TGIF Open Thread
By Bronwyn's Harbor on January 14, 2011 at 8:30 PM in Current Affairs
FINALLY! HBO’s Bill Maher gets heckled for stating that conservatives want to kill people … Jim Nicholson lays out the reasons why the GOP leadership wanted Michael Steele out as RNC chair … News and background on the likely new RNC chair, and what he brings to the national organization, and more …
“Bill Maher Heckled by ‘Tonight Show’ Crowd for Saying Conservatives Want to Kill People They Disagree With,” from VisionToAmerica.com, captured a gratifying moment for those of us appalled often by Maher’s extreme-liberal, intolerant views. Here’s what happened, with video:
Comedian Bill Maher had a tough evening on the “Tonight Show” Tuesday.
As he spewed his typical vitriol at conservatives and Republicans, he continued to get negative feedback from the audience:
Maher can be hilariously funny. But his political views go way, way too far. It’s interesting that he got that reaction on mainstream TV, away from the cozy confines of his HBO set and pro-Maher audience. (Some of us, if we ever get the chance, should get tickets to his HBO show and surprise him with heckling.)
This morning, before the balloting at the RNC winter meeting began, Jim Nicholson appeared on Fox News to reveal why RNC leaders and major donors are not keen on having Michael Steele around for a second term as RNC chair. Nicholson’s remarks are below.
As I write this, the latest news is that Steele, following the third round of balloting, has bowed out of the race.
The photo to your right shows Steele receiving a standing ovation of the RNC delegates at the winter meeting in Maryland. The text accompanying the Yahoo News photo says, “Embattled Steele abandoned his bid for a new term as RNC chairman on Friday when it became clear that he did not have enough support to win.” A Reuters article notes:
[...]
[Steele] asked his backers to give their votes to GOP operative Maria Cino.
Steele got a standing ovation after his announcement following a rocky two-year tenure that saw Republicans notch huge victories last fall.
After four rounds of voting, Reince Priebus (Ryns Pree’-bus) was leading. Cino, Ann Wagner and Saul Anuzis also were competing.
Priebus has been backed by major GOP operative Haley Barbour and comes from Wisconsin. Here’s the Wikipedia background on Priebus:
Reince R. Priebus (pronounced /raɪns ˈpriːbəs/) is a Republican political figure who has served as the Wisconsin GOP chairman since 2007. He is a candidate in the election for chairman of the Republican National Committee in January 2011. …
Background
Priebus was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin and [2] graduated from George Nelson Tremper High School in 1990.[3] He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and English in 1994 from University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (where he was student body president), worked in the Wisconsin Legislature for a year, and then went to law school, receiving a law degree from University of Miami School of Law in 1998.[4] During his time there, he interned for the NAACP legal defense fund in Los Angeles.[5] In 1998, he joined the law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in Milwaukee.[2]
In 2004, in his first bid for public office, Priebus unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Robert Wirch for a seat in the Wisconsin Senate,[6][7] where Priebus reportedly spent $384,486 to Wirch’s $182,595.[8]
Priebus was elected state GOP party chair in 2007,[9][10] the youngest person ever elected to that position.[11] In 2009, he became general counsel of the RNC under chairman Michael Steele.[11] …
The American Independent described the origins of Priebus’s support:
Priebus’s list of public supporters indicates that he will be the most likely candidate to end up on the final ballot alongside Steele. He has wrapped up support from the Wisconsin RNC delegation, and has received backing from across the country. Most importantly, Henry Barbour has publicly stated he intends to vote for Priebus. Henry is the nephew of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former RNC chairman whose voice continues to carry significant weight among the party’s elite, especially in fundraising matters, which at the end of the day is the primary function of a party chair.
Perhaps I am not fully informed in bringing this up, but it seems to me that Priebus’s qualifications are light. He has not had a lot of experience, particularly important if he’s expected to get the RNC straightened out with lightning speed.
Now here’s what former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson [PHOTO right] had to say about Steele’s tenure, typed by me as he spoke on Fox News this morning:
Michael Steele didn’t understand the job. He thought it was about him. It isn’t about him, it’s about the organization and candidates around the nation. We did well in 2010 but could have done so much better.
Analysts figure that the Republican party could have won 23 more House seats, 2 more governorships, and two or three more Senate seats had the RNC even been able to put a nominal amount of MONEY into the state ground games. That is a very serious dereliction of duty.
And Steele was the leader of that, and he refused to take advantage of the fertile major donor base of the Republican party. And he certainly doesn’t merit being reelected. We have got to reconstitute our party, and we’ve got to do it in a hurry because we have a big election coming up.
[The Fox host noted that Steele points to the GOP victories in 2010 as evidence of his success.] Nicholson replies, “We had a good election because of external circumstances — the animus towards Obama, health care, financial services reform, and the economy and unemployment. But, it was not because of the RNC. And, as I said, we’d have the governorship in Colorado, we’d have 23 more House seats … we could have had a blow-out election instead of having a good election. …
We need a chairman in there who can very quickly rejuvenate the morale of the party and the donor base, exude the leadership and the confidence that it’s going to take for them to write the checks so that we can come close to meeting the Democrat juggernaut of money that they will have under Obama’s reelection and leadership. We’ve got four candidates, any one of whom could do that and they need very quickly after they’re elected to, I think, call together all the past RNC chairmen, and the past RNC finance chairmen, listen to them, come up with a plan, and hit the road running to raise the resources that we need …
It’s all rather fascinating. The GOP has the wind at their backs, yet they are $23 million in debt and must elect a new chair who can nimbly, quickly revamp the national and state structures of the RNC, with a presidential election looming.
I cannot figure out how the RNC managed to get itself in such a deep hole financially at a time when donations SHOULD have been pouring in. Well, as Nicholson points out, Obama’s money machine (and questionable donation sources, eh?) will be going full-steam, and the Republicans are faced with the need to play catch-up.
Okay! It’s YOUR turn!
by Ronald Scott
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