Steele on Hoffman’s defeat: It was a botched process
posted at 8:18 pm on November 4, 2009 by Allahpundit
A rare point of agreement between him, Huckabee, and Rush Limbaugh: If only NY-23 had had a primary, all this unpleasantness would have been avoided. Maybe, maybe not. Ace and I have been arguing by e-mail about whether the third-party dynamic being championed by Beck is merely a bluff to scare the GOP into moving right (Ace’s theory) or whether GB and his fans are serious when they say they’ll no longer vote for the lesser of two evils (my theory). Certainly primaries are a better way to handle intraparty warfare than third-party challenges, but they’re not perfect. My sense of the looming Crist/Rubio battle in Florida is that it’s going to get nasty and that Crist will likely end up being just as demonized as the eventual Democratic nominee, if not more so. And if that happens — and Crist wins the primary anyway — I’m not sure how the fences end up being mended in time for a unified party-line vote in the general election. It’s hard to go from “this guy’s a scumbag RINO who’s no better than the Democrats who are destroying the country” to “this guy represents most of my interests” in a few months. I don’t know what the solution is to that, but I think Ace is smart in trying to build bridges between “pragmatists” and “maximalists” long in advance. The nastier things get, the more likely hardcore supporters in the primary loser’s camp end up staying home for the general, and the more likely a Democratic Congress becomes. Click the image to watch.
Blowback
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No longer vote for the lesser of two evils. It gets you nowhere except dunked each time.
tarpon on November 4, 2009 at 8:25 PM
Botched? Ya think?
I wish someone would pay me to come up with that conclusion so quickly!
Bob's Kid on November 4, 2009 at 8:25 PM
give credit (and blame) where its due.
eat it NY GOP>
ted c on November 4, 2009 at 8:25 PM
I like Ace’s theory better. Just because it would be a disaster otherwise.
John the Libertarian on November 4, 2009 at 8:25 PM
I fall into the “I will never vote for the lesser of the two evils” category. I’m through with RINOs. Conservatives only.
Zorro on November 4, 2009 at 8:26 PM
In all fairness, the National GOP should not have endorsed Crist until after the primary with Rubio. That endorsement, more than anything else, created the animosity in the first place.
Revenant on November 4, 2009 at 8:26 PM
no doubt, but at least they’re getting it. You want obtuse? Pelosi thinks the Dems and healthcare won last night.
John the Libertarian on November 4, 2009 at 8:27 PM
Hey Steele close the primaries then we can talk. If you keep them open we will just get more scuzzy’s in there to muck things up.
Brat4life on November 4, 2009 at 8:27 PM
I’m not buying anything Steele says at this point. These idiots just spent $900k pushing a RINO that was further to the left than her democrat opponent. What they should havce done was gotten behind Hoffman, and just perhaps he would have beaten Owens last night.
It’s time for a long-overdue leadership change in the Republican Party, and the sooner it happens, the better.
Dave R. on November 4, 2009 at 8:28 PM
Ok….the I hope you the Democrats being in power for a long while.
terryannonline on November 4, 2009 at 8:28 PM
Will give primaries a fair shake…but if the winner of the primaries is a McCain, then 3rd party I go.
Conservative Voice on November 4, 2009 at 8:28 PM
Michael Steele can suck it. As long as that worthless piece of jive-talkin’ trash is
runningruining the GOP, we’ll continue getting crap about reaching out and being hip instead of being conservative.Sit on a fence post, sideways, you worthless piece of crap.
Blarg the Destroyer on November 4, 2009 at 8:29 PM
I’m not sure how not voting for the lesser of two evils equates to third party. I’m not going third party, but I’m not voting for another Dede, either. I’ll leave that line blank.
Buford Gooch on November 4, 2009 at 8:29 PM
But if the GOP is putting up candidates like Snowe, Scozzafava, Specter, etc…what’s the difference between that and a Democrat Congress?
JohnTant on November 4, 2009 at 8:30 PM
I hope Ace follows these comments so he’ll know whose theory is correct.
Allahpundit on November 4, 2009 at 8:30 PM
Even after reading that in Yoda’s voice, it still doesn’t make sense.
Blarg the Destroyer on November 4, 2009 at 8:30 PM
Steele’s point about putting small races in a national microscope is good, but the fact is that the RNC backed a bad candidate.
AnninCA on November 4, 2009 at 8:31 PM
Ding! Ding! Ding! we have a winner!
