Mike Duncan

RNC Chair Election (UPDATED X10)

Posted on by Democrashield

[Bumped]

Right now, the members of the Republican National Committee are voting to decide who their next Chairman will be.

The results of the first ballot are:

Mike Duncan (Incumbent): 52

Michael Steele: 46

Katon Dawson: 28

Saul Anuzis: 22

Ken Blackwell: 20

More as it comes…

UPDATE: Second ballot:

Mike Duncan: 48

Michael Steele: 48

Katon Dawson: 29

Saul Anuzis: 24

Ken Blackwell: 19

UPDATE II: Ballot three:

Michael Steele: 51

Mike Duncan: 44

Katon Dawson: 34

Saul Anuzis: 24

Ken Blackwell: 15

UPDATE III: The fourth ballot is being counted, but Mike Duncan has announced that he is withdrawing from considering. Given that, it’s likely that Michael Steele will emerge the winner.

UPDATE IV: Fourth ballot:

Katon Dawson: 62

Michael Steele: 60

Saul Anuzis: 31

Ken Blackwell: 15

UPDATE V: Ken Blackwell has dropped out and has pledged his 15 votes to Steele. Now it’s down to Dawson and Steele, with Anuzis and his 31 votes playing the role of kingmaker.

UPDATE VI: Saul Anuzis is speaking.

UPDATE VII: Anuzis is out and gives no endorsement. Here are the results of the fifth ballot:

Michael Steele: 79

Katon Dawson: 69

Saul Anuzis: 20

UPDATE VIII: The new Chairman of the Republican National Committee is Michael Steele.

UPDATE IX: Clearly, the GOP is a lagging–not a leading–indicator. Barack Obama won a Senate seat in 2004, so the GOP ran Michael Steele in 2006. Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, so the GOP elected Michael Steele their chairman in 2009.

More importantly, though, what does Steele bring to the Party? Not very much. Steele failed in his 2006 bid to succeed Paul Sarbanes in the United States Senate, and his performance wasn’t particularly impressive. Steele’s campaign wasn’t innovative, it didn’t pioneer new technologies or fundraising methods, it didn’t build any kind of grassroots movement nor did it set any kind of high water mark for raising money.

Listening to Steele’s victory speech right now, he didn’t offer any kind of policy proposals or specifics; his speech had a lot of “we’re going to win again” but no indication of how, exactly, the GOP will go about doing that. Also, it doesn’t help that Steele is a bit of a serial liar.

UPDATE X: And don’t forget that 2006 incident where Steele, off the record, criticized George Bush and the Republican Party and went as far as describing the Republican ‘R’ next to his name as “a scarlet letter.”

But when it was revealed that Steele was the person being quoted in that article, Steele disingenuously backpedaled by trying to play his comments off as a joke, finally claiming that Bush was his “homeboy.”

Hey, maybe that can be the RNC’s new slogan–“Bush is my homeboy.”

The Republican Culture Of Corruption

Posted on by Democrashield

In the wake of the Blagojevich scandal, Republicans are desperately trying to tar the Democratic Party with the “Culture of Corruption” meme.

Problem is, the Republicans have been far, far more corrupt than the Democrats. In fact, here’s a list of Senators, Governors and Representatives who have been indicted, convicted, put under federal investigation or gotten involved in a sex scandal since 2006.

Here are the Democrats:

Sen. Chris Dodd (CT): Under federal investigation (Abuse of power)

Gov. Rod Blagojevich (IL): Arrested (Bribery, Pay-for-Play)

Gov. Eliot Spitzer (NY): Resigned, not charged (Sex scandal)

Rep. William Jefferson (LA): Indicted, lost re-election (Bribery)

Rep. Tom Rooney (FL): Lost re-election (Sex scandal)

Rep. Alan Mollohan (WV): Under federal investigation (Abuse of power)

Rep. Charles Rangel (NY): Under House Ethics Committee investigation (Failing to report income) ***

And now the Republicans:

Sen. Ted Stevens (AK): Convicted, lost re-election (Failing to report income)

Sen. David Vitter (LA): Admitted guilt, not charged. (Sex scandal)

Sen. Larry Craig (ID): Plead guilty, resigned. (Sex scandal)

Sen. Conrad Burns (MT): Lost re-election (Abramoff)

Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay (TX): Indicted (Money laundering, conspiracy, campaign finance violation, Abramoff)

Rep. John Doolittle (CA): Under federal investigation, resigned. (Abramoff)

Rep. Vito Fossella (NY): Resigned (DWI, Sex scandal)

