Trump's Race To The Bottom, Con't

Donald Trump thinks he can win reelection by picking off black voter support, because I guess he believes black voters like myself are so colossally stupid that "Send her back" is okay because it deals with those blacks and not "the good ones" or something.

Critics may find the timing of the outreach outrageous. But the campaign hopes that if it can shave just a few points off Democrats’ overwhelming support among blacks, it can boost voter turnout in eight or so key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — each of which Trump won by less than one percentage point.

The campaign’s pitch to African Americans is simple: Ignore the president’s words and instead focus on his policies, like the state of the economy and the low unemployment rate, the passage of criminal justice reform or the creation of Opportunity Zones, which are meant to bolster investment in underserved or poorer cities.

When Trump took office in January 2017, the unemployment rate among blacks was 7.7 percent. Friday’s jobs report pegged it at 6 percent for July.

“Do I think some of his verbal formulations are in artful? Yeah,” said Ken Blackwell, the former mayor of Cincinnati, former Ohio Secretary of State and a top Trump transition official. “But for me, as a domestic policy adviser during the Trump transition, it has been all about the agenda, a set of results and tomorrow. You have to believe his policy agenda flies in the face of the false narrative of the racist-in-charge.”

But for others, the Trump rhetoric cannot be divorced from his record, and critics argue he must take responsibility for that as president. A recent Quinnipiac University National Poll, released on July 30, showed that 80 percent of African American voters surveyed considered Trump racist.

“The idea is that, because of his agenda, his comments on Charlottesville, Baltimore or shithole countries do not matter,” said Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and the first African American to serve in that role. “Or that you can say the most racist things in the world, but hey, I got a tax cut. Or you can disparage my homeland, but the unemployment rate is going down.”

Which is the point.  Donald Trump thinks we should be grateful to him. The implied "I could make it a lot worse for you" remains, well, implied.

“I certainly think we should expect more from our political leaders,” Steele said. “I would think they would expect more from us.”

Trump has regularly defended himself by saying “I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” He told reporters recently that scores of African Americans have been calling the White House to thank him for his work. “What I’ve done for African Americans, no president, I would say, has done,” Trump said this week from the White House lawn, as he left Washington for an event in Jamestown, Va., that all of the state’s black lawmakers boycotted.
Republicans have struggled for decades to make inroads with African American voters. Trump earned just 8 percent of the black vote in 2016, while Democrat Hillary Clinton won 89 percent. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney performed even worse in 2012, earning just 6 percent of the African American vote against President Barack Obama.

President George W. Bush did the best in recent years. He earned 11 percent of the African American vote in 2004, up from 8 percent in 2000, by appealing to conservative, religious voters.

Granted, going from 8 to 11% of black voters in a state like Georgia or NC or Michigan might be the couple thousand votes he needs to win, true.  But I think it's going to be a lot more likely that he goes from 8% to zero.

Regrets, He's Had A Few

Reince Preibus may have been unceremoniously booted out of the White House by Trump (having the dubious distinction of the shortest-serving WH Chief of Staff) but he's taking the massive public humiliation in stride, comforting himself on the fact that the GOP has gained control of pretty much the entire country under his watch.

Six years ago, a humble party hack from Kenosha, Wisconsin, took on the thankless job of turning around the Republican Party. As he exits the White House—battered, bruised, and humiliated—Reince Priebus argues he accomplished just what he set out to do. 

“We won,” Priebus told me in an interview. Calling from the golf course on Sunday afternoon, he sounded both defiant and relieved. “Winning is what we were supposed to do, and we won. That’s the job of the Republican Party. It’s in the best shape it’s been in since 1928.” 

The former White House chief of staff and Republican National Committee chairman said he was proud of his stewardship of the GOP, which culminated in the election of a Republican president, Republican Congress, and Republican gains up and down the ballot. 

But the White House is mired in chaos, and all that Republican power has yet to result in a single major policy achievement. Priebus’s critics view him as the man who sold his party out to Donald Trump. Was it really worth it, I asked?