IowaWoman on November 4, 2009 at 8:31 PM
But… uh… Crist really is a nasty RINO.
Well, he’s a mainstream Republican I mean. After the NY-23 business I think we ought to all have an entirely new definition of what a RINO is.
Lehosh on November 4, 2009 at 8:31 PM
This idea of building bridges rests on a premise that conservatives feel they’re stakeholders in the GOP. That premise may not be true for a lot of conservatives, like me for example, since many of us are not and never have been GOPbots.
NorthernCross on November 4, 2009 at 8:32 PM
The LESSER of two EVILS is STILL EVIL.
Dandapani on November 4, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Is it just me, or is anninca starting to make sense? I’m worried about myself.
Buford Gooch on November 4, 2009 at 8:33 PM
I think FL and IL are going to get nasty, but once the voters decide in a primary then that nominee should be supported. It boils down to the person we agree with 70-80% of the time vs the one we don’t agree with at all. I think we’re close to straying into cutting off our nose to spite our face.
changer1701 on November 4, 2009 at 8:35 PM
My good some of you sound like Daily Kosser asking for progressive purity.
terryannonline on November 4, 2009 at 8:36 PM
I personally like Fred Thompson’s take. Choices aren’t bad. If the candidates trash one another unnecessarily, then that’s going to stick a bit. But a good candidate should be able to move past that.
AnninCA on November 4, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Oh no, I don’t think it’s a bluff. He’s been speaking of a plan.
Colorado Anne on November 4, 2009 at 8:36 PM
The problem is the 20-30% agreement. Hard to vote for that one.
Buford Gooch on November 4, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Let’s go with who was in the race for the position first.
Oh wait, Rubio would win that.
Enoxo on November 4, 2009 at 8:37 PM
+1
John the Libertarian on November 4, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Poll Time?
Amadeus on November 4, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Primaries are good because they let the locals decide. I think many of yesterday’s results are driven more by local issues rather than the national debate going on within the GOP.
I think Hoffman was viewed by some as a bit of an outsider… he wasn’t able to vote in the election he contested as he did not reside in the district. It may have been enough to make a difference.
lexhamfox on November 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM
I’m in Madison. I’ll take a RINO here in a heartbeat, just like I’ll take them in any other blue leaning districts we can get them in.
But in a red district there’s really no excuse for not running a conservative candidate.
And I read Ace’s ‘pragmatist/maximalist’ post, and hope that the right’s overwhelming fear of another two years of President Obama going mostly unchecked will wash away most of the primary nastiness. I hope.
BadgerHawk on November 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Michael Steele is not at all serious. He needs to close the primaries, stop having party bosses choose politicians, and stop having the NRCC and NRSC choose our candidates. What the hell is that?!
Also, shouldn’t we note that Steele threw conservatives like us, Palin, Thompson, and others under the bus?
cubachi on November 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Ace and Allah are both right, in a way.
I personally hope the GOP is scared shitless over a third party concept.
So scared, in fact, we won’t have to vote for the lesser of two evils.
But that also depends on how hard we work to make sure we don’t have this Hobson’s choice to begin with.
Which means activism on our part in the Republican primaries. With low voter turnout, as a rule, in primaries… we can do it.
Yes we can!
TXUS on November 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM
It’s good that he gets it: This was the Mother of All Botches
When else have you seen the candidate of a major party drop out and support the other major party–at the last minute?
This was part Kabuki and part Freak Show, and for Botoxi to say that it was in any way ‘national’ is cray-zee
Janos Hunyadi on November 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Just curious…
… is he allowed to post comments?
Seven Percent Solution on November 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM
I think Ace is right as he has already shown supporting evidence for that theory in this post here.
In the event, you (AP) are correct, I think the effect will be movement right regardless of the intent.
Spirit of 1776 on November 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM
When Steel said this morning in an interview that the two big governor races had nothing to do with referendum on Obama’s policies—-I just about fell out of my chair. Micheal Steel has got to go….NOW!
Of course, I’d certainly listen to advice from folks like Ace and Allah. Now there’s a pair to draw insight from. I don’t know which is making the argument, but this country IS moving to the right because of the lefts radical fiscal policies that even moderate democrats and independents UNDERSTAND is not sustainable. The Crist/Rubio battle will be won by the candidate that races to the right first on conservative fiscal policies.
Rovin on November 4, 2009 at 8:41 PM
It was a special election, so there couldn’t be a primary. But what does it say about the local GOP that they nominated someone who was basically to the left of the Democrat and endorsed by dailykos?