Speaker of the House Rep. Dennis Hastert (IL): Resigned (Mark Foley)

Rep. Richard Pombo (CA): Lost re-election (Pay-forPlay, campaign finance violations Abramoff)

Rep. Ken Calvert (CA): Under federal investigation (Abuse of power, Pay-for-Play)

Rep. Mark Foley (FL): Resigned (Sex scandal, Mark F0ley)

Rep Rick Renzi (AZ): Indicted, resigned (Money laundering, extortion, fraud)

Rep. Jerry Lewis (CA): Under federal investigation (Abuse of power, Pay-for-Play)

Rep. Don Young (AK): Under federal investigation (Abuse of power, Pay-for-Play)

Rep. Tom Feeny (FL): Under federal investigation (Abramoff)

Rep. Tim Murphy (PA): Under federal investigation (Abuse of power)

Rep. John Sweeney (NY): Lost re-election (Pay-for-Play, Abramoff)

Rep. Curt Weldon (PA): Lost re-election (Pay-for-Play)

Rep. Don Sherwood (PA): Lost re-election (Sex scandal)

[*** I included Rangel even though he isn’t under federal investigation; the inquiry into his finances is currently limited to the House Ethics Committee. Members of the Congressional leadership are in bold.]

So, that’s 7 Democrats versus 19 Republicans, and 2 of those Republicans were members of their party’s leadership at the time.

Plus, the Culture of Corruption isn’t just about how much corruption your party has, it’s also about how tolerant you are of corruption.

For example, compare RNC Chairman Mike Duncan’s statement on Rod Blagojevich:

Leaders of both political parties have a responsibility to clearly condemn the actions by Governor Rod Blagojevich as alleged by federal prosecutors today. Americans expect strong leadership, but President-elect Barack Obama’s comments on the matter are insufficient at best.

To his statement on Ted Stevens:

Obviously, I’m very concerned. It’s a serious allegation. The prosecutor said that it was the beginning of the process and that we should all keep in mind that it is an allegation, that no one has been convicted. With all that being said, I’m anxious to hear from the senator.

Let’s face it, not only are Republicans far more corrupt, they’re far more willing to protect corrupt members of their party.

Sorry, conservatives, but one bad Governor doesn’t change the fact that Culture of Corruption has been, and will continue to be, part of the Republican Party.

Now & Then (UPDATED)

Posted on by Democrashield

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan on Rod Blagojevich:

Leaders of both political parties have a responsibility to clearly condemn the actions by Governor Rod Blagojevich as alleged by federal prosecutors today. Americans expect strong leadership, but President-elect Barack Obama’s comments on the matter are insufficient at best.

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan on Ted Stevens:

Obviously, I’m very concerned. It’s a serious allegation. The prosecutor said that it was the beginning of the process and that we should all keep in mind that it is an allegation, that no one has been convicted. With all that being said, I’m anxious to hear from the senator.

So, according to Duncan, leaders of both political parties have a responsibility to condemn Democrats accused of corruption, but when it’s a Republican we should just wait and see because it’s just an allegation and nobody has been convicted yet.

Glad to see that good old-fashioned Republican hypocrisy is still alive and well.

UPDATE: I wonder what Mike Duncan & co. have to say about the FBI investigating Norm Coleman.

Anyone But Steele

Posted on by Democrashield

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor and failed Senate candidate Michael Steele is facing some serious opposition in his campaign to become the next Chairman of the RNC:

Republicans, reeling from another election defeat, have taken to arguing over whether their national leader should come from the elected ranks of the Republican National Committee or be a political celebrity such as former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

“For this association of members to choose to outsource its leadership would, I believe, be an abdication of our responsibility,” Curly Haugland, an RNC member from North Dakota and the former North Dakota Republican Party chairman, wrote in an e-mail to Mr. Steele.

Mr. Haugland called on Mr. Steele to quit the contest for Republican national chairman because he is not an RNC member.

“In my estimation, 168 committed members of the Republican National Committee are a powerful army of qualified advocates for Republican principles; certainly much more threatening to the Democrats than one celebrity spokesman,” Mr. Haugland said.

[…]

“Your chosen path to leadership of the Republican National Committee exemplifies the problem we should immediately seek to resolve, that being the practice of allowing nonmembers to exert undue influence in the process of selecting our leaders” Mr. Haugland wrote Mr. Steele. “Getting the Republican Party back on the right ‘track’ is a job rightfully left to the Republicans who have been elected to run this railroad.”

