DNC already starting to attack Sanford ahead of 2012
posted at 7:21 pm on March 12, 2009 by Allahpundit
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Not just the DNC, either. In the span of one day, his decision to turn down part of the stimulus funds earned him criticism from the national organization, the Democratic Governors Association, and even James Clyburn, deploying one of his patented race-baiting denunciations. All for a guy who’s barred by term limits from running for governor again next year.
The One’s honeymoon is ending and the stimulus is starting to stink, with those who opposed it in the name of fiscal responsibility the obvious political beneficiaries. They’re nervous.
The DNC sent this note to South Carolina reporters this morning:
The reviews are in, and South Carolinians from both parties are rejecting Governor Mark Sanford’s decision to play politics with $700 million in federal job creation and economic recovery funds. On the same day the Washington Post is running a front-page story on the economic crisis in South Carolina, a bipartisan mix of South Carolina leaders are criticizing Gov. Sanford’s decision to put his personal political ambitions ahead of the people of South Carolina by threatening to reject economic recovery funds that will create or retain jobs, improve education, and complete infrastructure projects throughout South Carolina. As one local paper reports, “South Carolina’s Republican-controlled General Assembly is poised to rebuff Sanford and seek the stimulus money on its own.”
“Mark Sanford is putting his personal ambition ahead of the people of South Carolina by cow-towing to the Rush Limbaugh-led, obstructionist wing of the Republican Party,” said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Now is not the time to politicize these practical steps to create jobs in South Carolina and across the country. Governor Sanford should stop playing politics and work with leaders from both parties who want to use the economic recovery funds to help create jobs, fix our schools, reform our health care system, make America energy independent, and lay the foundation for long-term growth in the 21st Century.”
He wants to use a quarter of South Carolina’s stimulus money to pay down the state’s debt and is seeking a waiver from Obama to do so. Exit question: A slam dunk VP choice for 2012, assuming he’s not nominated for president? The GOP will be looking to prove it’s not a regional party by having someone from outside the south top the ticket, so Sanford would provide geographic balance at the bottom. He’s young, he’s got a solid record on ethics (he kept his promise not to run for more than three terms in the House), and he’s a Christian who proved himself willing to stand up for separation of church and state by not endorsing the SC license plates with crosses on them. Toss in his adamant opposition to new spending and a public nauseated by endless bailouts should find him much to their liking circa 2011. I’ll repeat what I asked you the other day: Romney/Sanford?
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^^AGREE! THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN RECOMMENDING!
I don’t give moolah to the RNC anymore – it all goes to SarahPac now. I trust her to distribute the funds to conservative causes and candidates – I don’t trust the RNC. Now if the RNC wants to be a REAL conservative party again one day – then maybe. But not now.
If you REALLY want to impact the GOP – you gotta do it with $$ … and the best way is to tell them that they now have to get Sarah’s endorsement before you’ll give them funds. Just tell ‘em to go and see Sarah.
Additionally – the MORE we can inflate SarahPac with funds – the more the GOP will SEE where the REAL power is in the GOP. And it is … as always … with the conservative base.
HondaV65 on March 12, 2009 at 9:28 PM
Interesting, but consider a spot for Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
After watching Steele trip and fall–repeatedly–Kasich would be a welcome change. Someone after you questioned his executive experience, but he was a key player in the balanced budget days of the 1990s. To my mind, he gets things done, and he doesn’t take any shit. D.L. what’s-his-name would have gotten scorched if he’d have tried to pull the crap on Kasich that he did on Steele. Kasich knows what he believes, and he knows how to communicate if a plain English manner.
All the same, Kasich seems to have his eyes on the Ohio’s governor’s mansion in 2010. And, as an Ohio, I want him running because I think he’d be good.
BuckeyeSam on March 12, 2009 at 9:36 PM
Yes! Romney/Sanford!!
The Principal Chair on March 12, 2009 at 9:37 PM
Nah, Romney/Pawlenty or Romney/Crist. I don’t want the usual “conservative” fingerprints to be on this one.
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 9:52 PM
^ I.e., no excuses next time.
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 9:54 PM
Put another way?
“We didn’t vote for a rush to failure.”
Oh wait, that was supposed to have been an anti-Rush Limbaugh line wasn’t it?
Weird, it fits perfectly here.
gekkobear on March 12, 2009 at 10:01 PM
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 9:52 PM
I don’t understand your dislike for Romney.
goat on March 12, 2009 at 10:02 PM
I don’t dislike him. What I dislike is the prospect of the MSM choosing our candidate for us again. But if that’s the way it will be, I say we go a more “centrist” route and put an end to the Frum types.
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Yes!!
Theworldisnotenough on March 12, 2009 at 10:07 PM
The media wants Jindal. He gets the good press, while Sanford is preemptively criticized. The heat he is taking is an endorsement. The people magazine esque coverage Jindal is getting is a black mark as far as I am concerned.
