Far be it for me to call Politico an unbiased, non-rumor-mill-based media source...but this report actually sounds reasonable enough. Norm Coleman became the personification of the GOP's firewall against a nearly veto-proof majority in the U.S. Senate in the last election cycle, and despite their base's great gnashing of teeth over the controversy that ensued, it sounds like top-level leaders in the Republican Party recognize that Coleman might have something yet to offer.
A recent appearance on CNN alongside Democratic pundit Paul Begala was likely a piece of this puzzle. Always political and usually pretty strategic about it, Coleman made sure to bash the Obama Administration's deep-water drilling moratorium while finding a way to get in a line about agreeing with Begala on a piece of the issue. It was curious to see Coleman on TV discussing the oil spill and related issues until the question of the RNC chairmanship came up -- then it made perfect sense.
For one thing, Coleman wouldn't be saying some of the stupid things that Michael Steele has said in his tenure at the helm of the RNC. Coleman probably wouldn't be too friendly to the Tea Party base either, a thing that, while it might make the GOP more viable in some swing districts, is likely a good thing for our nation's political discourse. In the Senate Coleman was a generic conservative Republican, but he generally didn't go to the lengths that the Palins, Bachmanns, Bartons, Kings, et. al. have taken to advance their political agendas.
Of course, who knows -- the RNC chair race was wide open last time. Lots of things could happen. Should be fun to watch.
Here's an update on a national trend that will impact Minnesota races. The Republican National Committee (RNC) is hurting for cash. The RNC will need to spend money to help protect Michele Bachmann and keep the Minnesota Governor's seat in Republican hands. They don't have it and under Michael Steele, they aren't likely to get it. The Mooney Times has the details:
Just months before critical midterm elections, the Republican National Committee is hurting for cash more than at any similar period in memory, according to figures reported this week to the Federal Election Commission.
Next month's shortfall is shaping up to be as bad or even worse, a senior official with knowledge of committee's financial status told The Washington Times.
The RNC under Michael Steele has been a disaster and fundraising has suffered. Republicans ability to take back the House and win a few Senate seats will be affected because typically the RNC has used their warchest to fund attack ads in key races.
In addition, the RNC under Chairman Michael S. Steele spent some $12 million to help win the off-year gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia last fall, and spent an additional $500,000 on the unsuccessful bid to win a special congressional election in Pennsylvania.
"All that could have boosted our cash on hand to $29 million," [RNC spokesman Doug] Heye said.
Nonetheless, the RNC's total for May of this year is well below the average cash on hand of $35,434,123.45 that the RNC reported each May between 2002 and 2009.
Plus, they incurred their first debt since 1994.
The NRCC reports having $12 million in cash for May - on paper $600,000 less than the RNC. But the RNC is carrying over from April unpaid bills to the tune of $760,141, which should be subtracted from its $12.6 million cash on hand for May. That leaves the RNC with slightly less cash than even the NRCC.
The RNC debt is the first reported to the FEC for any one-month period since then-RNC Chairman Haley Barbour - now governor of Mississippi and head of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) - borrowed funds to help finance what was to be the 1994 GOP electoral sweep of both houses of Congress.
With RNC Chair Michael Steele embarrassing the Republican party in nearly every way imaginable, DC pundits have begun talking about who might replace him when and if he gets fired or in 9 months when his term is up. They mention former senator Norm Coleman among others.
The insane pick would be Santorum. If he gets it, the teabaggers would be happy as Santorum will spout whatever nonsense is popular amongst them. Gillespie and Bush would be safe, boring picks.
But if Norm were to get it, he would certainly be able to give Tim Pawlenty's campaign a boost it desperately needs. I believe it would also signal that the RNC will be doing all it can to squelch a Palin candidacy.
Because Norm would push Pawlenty over the teabaggers favorite, I believe they would be unhappy with Norm as chair. Furthermore, the base in Minnesota doesn't like Norm (they consider him a RINO) and I'm sure his unpopularity would spread rapidly. With Norm, familiarity definitely does breed contempt.
Personally, I'm one of the few people fluent in Norm-speakTM and I'd gladly lend a hand interpreting. If you're not fluent, you can listen to him speak and have absolutely no idea where he stands on the issue upon which he was bloviating or if he actually answered the question he was asked.