It isn’t that a particular candidate has to march lock-step with James Dobson or whomever, but you do need people who are willing to stand up for Republican values rather than suck up to the other party simply because they are in power.
By the way, what are the Republican Party’s principles?
rbj on November 4, 2009 at 8:42 PM
I would rather have a moderate Republican than a liberal Democrat any day. The Republican candidate may not always be what I would want on every single issue but by and large the Republicans are tons less dangerous to this country than the Democrats are.
crosspatch on November 4, 2009 at 8:43 PM
I figured this would happen…lol.
SouthernGent on November 4, 2009 at 8:43 PM
.
Mark Kirk is not a RINO, he is a Chicago Democrat with an R after his name. He is a Cap and Traitor, he abuses his position in the reserves to take trips to Astan, put on a uniform, then say he is the first Congressman to be deployed since WWII, and he actually said of the drug companies, “..it was a mistake for us (Washington) to allow the drug companies to advertise their products”.
Mark Kirk actually came out against a private company exercising its 1st Amendment rights, and I’m supposed to smile and take it up the butt? NO MORE.
Screw Kirk, and screw all RINOs. We are coming for you.
Blarg the Destroyer on November 4, 2009 at 8:44 PM
Do you mean this?:
Uh, he basically said it was a referendum. I’ll admit he contradicted himself.
terryannonline on November 4, 2009 at 8:45 PM
Just so you know, in the New York race, the 70-80% person for us was the Democrat…
Lehosh on November 4, 2009 at 8:46 PM
Steele is just confused by Obama’s shell game. Obama outsources his legislation to Pelosi and Reid so it can’t be tied to him except through party. Obama’s defeat will be by sticking unpopular legislation to him – as fits his claim of a mandate - but Steele will be having none of that!
Spirit of 1776 on November 4, 2009 at 8:47 PM
I agree.
Give me a candidate that wont betray the core principles of conservatism.
canditaylor68 on November 4, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Quite.
People would be a lot more satisfied with the way things balance out of the primaries if the rnc, nrcc, nrsc would keep their thumb off the scale.
jaime on November 4, 2009 at 8:49 PM
It’s this kind of myopic disease that got us in to this mess.
The defeat came from no core conviction to conservative values. What good is winning a seat if the seat is firmly planted on the other side of the aisle with zero loyalty to any goal other than self service.
These people had no principle behind their strategy other than winning. As the old saying goes…winning isn’t everything.
Serious lack of foresight and wisdom in these so called leaders.
To blame Palin makes me furious. If Palin had not gotten involved we would have another disloyal rino voting the Republican party into distant outter space.
Palin shook up the race, brought a serious issue to light, stirred up the muck at the bottom of the pot and now Steele wants to blame Palin.
STEELE HAS GOT TO GO!!!!!
katy on November 4, 2009 at 8:50 PM
Ka-Botched!!!!!!!!!!
RNC has been sent a clear message what the base wants,
a conservative!
The leadership,will have to give up putting moderates,
and Rino’s that the base,simply won’t vote for!!
So,the GOP and RNC,are still in SNAFU mode,
Systems *Still Normal All F****D UP!!
*(I improvised,added still)
canopfor on November 4, 2009 at 8:50 PM
If I am interpreting your intent accurately, I can only ask: What’s the difference between the Dems being in power for a long time and the Scuzzfavas, Snowes, and McCains being in power for a long time?
I’ll vote conservative or nothing (except a write-in protest vote for a conservative candidate).
SouperConservative on November 4, 2009 at 8:52 PM
For me, I don’t want a “moderate” government take-over of healthcare or the energy sector. There is no “moderate” deficit spending that I’m willing to tolerate.
So, I guess that puts me in the Beck camp. The Republicans we got now are like those lords Lochlan & Craig in Braveheart. They’re on our side, but not really.
p0s3r on November 4, 2009 at 8:53 PM
The party need to relearn who they serve, repetitively .
the_nile on November 4, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Ace, if you are reading, you are correct. Beck is not the leader of any party nor will he ever be. In a national election a third party will lose but in Congressional elections it depends on the district.
d1carter on November 4, 2009 at 8:56 PM
The biggest RINO of them (Steele)all is on Greta tonight….must remove all breakable items!
ohiorebel on November 4, 2009 at 8:56 PM
I listen to Beck every day, and think you BOTH are right. I think Beck believes that the only party that could fit the values of tea party people/9-12ers is the Republican Party. However, if they don’t clean up their act and get rid of the Dede types, the third party will become necessary because people won’t continue voting in the same garbage.
