Martinez to Head RNC
Written by Mark Harris on November 13th, 2006So just when you woke up and thought it could not possibly get any worse, that things were as bad as they can get, and that someone in DC had to get the message. Well… then they put up Mel Martinez, official White House lackey, to be chair of the RNC. Unbelievable. Mind numbingly unbelievable. Apparently losing 6 senate seats and however many house seats wasn’t enough, the party wanders further into the woods and they pick someone who will do basically only what the White House tells him to do.
What say you SaveTheGOP readers…
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Wow, Mark. I was just writing a post about the same thing. I’ll throw in a bit of what I was writing below:
I am a little disappointed in this choice as I really wanted Michael Steele in this role. He is a hell of a speaker, very motivational, and he has proven himself to make inroads in very blue areas of our country. The choice of Martinez is a bit curious to me because he isn’t somebody who has really been out there with a face or name that people would recognize. I can’t help to wonder if the fact that he is Hispanic had anything to do with it being that they are a fast growing group in this country.
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I would have rather had Maria Cino if they were going the Latino route. She did a great job when she worked on Congressional campaigns.
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I liked Steele… and then, I read that he didn’t think Roe should be overturned.
Also, you’re forgetting that Steele bashed the White House in the Washington Post. It’s important to have someone who can stay on message — even when under pressure.
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I don’t think saying “having an R next to your name is like wearing a scarlet letter” (not exact quote, paraphrased) is “bashing the white house” - given the circumstances of this year’s election, and the fact that he was running in Maryland, he was right. You can call it a gaffe, but I wouldn’t call it blasting the white house.
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Not to mention, I really don’t care what Steele personally feels about abortion. Does he get to appoint judges? No. Does he get to vote on confirmation of judges? Once again, no. Would he offer some crisp, clear, new leadership for our party, and refocus our attention on free trade, limited government, less regulations, less taxes, less K-Street, etc, and work to help candidates with those goals? Yes.
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If more Republicans had come out and bashed the White House where it’s deserved, we’d still have the majority.
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Making Martinez, the guy who co-wrote the amnesty bill, the next RNC Chairman is a terrible idea.
Then I come to find out that not only is he going to be the Chairman, but he’s part-time - he’s going to keep his Senate seat while another dude, Mike Duncan, the RNC’s General Counsel or whatever, runs the “day to day” operations.
Are you kidding me?? I mean I understand the President’s desire to get a hispanic, I understand his desire to someone for amnesty like himself (grrrr….), and I know he has a fraternal bond to the state of Florida, but after getting a “thumping” at the polls as he stated, but a part-time RNC Chair? Seriously?
Wow.
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4. Langley | November 13th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
“You can call it a gaffe, but I wouldn’t call it blasting the white house.”
I guess Michael Steele will have plenty of time to think about it now, won’t he?
And Langley, I have no doubt that Tom Delay’s actions with K-Street have helped the consevative cause. I would encourage you to read Ross Baker’s “House and Senate.” He goes into detail about the benefits that lobbyists provide to this country.
6. Sam Berninger | November 13th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
“If more Republicans had come out and bashed the White House where it’s deserved, we’d still have the majority.”
Mark bashed the Pennsylvania GOP leadership and lost by eighteen points.
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Yeah because the State GOP acted like a 3-year-old and refused to lend any financial support to Mark’s race because he beat the Republican incumbent.
Anything else?
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The K-Street project is heroism at its best. The Democratic Party is corrupt to the core. It is infested with sellouts like the ones who flow in & out of the College Republican national circus. Huge sellouts, people who care only about their own interest rather than that of the American people.
The numbers I’ve seen indicate that even during 2004, only 30% of lobbyists hired were Republican — and 40% were Democrats.
So when I hear that DeLay and Santorum teamed up to pressure lobbying firms to hire Republicans, it’s music to my ears. We don’t need more of these corrupt Democrats on K-street.
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By the way, I’m not happy with the Martinez appointment. Rove is clearly losing touch.
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What a ridiculous choice.
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“Also, you’re forgetting that Steele bashed the White House in the Washington Post. It’s important to have someone who can stay on message — even when under pressure.”
Because being honest is less important than suckling at the teat of power and influence. Steele was right to get on the Whitehouse for the their pathetic leadership of the last four years. On message means you support the party’s platform, not the guy in charge who ignores that platform.
““You can call it a gaffe, but I wouldn’t call it blasting the white house.”
I guess Michael Steele will have plenty of time to think about it now, won’t he?”
Don’t gloat too much, remember the future of the GOP is people like Steele, not fools like Bush. If you see a future for yourself in politics then you might consider that it is bad form to enjoy watching conservatives lose.
“I have no doubt that Tom Delay’s actions with K-Street have helped the consevative cause. I would encourage you to read Ross Baker’s “House and Senate.” He goes into detail about the benefits that lobbyists provide to this country.”