The last week has not been good for Republicans in Washington -- first, the RNC's nightclub scandal broke, and now it's caused some leading officials to resign, which in turn causes the committee to scramble to replace those leaders with...other ethically challenged people.
More on the scandal and its effects here, but that's not really the larger point. Nevada Sen. John Ensign may be indicted soon for his little scandal involving a former staffer and (ahem) the staffer's wife, Georgia's Nathan Deal resigned from Congress to avoid investigation by the Ethics Committee, and the list of Republican scandals, sex-related and otherwise, goes on.
This isn't to say D.C. Dems haven't had their share of scandals -- they have. Eric Massa was cut loose pretty quickly once news of his little faux pas broke, and the recently deceased John Murtha was no stranger to controversy.
But for the Republicans, this is an existential crisis for their "Return us to power" argument. Democrats have won two straight wave elections, and the Republicans' big-picture message sounds a lot like "we're not Democrats." That isn't necessarily a bad message in and of itself (see 2006), but in conjunction with a corrupt approach to handling the levers of power, it loses some of its luster.
The same party that brought you Tom Delay, Michael Brown, Larry Craig, and all the rest is still up to its old tricks. It hasn't changed a whit. And they want America to return them to a semblance of real influence in our nation's capital? By advocating repeal of the things for which America voted (twice) and keeping up the corruption and scandal that, in part, got them booted in the first place?
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has been described as having a love/hate relationship with the teabaggers. Which is true, if it means that he "loves" them and they "hate" him.
In an attempt to honor him, Bachmann notoriously shouted "you be da man!" at Steele at a conservative gathering (and thereby elminated any hopes she might have had of being named ambassador to any African nation.)
But there is serious doubt these days that Steele is still "da man" in the eyes of Bachmann and the teabaggers. This explains why Steele recently reframed his qualifications for party leadership. According to reporter Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent, Steele is now claiming that God made him the head of the RNC.
There are echoes of Bachmann here, as Birkey points out. (continued)
The title of the post, back on February 15th of this year, was: RNC's Michael Steele: "You have absolutely no reason - none - to trust our words or our actions at this point."
And that was BEFORE the crazy "birther" stuff, and a whole bunch of other bogus stuff slung by the GOPers nationally. Well, and locally too, by FEC Tony and MudSlingerMike. So, since some things never change, here that post is again - Michael Steele telling the world there is no reason - NONE - to trust what the GOP has to say.
Yep - that's the RNC's Michael Steele talking; talking to Glenn Beck. Beck was saying conservatives can't trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party; I submit NO ONE can trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party. Let's watch, and then - below the fold - I'll elaborate:
DFL has as video out on Pawlenty abandoning Minnesota (h/t Dusty Trice).
Australian wallabies eat poppies and are so stoned they hop around in circles creating crop circles. I predict this'll become the next fashion trend amongst stoners.
More pain where hope meets change. This is unbelievable. Obama can criticize the Bush Regime for their indefinite detentions while in the next breathe propose policies that are even worse. Rachel Maddow pulls it all together the best of anyone:
No, hell no. Whatever the outcome, it's going to get bumped to the next level. This does not end until there's a final ruling that speaks to whether or not those votes that have not been counted should be counted. And Norm Coleman will not, will not jump out of this race before that.
This is, of course, the same guy who said of nominating, you know, humans instead of robots to the federal bench:
We're talking a little bit of Constitution and a little bit Supreme Court. And a whole lot of saving America's judicial system and saving our rights as citizens and not having empathetic judges decide cases, but rather judges who are actually understanding the rule of law and what the Constitution and those laws are all about. And how to apply the facts to the law and the law to the facts. And adjudicate my case. I don't need some judge sitting up there feeling bad for my opponent because of their life circumstances or their condition. And short changing me and my opportunity to get fair treatment under the law. Crazy nonsense empathetic. I'll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind. Craziness."
There is indeed some craziness here, but I think its source is pretty clear. Meanwhile, it's good to know that the theoretical head of the Republican Party isn't any more interested in Minnesota having its full Congressional delegation than the leadership of the Republican Senate conference.
Here's to hoping that Tim Pawlenty is willing to stand up to them and sign an election certificate for Al Franken when the state Supreme Court orders that it be done.