You didn’t watch the NJ Gov. race too closely, that is exactly what happened and it worked out ok.
njpat on November 4, 2009 at 8:56 PM
If someone like Scozza got through a primary, I expect Beck would vote 3rd party. If Hoffman got through a primary, I expect Beck would vote Republican. I don’t think it was a bluff, so Ace is probably wrong on that. But Beck obviously hasn’t written off the GOP or he wouldn’t have put conditions on the third party thing, so what AP is trying to spin out of this is not quite right either.
Ronnie on November 4, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Isn’t there another option here that is akin to what happened in NY-23? A movement that vets candidates not by political party (the US for better or worse is set up as a two party system and that isn’t going to change). Why not a shadow unaligned political party that supports candidates based on positions not by a D or R.
highhopes on November 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM
Pay attention… “We The People” will no longer vote for the lesser of two evils! We deserve better, and if the process can’t supply that for us, then we take it into our own hands to make it so. So says the Declaration Of Independence!
The Dead Terrorist on November 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM
I don’t know if you know this but Scozzfava, Olympia Snowe, and McCain aren’t all of the Republican Party.
terryannonline on November 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM
\
I’ll go with Tarpon on this
What good would it do to have a bunch of DEDe what’s her name type senators and representatives.
It would be better to have 41 or 42 conservatives in the senate then 40 conservatives and 20 moderates republicans. We still would not be able to do anything(defund any agency or changing the tax law radically or even build a damn fence).
I just think of how many moderates are pro gay marriage and pro open borders and pro cap and trade and not to worried about taxes and I say let them go to the other side. Let them join the democrats and bring them further to the right then join the republican and drag us to the left.
Conservatives outnumber moderates and liberal
kangjie on November 4, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Steele taking the helm of the RNC was a botched process too. He is not strong and does not seem to have a coherent vision for the direction of the party. He ain’t gonna get any donations backing moderate or liberal RINO’s either.
echosyst on November 4, 2009 at 9:02 PM
Everyone’s got a line in the sand. Mine’s fiscal conservatism/small government. I don’t think I’m alone.
Rational Thought on November 4, 2009 at 9:02 PM
I don’t know if you know this but Scozzfava, Olympia Snowe, and McCain aren’t all of the Republican Party.
terryannonline on November 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM
terryannonline: As I responded early this morning to Proud
Rino,Scozzafava is a Liberal,running as a
Republican!
Talk about botched,Scozzafava was basically
a Double Agent!!!!!!!!!!
canopfor on November 4, 2009 at 9:03 PM
They did NOTHING for Christie. I’m in NJ, and received NO mailers for Christie. The day before election day I got two crappy mailers from the RNC that both said the same thing, “NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation, vote Republican.” No mention of Christie or any other candidate.
njpat on November 4, 2009 at 9:06 PM
I listened to Glenn Beck this morning in his only hour on radio. He discussed with Stu that the when the republican party went conservative they won. And he mentioned New Jersey and Virginia. He was actually happy about the results of those races.
He then pointed at NY-23 as a referendum on the GOP for squandering a great conservative in Hoffman, for Dede who was more liberal than the democrat.
So I agree with Ace. This is Beck’s way of pushing the GOP to its conservative roots.
cubachi on November 4, 2009 at 9:07 PM
B-b-b-but if I vote for a third choice the Democraps will take over everything and we’ll all live under socialism forever and ever!
/sarc
Dark-Star on November 4, 2009 at 9:08 PM
We organize a conservative faction and we make a few demands and require the Republican Party to publicly sign on to these demands and in return we promise not to compete against them.
It would be easy to destroy the Republican Party in a period of weeks or months and replace them with a new conservative party. All it requires is for the conservative office holders to organize the new party and suddenly the Republican Party is a moderate party with absolutely nothing to campaign on. A moderate party cannot campaign for anything with all the energy in the two wing parties, and no one would give them any money.
The reason it might be important now to have an official conservative faction is that the Democrats might try to run fake conservative independent candidates to fragment the conservative vote. If it’s not authorized by the official conservative faction, the fake conservative independents won’t get any traction.