No doubt huh? Well you are pretty much alone in that assesment of the situation. The conservative cause is something you seem to know very little about. The government is not shrinking, it is growing. The war has been mismanaged to the point that hardly anyone can support it anymore as it becomes obvious that no progress is being made. Lobbyists are ruining this country, they are buying influence, when the only people who ought to have influence are the voters.
“Mark bashed the Pennsylvania GOP leadership and lost by eighteen points.”
Are you suggesting that the voters in his district were so distressed by his complaints against the GOP in the primary race that they voted for the Democrat in the general election? That is the stupidest thing that has been written on this blog in a while. If I didn’t know any better I would suspect that the only reason you post here is to enrage people. That is a pretty nasty thing to say about Mark, one of the heros of the conservative movement.
Joe, the future belongs to us, not the power hungry tools in Washington. Get with the program or prepare to be steamrolled.
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Mike the conflicting statements in your post indicate you are mad about losing an election. Big deal. We have a war going on, and winning that war should be more important than winning or losing the next 12 congressional elections.
Like I said, read Ross Baker’s book, House & Senate. In a “oh and by the way” sense, he explains that a lot of good things are done by lobbyists. They are essential to our success as a republic. Ask you parents to get you his book for Christmas.
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“Mike the conflicting statements in your post indicate you are mad about losing an election.”
Saying that conflicting statements exist doesn’t make it so. Care to prove that statement? And for the record I am not mad, I am thrilled that the GOP got slaughtered, they deserved it.
“Big deal. We have a war going on, and winning that war should be more important than winning or losing the next 12 congressional elections.”
How high-minded of you! Why I have an idea, we could actually go to war! We could engage Syria and seal off that border to insurgents entering Iraq. Or we could stop the supply lines from Iran that are resupplying the Shitte death squads that so easily kill our troops. We could also have a policy for stopping North Korea from going nuclear, oh wait we dithered around too long on that one and now it’s too late. Here is a concept: we could go into Waziristan, Banjur and the North-West Territories to get the Taliban and Bin Laden.
We are NOT at war. We should be, but the war is being lost as we speak because of the idiots running this country. Don’t you dare speak to be about the war effort. It is your boys in the Whitehouse that are dropping the ball and brave men are dying in Iraq for what?
“. . . he explains that a lot of good things are done by lobbyists. They are essential to our success as a republic.”
It is a wonder that we survived so long without them! This is becoming a sad little parody. No wonder Republicans never win an election in NJ, they all thing like you!
“Ask you parents to get you his book for Christmas.”
What?
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“Saying that conflicting statements exist doesn’t make it so. Care to prove that statement?”
Actually I don’t care to prove that statement. I’m excited by ideas, not by jarring egos. Like I said, read Ross Baker’s book.
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“Are you suggesting that the voters in his district were so distressed by his complaints against the GOP in the primary race that they voted for the Democrat in the general election? That is the stupidest thing that has been written on this blog in a while.”
See, the primise of that statement is particularly false. Not only did I support Mark, I offered to come to Pennsylvania and spend time volunteering on Mark’s campaign. He never responded. At all. Running a successful campaign and being a hero of the conservative movement means embracing people who want to help you.
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So you want to accuse Mike of making conflicting statements but you refuse to provide your analysis of exactly what statements are conflicting? We’re waiting…
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“Actually I don’t care to prove that statement. I’m excited by ideas, not by jarring egos. Like I said, read Ross Baker’s book.”
I will now provide a translantion for the rest of you who are probably struggling with this as much as I am:
“I can’t prove what I said at all. I’m now going to spout some meaningless cliches that sound freakin awesome and make me look cool. Now for the grand finale I will change the subject and act like nothing has happened.”
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“I offered to come to Pennsylvania and spend time volunteering on Mark’s campaign. He never responded. At all. Running a successful campaign and being a hero of the conservative movement means embracing people who want to help you.”
That sounds like a personal issue you should take up privately with Mark. It is quite possible, though I am not privey to any details, that in the hubub of the campaign your offer was simply overlooked or the message not communicated to Mark or Alex. I would ask them about it, since they are certainly less busy than they were a few weeks ago they will probably get back to you right away with an explanation.
All that being said, I still thought your remark about Mark wasn’t fair. He took out a RINO and then lost in a tough electoral season for the GOP. The fact that the establishment didn’t lift a finger to help him certainly isn’t his fault, but their own.
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Being the RNC Chairman is a full-time job, how the hell are we going to get anywhere by giving the task to a sitting senator? Can anyone recall the last time an elected official held the spot at the same time?
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This is Bush’s way of reminding us that it will be “bussiness as usual” in DC as long as he and his guys are running the place.
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So angry. I had written up my top 5 reasons why it better be Steele as the next national GOP Chairman, only to find out that, of course, conservatives have been ignored and cronyism has won out. Here’s the list anyway to those who are interested.