benny shakar on November 24, 2008 at 4:17 AM
You failed to mention the second question in the quote;
Q: Should people have access to buy assault weapons?
A: Society should draw lines. What do you need an assault weapon for, if you’re going hunting? That’s overkill. But I don’t think that means you go to a total ban for those who want to use gun for skeet shooting or hunting or things like that But what’s the point of passing gun laws if we’re not going to enforce them? If you want to talk about gun control, that’s where you need to start. We’ve got 300 gun laws on the books right now. At the end of the day, it’s about how we enforce the law.
Post the whole quote or not at all, Steele IS a gun grabber.
Steele is a gun grabber according to the ruling of D.C. V Heller as stated in the opinion in III para. 3 and in IV para. 2: “The handgun ban amounts to a
prohibition of an entire class of “arms” that is overwhelmingly
chosen by American society for that lawful purpose.
The prohibition extends, moreover, to the home, where the
need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute.”
An “entire class of arms” ban would also be perfunctory ban on firearms that are protected in the Second Amendment.
Michael Steele seems to think he can decide what firearms are “needed”, or not.
nelsonknows on November 24, 2008 at 4:45 AM
Yeah I can see it now….at $.05 a message….
kanda on November 24, 2008 at 7:20 AM
…life-long-over-50-Republican here who went over her 1000 txt msg lmt lst mnth.
LEBA on November 24, 2008 at 11:39 AM
To Steele:
Don’t care what you want. Get out now! You are part of the problem not part of the solution! You were part of the group shilling for McCain rather than sounding the alarm during the last debacle! We need fresh ideas from fresh people! You ain’t it! My money stays with me until the Republicans “get it”! They won’t with you!
Regards!
sabbott on November 24, 2008 at 1:05 PM
As an IT Executive Program Manager that manages complex Infrastructure and Software implementations of up to $100M, I think I can handle a text message Dick Weed!
sabbott on November 24, 2008 at 1:07 PM
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