Buddahpundit on November 4, 2009 at 9:09 PM
I heard beck went into the hospital with appendicitis when he left this morning.
njpat on November 4, 2009 at 9:09 PM
That’s all that really matters. Why the Republican Party tries to compete with Dems on who’s the better daddy, I’ll never understand. If we reward Republican who betray the value of small goverment there will be no turning back.
sweeper on November 4, 2009 at 9:11 PM
Thank you for pointing that out.
Your question was about voting for the lesser of 2 evils. I am pointing out some of the evils where if I had the opportunity to vote for them, I would not.
With people like McCain, Scuzzy, & Snowe as “Republicans” there is very little difference than having Democrats in power. I thought that was clear from my previous post.
SouperConservative on November 4, 2009 at 9:11 PM
Christie ran a flawed campaign against a rich incumbent with Deep Pockets in a Very Blue state, and won by a sizable margin–apparently with little or no help from Steele or the RNC. He won because a lot of non-Democrats came out to vote against Democrat policies as personified by Corzine.
Republican candidates–assuming they are conservatives–need to learn that they can win if they run as conservatives rather than doing the Lindsay Graham Big Tent Tango
Janos Hunyadi on November 4, 2009 at 9:13 PM
I wish Ken Blackwell was the RNC head.
Sapwolf on November 4, 2009 at 9:13 PM
Let the other side build their own damn bridge. Then they can walk across it to our side. Oh yeah, strike that stupid big tent, too. You can’t fool all the people all the time and you can’t get all the people to like you all the time either.
Kissmygrits on November 4, 2009 at 9:20 PM
The problem is, in our representative republic, you only have to fool enough of the people enough of the time.
Dark-Star on November 4, 2009 at 9:21 PM
What difference does it make to vote for a republican if there is only a hair’s difference between the 2 …… give me a real choice not just a greater or lesser shade of gray…….. I want a conservative not some middle of the road uncertain hack who goes along to get along ….there is indeed black and white in the world and for to long we have tried to go to people and embrace their idea’s no matter how liberal they were ( NY – 23 ) instead of bringing them to us with good common sense policies
Aggie95 on November 4, 2009 at 9:29 PM
Agree, Allahpundit. Tell that to your Boss, Michelle Malkin.
And let’s see what she will say.
TheAlamos on November 4, 2009 at 9:33 PM
How about Sarah Palin for RNC Chair??
SouperConservative on November 4, 2009 at 9:45 PM
John McCain is not as conservative as I would prefer, but he is more conservative than any Democrat in the Senate and votes with fellow Republicans twice as much as any Democrat. To me, that’s a major difference.
The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.
— Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004)
John McCain is a Republican, not a traitor.
Snowe is very troublesome to me because she seems to approach the 50% level at times, but I believe she is mostly around 60%. However, I don’t live in Maine, so I have no say in their elections. It’s up to American citizens who live in Maine, not me. Also, I’d prefer a moderate Republican voting with me 50-60% of the time than a moderate Democrat voting against me 70% percent of the time. If you don’t like Snowe and want her gone, move to Maine, or file a motion at the next Republican Convention removing her from the Party and setting litmus tests. Personally, instead of bashing her and her voters, who just did a wonderful job on Gay Marriage, I’d rather disagree with them specific issues and try to change their opinions.
Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.
— Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004)
Quoting the “Eleventh Commandment”
Scozzafava is even more of a problem for me than Snowe. I believe in a Big Tent party like Reagan, but as he did, I also have limits. Dede does not fit in. And her endorsement of the Democrat showed exactly how good a Republican she really is. If I could, I would have voted for Hoffman instead of her.
A Big Tent is not an Open Air Circus that is free to all. We need to set limits, but we also need to allow for diversity of opinion, and regional differences. And to win, we need to do a lot of team building, not internecine warfare.
Loxodonta on November 4, 2009 at 9:49 PM
Conservatives can handle defeat as long as the machine stays out of the way. If not enthusiasm dies, conservatives stay home, and Christ can get his victory without conservatives. I doubt a Rubio would go third party and he would back Christ, but if the GOP machine stays out it should be a Rubio win.
Theworldisnotenough on November 4, 2009 at 9:50 PM
Get ready for the fireworks when Crist goes third party. The legacy media will canonize him for it.