First, it’s pretty hilarious that Haugland is arguing that the same people who have been in charge of the Republican Party should remain in charge of it.  If I were a Republican, I would be pushing to replace as much of my party’s leadership as possible because, clearly, something is terribly broken.

But he does have a point–it’s going to take more than a “celebrity” (to use Haugland’s terminology) to fix the GOP.  The Sarah Palin debacle taught us that political celebrity isn’t enough–you actually have to have good ideas in order to have any chance of winning.  Like I’ve said before, despite all of the support Steele has (inexplicably) amassed, it’s difficult to tell what–if anything–he would improve at the RNC.

From what I’ve seen, it looks like the RNC would be in for a few more years of rudderless Mike Duncan-style leadership under Steele.  It’s not enough to just put someone new at the top of the RNC–the Republican Party needs a leader who will change the fundamentals of conservative politics in America.  Without that, 2010 and 2012 are on track to be a repeat of 2006 and 2008.

Which is why I’m not surprised to see some Republican asking for anyone but Steele.

The GOP Civil War, Part 3.

Posted on by Democrashield

In he coming weeks, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan is likely to be sacked.  The question is, who will replace him?

A behind-the-scenes battle to take the reins of the Republican National Committee is taking off between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

Neither man will acknowledge his interest in the post, but Republicans close to each are burning up the phone lines and firing off e-mails to fellow party members in an effort to oust RNC Chairman Mike Duncan in the wake of the second consecutive drubbing of Republican candidates at the polls.

[…]

These struggles come as the party prepares for a broad ideological battle, in particular over how much to emphasize social issues like opposition to abortion rights and gay rights. Party leaders said the focus on those issues had constricted the party’s appeal to moderate and independent voters more interested in jobs, health care, education and other issues that touch their lives in more concrete ways.

“We can’t be obsessed with issues that are not the issues that are important to American voters,” said Jim Greer, the Florida Republican chairman and a likely candidate for national party leader.

So you have Gingrich, Mr. hyperpartisan himself, who was forced to resign in disgrace after the disastrous 1998 elections. Something tells me that, in a time when voters are hungry for chance, a far-right demagogue from 10 years ago isn’t going to attract broad support.

Then you have Steele, who wants to run the national party even though he couldn’t even win a Senate seat in Maryland (even after being described as “the next Barack Obama“).  He has been on the national stage since 2005 but hasn’t really offered any new ideas or policies or anything of the sort that indicate he would be a good leader.

And finally you have Jim Greer who–much like Mike Duncan himself–nobody has heard of and who hasn’t even won a competitive election before. I can’t say he’ll be a bad choice, but usually if you have some good ideas about how to run a party and win elections you put them into practice somewhere, on some level.

The fight over RNC chairman will be bloody, and in the end I’m just not sure that any of the current candidates have what it takes to improve their party’s fortunes.  Gingrich? Steele? After two disastrous elections, is that really the best Republicans can do?

Patriotism Is…

Posted on by Democrashield

Today, Barack Obama is being attacked by the right-wing noise machine. His latest dreamt-up offense? Not wearing an American flag lapel pin, which apparently makes him unpatriotic.

Of course, anyone with $2 in their pocket can wear an American flag pin, regardless of what they believe. In fact, how many politicians have worn that pin while tearing down nearly everything this great country stands for?

Patriotism isn’t defined by what we wear–it’s defined by what we do. And through his actions, Barack Obama has shown us what true patriotism is:

Patriotism is standing up for our Constitutional rights against a corrupt, power-hungry White House.

Patriotism is bringing our troops home and making sure they’re taken care of when they get here.

Patriotism is standing up for America’s working class, giving them living wage and a good standard of living.

Patriotism is making sure Americans have access to health care regardless of their income.

Patriotism is standing up to polluters to preserve this beautiful country for future generations.

Patriotism is securing our borders while helping immigrants become citizens.

Patriotism is fighting for clean, open government that’s held accountable to the people.

Patriotism is helping Americans keep their homes by standing up to predatory lenders.

Patriotism is standing up to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorist groups.

Patriotism isn’t wearing a $1.75 American flag lapel pin made on a Chinese assembly line.

So, Barack Obama doesn’t wear a flag lapel pin. But you know what? Neither does Mitt Romney. Or John McCain. Or Mike Huckabee. Or John Boehner. Or Mitch McConnell. Or RNC Chair Mike Duncan. And neither did Newt Gingrich. Or Tom DeLay. Or Bill Frist. Or even Ronald Reagan, for that matter.

So let’s put this half-baked smear to bed once and for all, because America deserves better than right-wing gutter politics.

Image from The Washington Post