Theworldisnotenough on March 12, 2009 at 10:09 PM
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Ok, I agree there but to end that we need to close our primaries most conservatives pay little attention to the MSM anyway. We ended up with McCain because of open primaries and crossover votes because he was our weakest candidate and the lefty blogs encouraged voting for McCain in states where Obama was well ahead of Hillary.
goat on March 12, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Yawn…
Barely cracking 100 comments on this boredom… Wake me up when a Sanford-pumping thread by Allah gets in 400-500 comment territory.
He is simply not that interesting.
Norwegian on March 12, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Running Backdoor John and having our a** handed to us didn’t put an end to the Frum types. Look, if you want to lose so bad, run Specter/Crist. Or Specter/Huckabee. Or just forfeit the race. You’re not going to win with any of those turds. So rather than spend a bunch of money on another crap ticket, just forfeit. Would Linc Chafee run for President? What about Chafee/Lieberman? Falling off my bike on a gravel road is more fun than these GOP candidate threads. Chris Matthews couldn’t pick better candidates for us to lose with than some of you guys.
austinnelly on March 12, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Right. The point is, though, if we’re going to have sacrificial lambs, let them both be candidates of which the blessed “centrists” will approve. Then, when they get their asses handed to them and Obama is back in office for another term, people like Frum will be even more irrelevant than they are now.
All the combos you mention would probably pass muster in that regard.
I think deep down the media wants Romney.
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 10:15 PM
My favorite story about Sanford is when he brought two live pigs into the SC statehouse to point out to the legislature their “porkish” ways. The two pigs were Pork and Barrel.
Call it an accomplishment or not, it was effective message sending.
mngirl on March 12, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Even James Clyburn? He’s a notorious race baiter and Obama ally. The Dems have already made headway into VA and NC. Of course, they want SC.
chunderroad on March 12, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Agreed.
chunderroad on March 12, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Thank you for responding. Problem with this is that Sanford still has a bad record on immigration in Congress. Sanford was considered to be part of the original problem. Of course, so was Reagan.
http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=SC&VIPID=730
kcarpenter on March 12, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Straight out of Chinatown.
chunderroad on March 12, 2009 at 10:24 PM
Yes, and it did not work. This is about leadership and leading people down the path you need them to go. Most of his vetoes have been over-ridden and he knows that.
That is why I asked what has he accomplished, not what has he done or what has he said.
The message is great, it is the messenger that currently has the problem. Talk is cheap. It is the same problem that Ron Paul has.
kcarpenter on March 12, 2009 at 10:28 PM
My guess is that Mitt Romney will be the choice of the media and the GOP establishment in 2012. Pawlenty and Crist are non-starters.
The great thing about Mitt is that he can take 4-5 different positione on any issue. Run him in Massachusetts and he’s a flaming liberal. Seeking national GOP office and suddenly he becomes more conservative. The more conservative candidates (Palin, Sanford, DeMint, Jindal will face the greatest scruntity and the media will try to take them out.
bw222 on March 12, 2009 at 10:30 PM
kcarpenter on March 12, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Are you an SC resident? What is up with the economy there? Why is unemplooment so high?
goat on March 12, 2009 at 10:32 PM
Please don’t, and no.
Sanford is at the top of the ticket. I’d like to see Gary Johnson as his VP (no Palin, no Huck is all I ask) with Ron Paul as Secretary of the Treasury.
Tell ya what. If Steele doesn’t get it together, then Romney can be RNC Chairman.
Rae on March 12, 2009 at 10:37 PM
WTF Ron Paul is a doctor not an economist, his ideas were enough to spin my head in circles when it came to economics.
goat on March 12, 2009 at 10:45 PM
Folks here is the bottom line: if SarahPAC raises $100m it won’t matter who the MSM wants the GOP to run.
technopeasant on March 12, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Techno, you could say the same thing if Romney’s raised as much as well. As you said we’ll see next month.
goat on March 12, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Nice spin. What that actually says it’s that he’s proven he hates freedom.
Darth Executor on March 12, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Yep. And the guy’s a prima donna.
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 11:26 PM
^ And also has landslide electoral victory for Obama written all over him. The media will be in love with him by early 2012.
ddrintn on March 12, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Kasich is needed to run for governor of Ohio.
The ticket for 2012 is looking like Palin/Romney and it would be a great ticket. Sarah the all-round Reaganesque one with the establishment eastern guy.
If I were Sarah, I’d secretly get in touch with Romney’s people and team up BEFORE the primaries even begin. If Romney is humble enough, and the two run as a TEAM in the primary or even start very early in 2011, they will have a mountain of funds as the other GOP challengers simply give up early. Then they will be free to dismantle the mess of Obama.
He lacks the courage of Sarah or the charisma, but easterners, country-clubbers like Mitt and he could be the Bush 41 pick for Sarah.
Think of it. If they ran from the beginning as a team. Yes, that’s crap sliding down Chrissy’s leg.
Sapwolf on March 13, 2009 at 12:13 AM
Romney comes across as a phoney. Especially, after all the “changes” of heart. Sanford is my favorite so far. Sarah has way too much baggage.
Chekote on March 13, 2009 at 1:15 AM
I was hugely anti-Romney last year, especially after Michigan, when he promised 20 billion and McCain said “some of the jobs aren’t coming back”.
But now I’m thinking that Mitt might be the man. Difficult to pin down on issues, sure, and too apt to change his mind, but after four years of Obama, we’ll need an executive to clean things up. I valued that a lot less, this time last year.
tigerinexile on March 13, 2009 at 1:20 AM
So yes, Romney-Sanford.
I’d prefer Sanford at the top of the ticket, but I’ll take this one too.
tigerinexile on March 13, 2009 at 1:20 AM
When I saw Sanford essentially pull a Steele in the face of liberal reporter accusations and roll over, I lost respect. We need someone who can adhere to the platform and be proud of the stance in the face of the liberal press or liberal Senators. Until Sanford learns to do this, he’s not my candidate.
Christian Conservative on March 13, 2009 at 2:00 AM
Sanford should be at the top of the ticket, his intelligence puts him far enough ahead of everyone else that the geographic problems are easily overwhelmed. If I had it my way it’d be Sanford/Coburn, but I don’t think that ticket wins. Maybe Sanford/Gregg, shock the world and put a northeasterner on the ticket, I mean, screw TARP, but a lot of people sold out under those circumstances.
galenrox on March 13, 2009 at 2:55 AM
The Palin gushers will be outraged that he doesn’t mention God in every speech. Speedwagon82 on March 12, 2009 at 7:29 PM
You need to keep the name of the Lord out of your petty observations and failed attempts at being clever. As my father would have said, “Don’t try to be funny when you don’t know how.”
tigerlily on March 13, 2009 at 3:09 AM
Ouch! That tiger’s got claws!
Isn’t it funny he beat techno bringing up Sarah Palin in a Sanford thread? Not by much, though:)
Brian1972 on March 13, 2009 at 3:41 AM
I’m still learning about Sanford. He has been rather obscure to me until just recently. Saw him on Hannity the other night, and he sounds like a good Gov, but there are some who have issues with him that are from South Carolina. We shall see how he does. Sanford seems to lack the personality to project through the TV to the viewer effectively. Call it “presence”.
Brian1972 on March 13, 2009 at 3:48 AM
I’ll repeat what I asked you the other day: Romney/Sanford?
Watching Ap standing amid Republicans and tossing out nominee suggestions is like watching Bill Clinton chatting up your wife. You know nothing good can come of this.
SKYFOX on March 13, 2009 at 5:50 AM
Smell that?
It’s called FEAR.
When the CHANGE! tanks and eliminates HOPE! the by product is called FEAR.
That’s a big reason the Donks have been pushing the GOP around the last two elections. They have no fear of their opposition.
We must work to craft ideas and solutions to the current mess, speak out against the rising tide of incompitence in the White House and the Congress and make it CRYSTAL F’ING CLEAR to the GOP remnant in Congress that they MUST stand up to these dopes and MUST hold the line.
Only then will the Dems start to truely fear us and when Dems get scared, they screw up. (Well, they screw up bigger than normal.)
SuperCool on March 13, 2009 at 5:52 AM
That baggage will keep her from being the nominee; most of that baggage is courtesy of people like Kos Kiddies. They know they were successful at what they were trying to do; they’ll do it again and succeed. Froom here on out Kos in conjunction with the media will put the kybosh on any of our candidates they don’t like — because we let them.
ddrintn on March 13, 2009 at 7:00 AM
Isn’t unemployment and poverty and education quality in South Carolina the best argument against anyone who comes out of that state? It has had consistent conservative leadership since the Reagan era and it’s only second to Michigan in unemployment. Hmmmm whats the common denominator, hint, it ain’t unions.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 13, 2009 at 7:56 AM
I don’t know that I’m all that comfortable have Captain Earmark heading up Treasury in a Republican administration.
myrenovations on March 13, 2009 at 8:30 AM
Oh you guys will throw them under the bus once they make a mistake.
tomas on March 13, 2009 at 8:42 AM
Paul/Sanford – Sanford isolates Paul from the anti-war kooks, but still allows Paul to oppose foreign aid and other policies that are semi-”interventionist”. Our economic house gets seriously in order – for two terms till the Rockafeller Republicans waiting in the wings try to take over the party again. Paul is the most truly conservative of all the possible candidates, but completely misunderstands the nature of the Islamic menace.
Palin/ Sanford – Both are charasmatic and brighter than the Dems give them credit for, but are damaged by Dem rhetoric. Good for social conservatives who want strong economics as well, just not as good as Paul/Sanford would be on that front. Serious stab at ethics reform under withering Democrat PR slime will fail, but might set up a chance to promote a reformist movement ala Goldwater.
Jindal/ Sanford – Dems will slime Jindal with Katrina, even though he is the only good thing in Louisiana that happened from the storm. Jindal proposes reform. Sanford then becomes economic bulldog to sic on Dems opposing reform. Again, not a true corrective to the system as Paul would be, but would at least curtail some government programs in need of serious pruning.
Romney/ Sanford – Looks better on paper than it really is. Romney isn’t a true Rockafeller Republican, but isn’t a true conservative either. Sanford does nothing for Romney except make VP choice look wise. Social conservatives will be troubled, but not repulsed. Mormon issue finally goes away for evangelicals in second term. Would be good for America’s image overseas.
papabryant on March 13, 2009 at 9:01 AM
I’m not sure the Mormon issue ever goes away for a good portion of evangelicals. I can only hope Romney gets elected without them for the first term so we can find out.
Durham68 on March 13, 2009 at 9:09 AM
Agreed. I was really surprised that Ron Paul defended his earmarks yesterday on Cavuto. I keep hearing how he is against this spending…but hes for earmarks?
Im against anyone who asks for an earmark. To me they are nothing short of bribes for votes. I will vote for you if you bring money home. blah
becki51758 on March 13, 2009 at 9:25 AM
TOO EARLY! sorry to shout, but I’m still getting a ringing in my ears from 2008. Leave it lie for a few more, please!
Doug on March 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM
“Mark Sanford is putting his personal ambition ahead of the people of South Carolina by cow-towing to the Rush Limbaugh-led, obstructionist wing of the Republican Party,” said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Brad Woodhouse.
Okay it now is becoming clearer: Rush has been set up as the reason for anything the dems want to attack just as Newt was several years ago. Every time they crank up the propaganda machine you will see the name Rush attached to it.
Pardonme on March 13, 2009 at 11:43 AM
He’s done that by being the most sold-out governor in the US.
sethstorm on March 13, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Well, that’s when South Carolina stops being a bordello.
sethstorm on March 13, 2009 at 11:59 AM
I am not pushing Sanford (I’ve just started reading up on him and I agree with others that it is far too early to annoint a front-runner for ‘12), but I don’t see how you can ignore his “A” rating from the CATO Institute (assuming you are a conservative). A few snippets from their 2008 report card on governors:
A Palin-Romney combo could be very interesting, but I don’t see Romney being willing to go for the second slot. Personally, I would be fine with Palin as Romney’s running mate, if the ticket made it clear from the outset where her expertise would be applied (energy policy, government reform)… but I doubt she’d be willing to run as VP again.
Y-not on March 13, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Good suggestion, I’ve done just that (donated to SarahPac). RNC, no soup for you!
james23 on March 13, 2009 at 1:10 PM
+1. This is Mitt’s strong suit. He wouldn’t have to stay on until 2012 (clearly, he is running again). Just spend a year or two setting up an efficient team at the RNC then turn it over to s/o else to run
james23 on March 13, 2009 at 1:17 PM
I am. SC native. Moved back in 2006 after 18 years in Georgia. Word we got this week was that SC has had a large migration of unemployed coming here from other states looking for work. Will be good for SC in the long haul but bad looking for us right now.
Unions don’t have anything to do with it. Poverty harks back to areas that traditionally stand there with their hands out, wanting their guvmint handouts. How do you think Clyburn gets reelected every 2 years? Nothing but a race pimp. Many of the problems are created by folks that don’t want change. They had their textile jobs, now they sit on their lazy @$$3$ and cry for the state to do something to get their jobs back. Ain’t going to happen.
Someone mentioned that Sanford has been overruled many times. He is a true conservative/libertarian. As far as conservative leadership since Reagan, many of the RINOs in the legislature are Democrats that converted to Rebulican when the state became primarily Republican. Same thing in GA.
There are 2 South Carolinas now. Come to the upstate, or the Midlands around Columbia, even some of the Lowcountry near Charleston, Sanford’s territory. You will see a vast difference in the economy vs. the rural areas sitting around waiting for their next handout. We’ve lost some jobs in the Greenville area, but in the last month we’ve had 4-5 announcements of new industries coming here. Far more than the 25 jobs President Obama celebrated in Cleveland just the other day.
waveman on March 13, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Ouch! That tiger’s got claws!
Isn’t it funny he beat techno bringing up Sarah Palin in a Sanford thread? Not by much, though:)
Brian1972 on March 13, 2009 at 3:41 AM
Yes, techno may have fallen asleep at the Daily Kos blog.
tigerlily on March 13, 2009 at 8:38 PM
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