CreatedOrSaved on November 4, 2009 at 10:06 PM
The RNC better get their act together…times are changing…and the clock keeps ticking…
Wait…maybe they don’t want to change.
jerrytbg on November 4, 2009 at 10:15 PM
In my neck of the woods, a conservative enclave, I’m seeing many Rubio bumper stickers…
RNC, are you listening???
jerrytbg on November 4, 2009 at 10:20 PM
As much as I love Ronald Reagan, I have to disagree here. Not speaking ill of other Republicans and just going with the flow is what has gotten us people like Dede Scazzafavo.
SouperConservative on November 4, 2009 at 10:20 PM
I personally will become involved in the primaries and vote for the most conservative individual; however, if my candidate does does not win, i will vote for the lesser of two evils.
deidre on November 4, 2009 at 10:27 PM
I am concerned over the talk of a third party. To start a third party must be very tempting for someone who would like to create and rule their own kingdom, even if it was at the expense of the nation. I am not saying Glen would do this,, but the thought of heading your own party and the attention it would generate might be very intoxicating.
As I posted somewhere else, if the battle to take back the Republican party is just to great, then how will you manage the battle to take back a nation?
JellyToast on November 4, 2009 at 10:33 PM
The thing is that a lot of these rinos build up their “80% ally” rating by voting with the party to keep up appearances when their vote won’t determine the outcome.
Buddahpundit on November 4, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Steele needs to resign. He did a great job as an eloquent and direct commentator on Fox – Steele had offered some of the best commentary during the credit crisis. He sucks as RNC chair.
progressoverpeace on November 4, 2009 at 10:35 PM
Did you think that through or are you just being provocative?
Why would Palin try and control the purse strings on Republican campaigns when she is right in the middle of an independent hot streak? There is no indication she wants to run the RNC.
Also I suspect that she would avoid executive level opportunities for now since she quit her last job. She would be inviting pundits and journalists to dig into her all over again.
The Race Card on November 4, 2009 at 10:44 PM
I was just throwing her out as an example of a conservative who can maybe help the RNC find its voice and deliver a coherent message. I totally agree the media would go ballistic – but we need someone who can pull it together and reenergize the RNC. Steele doesn’t cut it.
SouperConservative on November 4, 2009 at 11:30 PM
About Beck’s mysterious plans:
I don’t watch his TV show (much as I appreciate Fox, cable news has LONG since become far too dramatic for my tastes), but I do occasionally catch his radio show. I like him. I mean, I do think he’s quite the drama queen, but many of his points are too good to be ignored.
That said, I agree with other comments here that his recent hints sound a lot like he’s going to push hard for a third party in 2012 if not in 2010. Frankly, if that happens, I will drop him like hot potato, because it will be evidence to me that his crusade has become more about his ego than about principles. I’m all about ideological purity as long as it serves to clearly define the candidate and encourage integrity, but it’s common knowledge that third parties simply do not win on a large scale.
In any case, I think it’s far too early to consider a third party our only option, because it appears to me that the establishment GOP is starting to wake up. They may have to be dragged kicking and screaming back to their rightful place as the defenders of Conservatism in America, but they’ll get there. Sorry to use such a tired cliche, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater – the GOP still has its uses. You have to tear something down to build something new.
So, I’m watching Glenn closely. I hope he keeps his ego in check.
Animator Girl on November 4, 2009 at 11:42 PM
In some ways I think he has brought a higher profile to the RNC chairmanship. Howard Dean did a pretty good job of keeping the Dems inline and the DNC in the news. We must compete.
I think that Steele has created a situation wherein his successor will not be able to fall back from the spotlight…which is good. I actually like Michael Steele a lot as a guy. He seems a little too slick though as a pol.
Ken Blackwell would have been solid.
The Race Card on November 4, 2009 at 11:53 PM
I’m glad to hear the NRSC is keeping their nose out of primaries, because if the Republican establishment pushes Crist on the base and does its damnedest to kill the chances of an up-and-coming political star who can rally Hispanics to the GOP cause, they are just plain stupid.
alliebobbitt on November 4, 2009 at 11:56 PM
That right there is a crying shame.
Mr. Arrogant on November 5, 2009 at 12:03 AM
Pretty simple. Just don’t donate to the RNC.
a capella on November 5, 2009 at 12:04 AM
Well, I did speak ill of Scazzafavo myself. So I do have limits. The question is where to draw the line. Sorry, but it seems that I want it drawn wider than most other conservatives posting here. While I will always advocate for the unelected conservative over the unelected moderate, I do not want to drive all the non-conservatives out of the party, especially when voters have chosen them as their representatives.
Loxodonta on November 5, 2009 at 12:36 AM
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