Yesterday, when it was Joe's turn, he called it Daily Soup. Apparently, he didn't much like Mud Soup. So help us decide which it should be. Alrighty. Here's another installment of a round-up of things that we contributors to MPP think y'all ought to know about.
The rumors are starting. Michael Steele has been a disaster as Chair of the Republian National Committee. Considering the laughs and shadenfreude he has provided, I would be sad to see him go.
Politico's Mike Allen, in his daily Playbook, floats an interesting albeit somewhat implausible scenario with deep ramifications for the Republican Party. If embattled RNC chairman Michael Steele fails to raise a respectable amount of funds and continues to trip all over himself with rhetorical gaffes, a certain soon-to-be-former Senator is waiting in the wings to take over the post.
(Huffington Post)
It is probably a good move for the RNC. The Republicans cannot seem to do much of anything right and Norm might be able to stop the hemorrhaging. Norm has proven the ability to dance around difficult issues. I didn't patent the concept of Norm-speak for nothing. Plus, he was one of the few Republicans with strong fundraising in 2008.
Imagine Norm babbling and "oh-by-the-way"-ing his way around tough questions like does Rush Limbaugh run the Republican Party? He certainly wouldn't be a complete clown like Steele. Norm certainly wouldn't be particularly believable, but ... hey ... he'd be a step up.
This would all be a great idea for the RNC except for one teensy-weensy little detail: The FBI.
Norm might have a little time to spend at Club Fed after the FBI and our justice system are done looking into his receiving $75,000 from Nasser Kazeminy, thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of clothing courtesy of Kazeminy, a corporation paying his utility bills and his sweetheart apartment deal.
The drawn out stress of the recount and election contest is clearly getting to Norm. He's having some serious difficulty differentiating the real world from Republican Reality
"Senator Coleman believes that Chairman Steele is doing an exceptional job, is a strong voice and leader for the party," Coleman spokesman Tom Erickson said. "And, he looks forward to working with him to build the party when he returns to the United States Senate."
(The Hill)
I have a better chance of winning the lottery than Norm returning to the Senate. By the way, I bought a Powerball ticket on Saturday ... and I went to work on Monday morning if you catch my drift.
Then again ... maybe adrift from reality is one of the job requirements?
On if women have the right to choose an abortion: "Yeah. I mean, again, I think that's an individual choice."
On whether homosexuality is a choice: "Oh, no. I don't think I've ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there's a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can't simply say, oh, like, 'Tomorrow morning I'm gonna stop being gay.' It's like saying, 'Tomorrow morning I'm gonna stop being black.'"
Steele is a hack -- this can't be denied. The guy has been failing upward for his entire public career, and has made his mark on the RNC by laying off most of the senior staff and getting into it with de facto party boss Rush Limbaugh.
Despite that, these comments should be seen as a good thing -- a major party leader moderating his party's official stance in areas where the party's official platform is way out of sync with vast majorities of the American public.
But we don't live in a vacuum, and the days of Steele's party leadership are probably numbered thanks to this and plenty of other gaffes in his nascent tenure. His job is building a competitive national campaign infrastructure, and with the upcoming special election in New York's 20th district, a serious crisis of confidence could be coming for the RNC leadership. Not that I agree with Steele about most issues, but it's a shame to see an earnest, if misguided, leader trying to push his party to the middle (and thus back toward relevance) and running headlong into everyone else in his party who disagrees.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN06) simply cannot stop embarrassing herself. While we all knew she went to law school, who knew she studied another language? She displayed her fluency in Eubonics at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington. She responded to a speech from new RNC Head Clown Chair Michael Steele.
According to CNN, Steele was then praised by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
As Steele concluded his remarks, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann -- the event's moderator -- told Steele he was "da man."
"Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man," she said.
(Huffington Post)
Personally, I think she should stick to English and speaking in tongues. She seems to embarrass herself just fine in those two languages.
(With the revelations that The Party Of Abramoff spent donor dough at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex, I thought it was appropriate to revisit this one - because you couldn't trust GOPers then and NOTHING has changed. - promoted by TwoPuttTommy)
"...or our actions at this point."
Yep - that's the RNC's Michael Steele talking; talking to Glenn Beck. Beck was saying conservatives can't trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party; I submit NO ONE can trust today's GreedOverPrinciples party. Let's watch, and then - below the fold - I'll elaborate:
