Perhaps the best (though surely not the most dramatic) indicator of a party tangled up in a mess of identity crises and low morale was this nugget, about a a meeting of Republican state chairs held in Vegas in early March:

...roughly a dozen Republican state chairmen met in Las Vegas --the first gathering of its kind in recent memory, according to one of the chairmen who attended.

Formally, the purpose was to exchange ideas on “improving each state party’s performance,” said Sean McCaffrey, the executive director of the Arizona Republican party. But there was widespread concern expressed over the direction of the party as a whole.

Even that effort to strengthen the individual state parties fell short of the mark. With the exception of Florida, no Southern chairmen were in attendance. Many, it seems, were uncomfortable with the symbolism of meeting inside a Las Vegas hotel the same weekend as Palm Sunday.

“That’s a real problem with the Republican party that they went to a casino on Palm Sunday,” said one GOP state party chairman, who refused to come due to the timing.

“Here we are the values party,” the chairman added. “You’ve got to walk the walk here. If you don’t, you’re going to lose. You can’t disaffect your base.”

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 25, 2008 2:47 PM | Comments (0)

Bush: At least one legacy to be glad for?

Filed under: National Republicans

While Pawlenty is spending an awful lot of time angling for the VP slot, The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg, as discussed last week, is pushing the McCain/Rice ticket.

What Hertzberg also did is raise a legacy issue for which critics of President Bush--and perhaps even what Hertzberg calls the Republican Party's "hardened racists and incorrigible misogynists"--may be hesitant to hand him:

...a kind word for George W. Bush may be in order. By appointing first Colin Powell and then Rice to the most senior job in the Cabinet, a job of global scope, Bush changed the way millions of white Americans think about black public officials. This may turn out to the most positive legacy of his benighted Presidency.

You may buy it and you may not, but it is a tempting invitation to put aside, if only for a moment, much more evident legacy issues in favor of a comprehensive look at eight years of the letter W.

Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at March 17, 2008 4:30 PM | Comments (3)

Orgiastic Republican sex freak waxes moralistic about Spitzer

Filed under: National Republicans

But because that party and that media outlet don't exist, we'll have to settle for Republican group sex aficionado Roger Stone and Fox News.

We've written about the GOP operative Roger Stone before, and how the charmingly amoral hedonist rolls from S&M sex party to swinger gathering in between calling Hillary Clinton vulgar names. To his credit (?), Stone doesn't seem to actually believe any of his own horseshit, but does parlay it into presumably well-paying media gigs like this one on Fox:

Yes, that's the resigned-in-disgrace Dole aide whose forays into leather sex parties forced his ouster talking about how a self-righteous Spitzer got what he deserved. I know you'll be just as shocked as I am to learn that a Google News search for Stone's name plus the name of "family values" Republican David Vitter (who also was nailed in a prostitution scandal) turns up exactly zero hits.

Let's get the obvious out of the way. Self-righteous politicians are loathsome, hypocritical self-righteous politicians are vile, and Spitzer should be ashamed of himself. But if you're expecting Republican operatives like Stone to condemn Vitter, or Larry Craig, or whoever the perv du jour is, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

The point is this: an attack news outlet finding someone with a swift, polished tongue to do what he does best with it. Or possibly second-best, depending upon who you ask.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 10, 2008 9:57 PM | Comments (6)

Military donations shift toward Dems, anti-war candidates

Filed under: National Republicans

Traditionally considered a Republican constituency, uniformed members of the military are donating more and more money to Democratic candidates.

In the 2002 election cycle, which is the last full period before the war began, members of the military gave 23 percent of their donations to Democrats, the report says. So far this year, they have given 40 percent of their donations to Democrats, both for Congress and president.

That's a huge shift. Keep in mind also that these figures are total money donated, not a person-to-person tally of individuals in the military. The more affluent officer corps is chock full of Republicans, while tons of rank-and-file military members vote Democratic. The service is a more diverse enterprise than it's usually painted.

The numbers in that study were current as of last September, but according to an updated report from this month, it's still true.

Leading the pack among military donors is war opponent Barack Obama. On the Republican side, Ron Paul -- the sole vehemently anti-Iraq war voice among the GOP candidates -- received the most donations for service members. Can you draw any conclusions from this other than the obvious -- that those most intimately affected by the war would rather it ended, and right now?

One unrelated interesting note from the second link:

Youth vote, shmooth vote, Obama has raised more from retired individuals -- the second biggest donor group -- than any other remaining candidate.

Older Americans generally have higher turnout rates than other demographics, so this could be significant for Obama going forward.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at February 27, 2008 9:26 AM | Comments (8)

GOParty Cards' savings to be spent on whiskey, hookers

Filed under: National Republicans

The card will offer the expected 45,000 visitors to the Twin Cities special discounts at participating businesses from August 23 until September 7.

"The Republican National Convention offers a major opportunity to showcase the metropolitan area and beyond," said organizer Cindy Lasher. "Look, I don't like their politics any more than you do, but there's some major bling to be fleeced off these hicks."

Area sex workers are getting in on the act as well, banding together to create what they are calling GOPanty Cards. Among those expected to participate are "Horny Asian Housewife Getting Tired of Masturbating" and "Christi" a "blonde and busty chick" who has "no time for a relationship" but plenty of time to post naked pictures of herself on the internet.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at February 22, 2008 2:56 PM | Comments (1)

Olbermann: "You're a Fascist and a Liar, Mr. Bush"

Filed under: National Republicans

I'm not usually into the single-link video posts, but this is a singular piece of ownage that brings rare venom and insight.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at February 19, 2008 5:38 AM | Comments (4)

California cluster: will hundreds of thousands of ballots go uncounted?

Filed under: National Republicans

This could be huge. The LA Weekly is reporting that perhaps as many as 776,000 Los Angeles County voters are in danger of having their presidential votes go uncounted.

Basically, if you're registered Nonpartisan, and you want to vote in the open primary for the Democratic candidate, you have to fill out an extra bubble.

In order for any of the county's 776,000 voters who have registered Nonpartisan to vote in the open primaries for the Democratic or American Independent parties, they would have to mark an extra bubble on the ballot naming the party for which they wished to cast a cross-over ballot. After a weekend of research, Jacobs says, CC.org contacted the office of L.A.'s Registrar of Voters on Sunday and were told it was true -- an extra bubble had to be inked, and, yes, it could prove to be a big headache on election day. The bottom line: If the “declaration” bubble is not inked on a Nonpartisan ballot, the voter's presidential preference would be voided, though not the part pertaining to propositions.

Reports are coming out that poll workers were not informing voters of this, at least at first, so there's no telling how many ballots might be affected. It's probably fine -- it's not like California could be the essential turning point of the Democratic nomination and hence pivotal to deciding the leader of the free world.

This evidently is not an issue for Republican voters in the county, because the California Republican primary is not an open primary.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at February 5, 2008 6:24 PM | Comments (0)

Stock trading, cliff diving

Filed under: National Republicans

InTrade, the investment speculation site where you can trade "stock" in events like political futures, published the following graph which tracks the market for the Republican nomination.

The curves show the narrative arc of the nominating process thus far:

The meteoric rise of John MCain's chances are striking, sure, but that's not surprising given the short-term spike of his recent Florida win. By far the most impressive part of the graph to me is the Rudy Giuliani line, which starts when he was the national front-runner and then heads for sea level like an Osprey chasing the world's last anchovy.

D.C., we have splashdown.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at January 31, 2008 7:52 PM | Comments (0)

Concession speech review: Huck up, Mitt down

Filed under: National Republicans

Almost anybody can be a gracious winner. The true mettle of a competitor shines through when you're less windshield, more bug. When you've lost a close and possibly pivotal battle, it's important not to come off -- for example -- as the petulant heir to an automobile fortune whose sense of entitlement comes glowering through his pie-hole.

For example.

Listening to Mitt Romney concede is like watching a sewer pipe overflow, and trying to defend his performance is like trying to say the sewer pipe was complimenting the rain on a hard-fought victory. Not every Republican candidate was like this, though. Some of them were downright likable, though, including:

The Huckster: A-.
Affable and off-the-cuff, Huckabee addressed supporters with just the right blend of aw-shucks and we'll-get-'em-next-time. Responding extemporaneously, Huck played off his supporters and managed to seem a likable, good-humored chap even to a guy who agrees with him minimally on the issues. (Though earlier in the contest on a few occasions, he's expressed more-or-less open disdain for Romney, albeit in funny ways). One of the TV talking heads floated the possibility of Huck staying in the race just to siphon evangelical votes from Mitt. Meeeeeeow.

Rudy: B.
Rudy pointed out that he had run a clean campaign, neglecting to mention that no one gets into attack ad battles with the guy who doesn't sniff a delegate. He waxed rhapsodic about America, and values, and words, and more words, and he smiled and I changed the channel because a more horrifying smile does not exist outside of an on-fire wax museum. Prior to this, though, he warmed our hearts by thanking whichever wife he's on now.

Ron Paul: C.
Paul's concession speech wasn't even aired by CNN as far as I could see, despite the fact that his robust vote totals outpaced Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter -- and not just because both of them have withdrawn from the race. The Trilateral Commission or Bilderberg Group must be behind this censorship somehow. I give him a "C" because a "C" means average, and his electoral performance is about par for the course in terms of what I expect. Actually, my not having to watch Ron Paul probably means I should give him an A.

Mitt Romney: F.
Mitt Romney could have come across as less likable, possibly, if he had spit on a photo of John McCain in uniform. Preening and cocksure, he didn't congratulate his main opponent so much as use free airtime to rip him. Mitt also had his Dan Quayle moment, noting that American jobs are under attack "from countries like Asia and India."

Then there was the creepy series where his followers kept repeating "They Haven't!" after Romney's "We've asked Washington to fix [issue]," as wooden a call-and-response as has been seen since the days of Vanilla Ice. This whole "I'm the outsider running for change" business is so tired, contrived and false coming from Protean Romney as to be nauseating.

Romney's worst moments were the shots at McCain where he tried to paint the Navy vet as a Washington insider, saying we need a President "who has actually had a job in the real economy." Let that sink in for a second.

Okay.

See.

Mitt Romney's dad owned the American Motor Corporation, so I'm not sure "inheriting a financial empire" really qualifies as "having a job in the real economy." John McCain was in the military. Later, he went to Washington.

Apparently, these are not real jobs in the real economy to Romney. It didn't help my perception of Mittens that McCain was gracious, praising Romney and his supporters, noting that McCain's margin of victory "isn't enough for me to brag about, or for you to despair."

As the coup de grace, Romney scolded people that dislike President Bush by saying that "it's thanks to him that we've been safe these last six years." With Mitt, you can never tell whether he actually means something like that or is just trying to triangulate. Either way, his spiel was a real channel-changer.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at January 29, 2008 8:34 PM | Comments (4)

The Armchair Pundit: Campaign Death Watch

Filed under: National Republicans

With the all-important Florida primary and Super Tuesday looming, this seems like the perfect time for a round of Campaign Death Watch.

The game: Predict in what order the remaining six Republican candidates will drop out of the race. Here’s one scenario:

1. Mike Huckabee: After Super Tuesday on February 5, it becomes painfully obvious that Iowa was a fluke and his campaign doesn’t have a prayer. A gentlemanly sort, he withdraws within days.

2. Rudy Giuliani: He loses badly in make-or-break Florida, and can’t even win his home state of New York on February 5. Stunned, he hangs on desperately for a couple of weeks, then drops out.

3. Alan Keyes: I know what you’re thinking: Keyes is in this race? Apparently so. His vanity campaign lingers embarrassingly till the convention, but he’ll be the most irrelevant candidate in the room.

4. Ron Paul: Like Keyes, his zombie campaign (dead but ambulatory) stumbles along all the way to St. Paul, but he’ll be the second-most irrelevant candidate in the room.

5. John McCain: He’s flying high now, but once Huckabee is out of the race, conservative Christians—still a powerful bloc—hold their noses and vote for Romney. McCain concedes late in the convention.

6. Mitt Romney: He wins the nomination, prompting Republicans nationwide to ask: How the hell did that happen? His campaign finally dies November 4.

See, punditry is easy! Now it’s your turn.

Posted by Matt Smith at January 28, 2008 7:10 PM | Comments (16)

We almost forgot: Wyoming

Filed under: National Republicans

Nobody really gives a shit about the Wyoming caucuses. Despite being nestled between the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the nation's least populous state attracts virtually no media attention-- only 12 delegates are at stake and the sparse population distribution makes robust campaigning not even worth the effort.

But just in case you were wondering, Mitt Romney finished first in the Cowboy State on Saturday, earning eight delegates. He was followed by Fred Thompson (3 delegates) and Duncan Hunter (1)(?!).

So for those of you keeping score at home, here's how the candidates stack up in terms of total delegates accrued:

Mitt Romney: 24
Mike Huckabee: 18
John McCain: 10
Fred Thompson: 6
Ron Paul: 2
Duncan Hunter: 1
Rudy Giuliani: 0

Posted by Matt Snyders at January 9, 2008 12:28 PM

Republican contest could slog on for a long time

Filed under: National Republicans

On Tuesday Republican voters will head to the polls in Michigan. The most recent polling data, from the Detroit News, shows Romney with a statistically insignificant lead over Huckabee. But that survey was taken in mid-December and is undoubtedly stale. Prior polls, by MRG and Rasmussen, found McCain and Huckabee to be the narrow front-runners respectively. In other words, it's impossible to say with any credibility who's the favorite. McCain and Romney will both be making a hard push for the state.

South Carolina Republicans vote four days later. Huckabee is counting on a big win there to prove that Iowa was no fluke. Recent polls show his lead ranging from 7 to 17 points, with McCain running second. The Arizona senator has created a "truth squad" in the state to make sure that the highly intelligent, non-racist GOP voters of South Carolina aren't once again conned into believing he fathered a black child out of wedlock. (Fred Thompson is also apparently counting on South Carolina to invigorate his sad, moribund campaign.)

Nevada will vote that day as well, but the Republican field doen't seem particularly interested in the contest. Duncan Hunter should probably focus his attention there.

Then there's Giuiliani. The Emperor of 9/11 has been ridiculed for largely ignoring the early voting states and focusing his attention on Florida. But with the contest looking like it will still be wide open, it's possible that he could resurface as a significant factor heading into the delegate bonanza on February 5.

Here's hoping for a split convention with Jeb Bush emerging as the compromise GOP-endorsee in St. Paul.

Posted by Paul Demko at January 9, 2008 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

Zogby: Obama, McCain with big leads in New Hampshire

Filed under: John McCain , John McCain

The last Zogby poll numbers are out in advance of tonight's New Hampshire primary, and Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton by 13 points (John Edwards is even further behind). Some of Hillary's advisors are even starting to wonder about whether it would be worth it to fight on the face of such a defeat. This is interesting to ponder given Eric Black's minimization of the New Hampshire hype.

Zogby shows a less dominating, but still significant advantage for John McCain on the Republican side, with Mitt Romney within striking distance and Mike Huckabee a distant third. This is how the playing field looks for tonight.

I used these numbers because I'm one of those polled by Zogby (not for New Hampshire, obviously, but for national issues). If you've got other numbers, let's see 'em.

Also, it looks like turnout is expected to be huge. Start your countdown and fire up your ulcer medication, the next dozen or so hours could get interesting.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at January 8, 2008 11:01 AM | Comments (0)