“It’s absolutely worth it,” Priebus said, pointing to the appointment of a conservative Supreme Court justice, regulatory reform, and a healthy economy, though he acknowledged health care remained “an obstacle.” “The president has accomplished an incredible amount of things in the last six months,” he added. “The future can be great, and the past has been pretty good.” Even in exile, he was still committed to spinning the Trump line. 

It has been a long, strange trip for Priebus, who came to Washington as GOP chairman in 2011 on a promise to reform a party in disarray. His story, in a way, is the story of the Republican Party itself: His initial wariness of Trump gave way to capitulation and then enabling. He swallowed his private qualms for the sake of the team, until his turn to be the victim of Trump’s pageant of dominance finally came—publicly disgraced, dismissed in a tweet. 

“I see him as kind of a tragic figure,” said Charlie Sykes, a former conservative radio host in Milwaukee who has known Priebus for many years. “What began as a matter of duty on his part—the decision to go all-in on Trump—ended with this scorchingly obscene humiliation.” 

Sykes’s pity for his friend was limited, however. “It’s sad, but it’s the result of choices he made,” said Sykes, a Never Trumper who is now an MSNBC commentator. “It’s not like he wasn’t warned.” 

Ironically, Priebus’s own career in national politics began with an act of disloyalty. In 2011, he won the RNC chair by running against his own boss, then-chairman Michael Steele. Despite big wins in the 2010 midterm elections, party activists had become dissatisfied with what they viewed as Steele’s mismanagement and penchant for gaffes. Steele knew he would have challengers when he sought another term as chairman—but he didn’t expect a challenge from Priebus, his general counsel, whom he considered a teammate.

“This is the bed Reince has been making for himself since he was my general counsel,” Steele told me. “He’s a guy who’s always positioning himself for the next thing. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

And sure, Priebus almost certainly helped sell the country out to Vladimir Putin in order to win...but they won, and in the end in American politics, winning is the only thing that matters, because winners get to do things, and losers get to complain about it.

It's hard to say he's wrong, either. Laugh all you want at Reince, but it's true: right now the GOP controls 240 House seats, 52 Senate seats, both chambers in a whopping 32 state legislatures (plus de facto control of Nebraska's unicameral state government) and 33 governors...oh yeah, and the White House.  Outside of New England/Mid-Atlantic states and the West Coast, the Dems are also-rans across the board right now.

Of course with the rise of Priebus and the Trump GOP, America is the biggest loser.  Hopefully we'll try to correct this problem before it becomes too permanent, and that means mobilizing for 2018 *now*.  We're already seeing signs of this as Dems are recruiting and registering voters.

On the other hand, Priebus lasted a hell of a lot longer at the White House than Tony Scaramucci did.

He's got that going for him.

The Key To The City Of Cleveland

Republicans need to win Ohio to win the presidency in 2016.  They've never been able to win the White House without carrying the Buckeye State, and Obama won it twice.  The RNC's summer meeting this week in Cleveland and next year's Republican National Convention are a pretty big investment in winning the state, and Republicans think they can sell the party to Cuyahoga County black voters without Obama in the picture.

“What I have seen and what I have heard tells me that we’re at a moment in time when the black community is receptive,” said former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, the first black man to hold that job. “As we transition from the Obama administration and the Obama leadership, they are looking. They have not sold themselves on Hillary. They have not bought into the Bernie Sanders socialist view of the world. They are suspicious of Martin O’Malley.”

It would not take that many black votes to complicate the Democrats’ electoral map. Neil Newhouse, a veteran Republican pollster working for a super PAC supporting Bush, said in an e-mail that the “demographic challenges” facing whomever the GOP nominates are “real and significant” but fixable. 

“The payoff can be significant,” Newhouse said. “It doesn’t take much of a swing in minority votes to make a difference. Winning even 10 to 14 percent of African-American votes in states like Ohio, Florida or Virginia could put those states in the GOP column in ’16.” 

Cuyahoga County and Cleveland, which will host the first Republican primary debate next week, have been laboratories for that theory. Obama had won the county by a 256,613-vote margin, which boosted him to a 166,272-vote statewide win. In some Cleveland precincts, Romney won no votes at all. Just two years later, Ohio Gov. John Kasich won the county by 22,333 ballots, in a landslide that has become part of his story to Republican primary voters. 

Frost spread around the credit for that. Kasich himself aggressively pitched black voters, and the local party started a conversation with some open-door debates. In October, for example, black Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley came to midtown Cleveland as the conservative voice in a GOP-hosted debate. The party collected the names of about 200 skeptical voters who showed up, then stayed in touch with them. It was a soft sell — one of many — and it seemed to work. 

“We really believe that every vote in every neighborhood of Cuyahoga County is winnable for Republicans,” Frost said. “We are in a fight where we want to win every vote.”

That's a nice fantasy.

Here's the cold, hard reality.

Romney won just 17 percent of the nonwhite vote in 2012, down a bit from the 19 percent John McCain won in 2008 and a steeper drop from the 26 percent George W. Bush won in 2004. Had Romney performed as well as Bush among nonwhite voters, he too would have won Ohio.

He still would have lost in 2012, just by a smaller margin.

Pretty sure the black community in Cleveland and in other Ohio cities are going to remember Ohio Republicans limiting early voting in the state at every opportunity in an effort to lower black turnout. The state was sued by the ACLU and settled but not before voter turnout in 2014 was sharply limited by the plan put in place by Gov. Kasich and Secretary of State Jon Husted, which helped Kasich get his "landslide" win.

This plan also presumes that Democrats won't set foot in the state or something and won't campaign here.

Sure.  After years of trying to keep black voters from voting in Ohio and other swing states, we're just going to be "receptive" to the GOP now?

Keep on believing that, guys.

Cutting A. Weiner In Half

In the last 24 hours a not-insignificant number of Democrats have come forward saying it's time for Anthony Weiner to resign.

The Democratic dominoes are starting to fall for embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), who serves among the leadership of the DCCC, told Politico Wednesday afternoon that it's time for Weiner to go. Schwartz' office confirmed the news to TPM.

As Wednesday evening went on, more Democrats joined the Weiner resignation bandwagon. Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT) and Reps. Nikki Tsongas (MA) and Joe Donnelly (IN) called on Weiner to step down from Congress, as did Reps. Mike Michaud (ME), Mike Ross (AR) and Larry Kissell (NC). 

Most of these guys are Blue Dogs who can kiss my black ass and aren't worthy of attention, but Patrick Leahy calling on Weiner to go is a major blow.  Leahy is one of the big voices on the D side, and he doesn't speak out unless he feels it's damn important, he's been in the game forever.  If Weiner has lost someone of Leahy's level this publicly, he's in serious trouble among his colleagues.

And did I mention Weiner's wife is pregnant?

Tuesday night I would have told you Weiner would survive this.  Now I'm not nearly as sure.  Do I think it's fair that Weiner is getting pummeled while David Vitter is still a Senator?  Of course not, as Rachel Maddow discusses with all people, Michael Steele.



But again, it's one thing for knuckleheads like Reince Preibus and Eric Cantor to defend David Vitter and let him get away with it.  It's another thing entirely to have Patrick Leahy not defend Anthony Weiner.

Maybe I'm going to burn for this, but Anthony Weiner is being held to a higher standard than the Republican party, and while that's unfair that he's being held to that, I'm having difficulty saying it's completely 100% a bad thing to be held to a higher standard than the Republicans.

Even the Village is admitting there's a double standard here.

"This is a massive overreaction and I don't understand it," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Sloan pointed to the recent ethics case of another New York congressman, Charles Rangel, as an example of the double standard being pushed by some Democrats for Weiner.

The House Ethics Committee found Rangel -- the former chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation's tax laws -- guilty of improper fundraising, inappropriate possession of multiple rent-controlled apartments and failure to pay taxes on a vacation home, among other charges.

"There were very few calls on Rangel to resign and he was censured of serious misconduct involving his office – really serious things that had potential for criminal charges," Sloan said. "We don't have anything remotely like that in the Weiner case."

Sloan explained that the mounting pressure on Weiner may stem in part from the early precedent set by House Speaker John Boehner when, at the first sign of sexual misconduct, he urged Reps. Mark Souder (R, Ind.) and Chris Lee (R, N.Y.) to resign, even though their behavior didn't appear to involve any abuse of their office.

"A lot of people really hate Weiner, too," she said, referring to Weiner's colleagues in the House, some of whom are said to have been rankled by his personality and frequent media appearances. 

So yes, there's a legitimate argument that Democrats should hold Anthony Weiner to a higher standard of conduct.  And yes, Republicans Chris Lee and Mark Souder both resigned after making similar mistakes, and I wasn't sorry to see either of them go.  I think the argument that Weiner should resign over this is outweighed by the circumstances, but I really can't see myself disagreeing anymore with those who are calling for him to step down.

And especially in the light that Democrats are bringing attention to anti-woman legislation from the GOP, Weiner may find himself without a chair to sit in when the music stops.

We'll see how this turns out.

[UPDATE] Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, says her husband will remain in Congress.  She is currently traveling with Secretary of State Clinton on her latest trip to the Middle East.

Last Call

I would have to submit that Vince McCrudden is probably not the guy I would trust to have the judgment necessary for running my hedge fund.

Vincent McCrudden, a mad-as-hell hedge fund manager from Long Island, was arrested last night for threatening to kill 47 officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

McCrudden runs a very small hedge fund called Alnbri Management, based in Melville, N.Y. He's got something of a beef with the federal government, it would seem: He filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the SEC and other regulatory agencies last year—yeah, that's $1 billion—claiming harassment. And then last month, according to government prosecutors, he started sending violent and threatening e-mails to a host of SEC, Finra, and CFTC officials with messages like, "You f****g corrupt piece of s**t! [Y]ou my friend are not getting away with this."

Can't manage your anger, can't manage a fund, ya see.   Also...bad timing on the whole "threatening government officials" thing, Vince.

Meanwhile, looks like I get to retire my Michael Steele tag for a bit.

Michael Steele just dropped out of his race for a second term as RNC chairman and threw his support to Maria Cino, who came in second place after the fourth ballot here at the GOP's winter meeting in National Harbor, MD.

"I will step aside because I think the party is ready for something different," Steele said.

I gotta say, I'm going to miss the guy.  He was comedy gold.

To a standing ovation of RNC members, Steele mournfully told the crowd, "and now I exit stage right." 

He ended his term as RNC chair as he began it:



As a cartoon character.

On the other hand, I get to break in a new tag for his replacement.

On the seventh round of balloting, the Republican National Committee elected Reince Priebus to be its next chairman.

Reince Priebus, huh.




New Tag:  Drive The All-New Reince Priebus!

They're Steele Gunning For Him

The race for RNC chair is getting serious now with Michael Steele still wanting to keep his job and a fair amount of support coalescing around Steele's former ally, Reince Priebus.

In many ways, it seems odd that Steele could very well lose, after a cycle in which the GOP made big gains in offices large and small. And if there's one thing we've learned about Steele, it's that he has an impressive ability to weather scandals and gaffes that would fell others. But now, after all those gaffes and scandals, his opponents are now striking back in the open at election time.

Steele faces a crowded field of challengers that includes: Priebus, a former Steele ally whose smashing success at painting his state red this year has helped him shoot to the top; former Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis (also a previous 2009 RNC candidate, and the first challenger to get in this time); former Bush Administration official Maria Cino (who has been endorsed by Dick Cheney); former Missouri GOP chair Ann Wagner; and to top it all off, former high-ranking Steele aide Gentry Collins.

As the most recent whip counts from Politico and National Journal show, Priebus is in first place with the support of 26 RNC voters, followed by Steele at 15 -- an awful place to be for an incumbent -- with Anuzis and Wagner at 11 apiece, Cino 6, and Collins 3.

The problem is a number of Tea Party Republicans aren't any happier with the front-runners than they are with Steele.   The Tea Party long-shot is the guy currently in the back of the pack:  Gentry Collins.  Collins is picking up some unlikely endorsements, too, like Connecticut state RNC head Chris Healy.

These are the hard truths. Each Member is entitled to support who they believe is best suited to lead our Party through a critical time. I am supporting Gentry Collins because he comes to the job with experience, knowledge and credibility. He handled his job under difficult circumstances and saw it through before opting to run for it himself. Some have questioned his loyalty, but if anything, Gentry showed he was true to the Members and the activists by sorting out conflicting information and unmet commitments from Steele and his inner circle.

The fight will heat up on Monday at Grover Norquist's annual government drowning party RNC candidate debate.   We'll see who comes out swinging to get the brass ring...or in this case, the Steele one.

Steele Trying To Decide

RNC chair Michael Steele will supposedly make an official decision to run again for the position or not public tomorrow.

In an email sent to RNC voting members send last night, Steele announced a "private conference call" for the GOP leaders nationwide who will determine who leads the RNC for the next two years.

Steele has yet to announce whether he'll seek a second term as the field of Republicans interested in replacing him fills up. Politico reports "key supporters" of Steele expect he'll decline to run again.

That field got one name longer Friday when former RNC deputy chair Mary Cino formally entered the race for chair. Cino's name has been floated for weeks, and her bid enjoys the support of Vice President Dick Cheney as well as other big names from the Bush era.

As amusing as Steele has been, nobody's about to give him any credit for the Republican victories in 2010.  It's actually a bit of a shame.  Despite his many gaffes and attention-grabbing antics,  all Steele did was prove beyond a doubt that the real power in the Republican party rests not with the RNC, but the coalition of Super-PAC donors and fundraisers like Karl Rove's American Crossroads outfit.

In effect, these outside groups have completely taken over the RNCs duties in all but name.  It was happening anyway, but the Citizens United decision sealed that deal.  Steele was just there for show, but he put on a good one while he was there.

Playing the Devil's advocate, if Steele really was in charge, and responsible for the Republicans' substantial midterm victories, do you think letting him stay on would be a problem?  I don't.  Steele's a figurehead and he knew it.  But now the RNC is looking for somebody more substantial going into 2012.

Part of me is disappointed to see an African-American politician rise to the top like this when he was so obviously being used.  But the other part of me knows that Steele allowed himself to be used as a counter to Obama from the beginning.

I've said Steele was gone a number of times and I've been wrong so far, but that just meant he was more useful as a figurehead rather than a scapegoat.  This time I believe he'll step down.

We're Steele Making A Terrible Moose-take

Brian Beutler is reporting that Tea Party groups are trying to draft Sarah Palin into getting Michael Steele's job as head of the RNC.

The national Tea Party Nation group is planning to send a letter to Sarah Palin asking the former governor of Alaska and John McCain sidekick to run for chair of the Republican National Committee.

Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips says in his letter to Palin that without her at the helm of the RNC, the party will fall back into "establishment" hands.

"We need you as Chairman of the RNC. You have shown in the past no hesitation to take on the establishment. You did it in Alaska," Phillips writes in the letter. "If we end up with establishment control of the GOP and their support for an establishment candidate in 2012, Obama and the socialists will have won...We need someone who will put conservatives in control of the party apparatus, not RINOs."

This ought to be fun, especially since the entire point of RNC chair is to be a gaffe-prone lightning rod to blame for anything that might go wrong.  Governor Half-Term there should fit right into the comedy routine over there.

Unfortunately, her egotistical narcissism won't allow her to do it, because it would be she'd be tied down with "responsibilities" while stringing the press along on the Will She Or Won't She Tour 2010.   Can't have that.

Besides, she's got her sights on the top prize.  Icarus needs a sun to fly too close to, after all.

It's Steele Reigning, But For How Long?

The key battle in the GOP to see if the Tea Party has any real game-changing clout in the party (or if as I suspect, the conservative crazies have served their usefulness and will summarily be tossed into the crawlspace under the Big Tent as soon as possible) will come as RNC chair Michael Steele draws inevitable challengers heading into 2012.  First up:  former Michigan party head Saul Anuzis.

"We cannot be misled by our victories this year," Anuzis wrote in an announcement posted on his blog. "Chairman Steele's record speaks for itself. He has his way of doing things. I have mine."

Anuzis, clearly hoping to emerge as the choice of the anti-Steele forces within the 168 member Republican National Committee added that "I will NOT strive to be the voice or the face of our party" -- seeking to draw a direct contrast with high profile (and gaffe prone) current chairman.

This is the second time Anuzis is making a bid to lead his party. He ran and lost in 2009, dropping out after the fifth ballot.

In addition to Anuzis, there are at least four other people making calls to RNC members to test the waters for a bid, according to an informed source on the committee. That quartet includes: Wisconsin Republican party chairman Reince Priebus, who managed Steele's 2009 RNC campaign, veteran GOP strategist Maria Cino, Connecticut Republican party chairman Chris Healy and former Ambassador Ann Wagner.

While it's not clear whether any -- or all -- of those candidates will run, many people are looking at next week's Republican Governors Association gathering in San Diego as a time when people either need to be in or out.

There is significant concern among the anti-Steele forces that a crowded field could splinter the vote in enough pieces to allow him to be reelected. 

That last part there is what I expect to happen.  Steele will survive because there won't be enough solid support behind any single challenger to dethrone him, and he can say "Hey, since I became chair we took back the House.  What did you do for us?"

Besides, the real heavyweights (such as they are in the GOP) are running for Obama's job in 2012, not Steele's.  It's possible one of the contenders could drop out early and go gunning for Steele instead, but that's not a good move on the chessboard:  if you make a difference in 2012 there will be a Republican President who outranks you as party boss, and if you blow it, you're the next pinata.

Nobody serious is going to take the job, and I think Steele keeps it by default.

Steele Running Away

Unlike Josh Marshall I personally think Michael Steele will make it all the way to Friday before he has to apologize to the GOP again for his latest bout of stupidity.

In an interview with Spanish-language network Univision, RNC Chairman Michael Steele distanced his party from Arizona's controversial new immigration law, saying, "The actions of one state's governor is not a reflection of an entire country, nor is it a reflection of an entire political party."

"We hope, now that this debate is in full bloom, level heads will prevail and that we'll reach a common sense solution with regards to immigration," Steele said.

He's toast.  Wouldn't this be funny if this really was the last straw that gets Steele fired?  Won't happen, I mean if they haven't fired him by now, they're not going to.

Now, come January 2011 this may be a different story, especially considering the RNC's major money problems, but considering that Michael Steele and the RNC are irrelevant now compared to Karl Rove's fundraising operations, at this point it doesn't matter what happens to Steele, does it?

Last Call

Pretty good article over at Raw Story tonight detailing why Michael Steele no longer matters to the Republicans:  he's no longer in charge:  Karl Rove is.

Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Republican strategist Ed Rollins was asked to comment on the so-called "shadow RNC" that has sprung up to bypass Steele as the Republican party's core management. Rollins has in recent months emerged as a strong Republican critic of chairman Steele, after calling for his resignation in April.

"[He’s] so immersed in controversy that he’s kind of in a bunker these days," host Bob Schieffer said, noting Steele's reluctance to appear on television. "Are Republicans going to have to do something about Michael Steele?"

"Well, there’s no time," Rollins replied, noting the upcoming election season. "Obviously he’s been a disaster. You have three men on this show -- not me, but the other three -- who have all been party chairmen and very distinguished party chairmen. Michael Steele has failed miserably in the things you’re supposed to do: raise money and basically go out and articulate the message. It’s not going to matter though -- in the 11 weeks from now, what he says and does in the next 11 weeks is not going to matter."

The reason Rollins says it will not matter is because of the so-called "shadow RNC" formed by former Bush political adviser Karl Rove and former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, which has effectively undermined Steele's position, rendering him nothing more than a figurehead.

Rove disclosed during a July broadcast by Fox News, his part-time employer, that his American Crossroads groups would effectively benefit via financing loopholes opened by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.

Ol' Turd Blossom is calling the shots.  Republicans are going right back to the Karl Rove playbook to try to bring down Obama and Dems heading into the election.  Thanks to SCOTUS they will be able to spend unlimited funding especially in the last 30 days.  The RNC fundraising machine has been bypassed by Rove's Crossroads outfit.

In effect, he's leading the charge to buy Congress back.  And he'll have tens if not hundreds of millions to help him do so.

Gotta love the American election system, eh?

Steele This Book

That loud whistling sound you're hearing is the executioner's axe speeding towards Michael Steele's career, and it's being wielded by the wingnuts.

The Washington Times reports today, however, on a new matter that has nothing to do with Steele's notorious gaffes, and more to do with his notorious mismanagement.

The Republican National Committee failed to report more than $7 million in debt to the Federal Election Commission in recent months -- a move that made its bottom line appear healthier than it is heading into the midterm elections and that also raises the prospect of a hefty fine.

In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer -- a charge RNC officials deny.

Mr. Pullen told the members that he had discovered $3.3 million in debt from April and $3.8 million from May, which he said had led him to file erroneous reports with the FEC. He amended the FEC filings Tuesday.

When it comes to consequences, the financial problem could cause all kinds of trouble for Republicans. Deliberately filing deceptive FEC reports is criminal, and could lead to stiff penalties -- if not formal charges -- before the elections.

And while the Republican National Committee is already downplaying the significance of this, there's reason to believe the party is aware of the seriousness of the situation.

I know I've said this several times before and every time Michael Steele fails upward and gains even more power over at the RNC, but $7 million in campaign debt not being reported is one of those Things You Can Go To Prison For, and this time I think Steele has to be done.

Finally, this isn't the "Liberul Media" or the Democrats throwing these accusations around, but the Washington Times and the Wingers.  They're the ones calling for his resignation.

This may very well be it for him.

He's Steele Kicking It

The TPM crew declares that having survived the holiday weekend, Michael Steele will remain chair of the RNC.

As he's often done during his tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele last week put the phone to his ear to save his embattled rear. On Friday, Steele arranged a raft of conference calls to explain his remarks that Afghanistan was a war of President Obama's "choosing," and tried to offer members now very used to his gaffe-prone tendencies context for the remarks.

"When the video broke Mike sent out a gargantuan amount of emails to members, to senators. He emailed by the pound," an RNC member told TPM in an interview. Steele even called conservative columnist Bill Kristol who began the drumbeat that the chairman should go in hopes of setting him straight. (Steele's friends complained that Kristol has not introduced himself to the chairman.)

Steele's message boiled down to two key points: it was a clumsy comment; and let's keep our eye on the prize. Steele allies backed that up with their own rounds of calls and emails to remind skeptical members the midterm elections are 120 days away and they must stay focused if they want to win back power in Washington.

"Of the two or three crises we've been through, this one has the least amount of steam to it," another RNC member said this afternoon. "That L.A. nightclub thing seemed to have more oomph on it. We told him that it 'was not your finest hour but we are only 120 days out.'"

I thought for sure he was done, but then again this brings up the Gonzo Rule:  no Republican ever gets fired for incompetence, they can only get bored of being a laughing stock and quit.  Steele hasn't reached that point yet (apparently his capacity for self-delusion is pretty substantial) and he still thinks he's the right man for the job, so he's survived yet again.

On the other hand, more and more Republicans are convinced that Steele is going to cost them some midterm victories.

Some Republican strategists say privately that Steele's troubles have weakened the party in an all-important election year. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) recently said he worries that fundraising problems at the RNC could hamper Republicans' efforts to take over the House in November, as major donors express reluctance to contribute to the organization under Steele. One House Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the consequences of Steele's leadership candidly, said the party will do well in November because of the general political climate. But, he added, "we are going to be in a position to lose seats that we could win." 

So, if the Republicans fail to take the House in November, guess who's going to be among the unemployed?

Shame.  I think Michael Steele's great.

For the Democrats.

Mind Like A Steele, Trapped...Again

Yeah, I know.  I make a lot of these "Michael Steele just got his ass fired this time for sure" posts, mainly because the man makes Joe Biden look like a world-class motivational speaker with his repeated idiocy, but this time he did the the unforgivable and trashed the war like...a liberal (lightning, scary organ music, dramatic prairie dog).

Republicans are furious with RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who was caught on camera saying that the war in Afghanistan is a doomed effort launched by President Obama. Steele has no shortage of enemies in the GOP and many of them sense an opportunity here. In fact, several, both privately and publicly, are saying this is the last straw: Steele should resign.

"Needless to say, the war in Afghanistan was not 'a war of Obama's choosing,'" reads an open letter to Steele from Weekly Standard editor and influential GOP voice Bill Kristol.

It has been prosecuted by the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama. Republicans have consistently supported the effort. Indeed, as the DNC Communications Director (of all people) has said, your statement "puts [you] at odds with about 100 percent of the Republican Party." 

....There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they're certainly entitled to make their case. But one of them shouldn't be the chairman of the Republican party.

In an interview this afternoon, a livid, top GOP operative put it more bluntly. "This is the height of stupidity and epitomizes the problem that is Michael Steele." 

Here's the really stupid part.  Steele's basically done at this point, but the Democratic response was actually far, far worse in my opinion.  Greg Sargent:

By all means, Dems should go on the attack against Michael Steele for his wild comments about Afghanistan. But do they really think it's a good idea to say he's for cutting and running, is "rooting for failure" and is "betting against our troops"?

The statement from DNC spox Brad Woodhouse, just out:

RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE BETS AGAINST OUR TROOPS, ROOTS FOR FAILURE

"Here goes Michael Steele setting policy for the GOP again. The likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham will be interested to hear that the Republican Party position is that we should walk away from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban without finishing the job. They'd also be interested to hear that the Chairman of the Republican Party thinks we have no business in Afghanistan notwithstanding the fact that we are there because we were attacked by terrorists on 9-11.

"And, the American people will be interested to hear that the leader of the Republican Party thinks recent events related to the war are 'comical' and that he is betting against our troops and rooting for failure in Afghanistan. It's simply unconscionable that Michael Steele would undermine the morale of our troops when what they need is our support and encouragement. Michael Steele would do well to remember that we are not in Afghanistan by our own choosing, that we were attacked and that his words have consequences."

Now there's no excuse for that as the official response.  Just because Steele is an idiot doesn't mean he was wrong about Afghanistan being unwinnable.  I don't know why he said it, I don't know who on Steele's team though it would be a good idea to attack Obama by blaming the Afghanistan war on him when the public kinda sorta recalls that particular conflict was started by that feller from Texas and all.  But this is the same crap Republican attacked Democrats with for years.  It's just as stupid now when Dems say it as when Republicans do.

Foul on both sides, big time.  I'm pretty sure some folks in the DNC deserve to be shown the door along with Steele.

The Mask Slips Again

And a Republican accidentally tells the truth again.

Why should an African-American vote Republican?

“You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True,” Republican National Chairman Michael Steele told 200 DePaul University students Tuesday night. […]

“For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, ‘Bubba’ went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.”

Hey Mike?  You're right, of course...but the kicker is that the party you lead reaffirms that nearly every single day, and it's never been so bloody obvious before Barack Obama ended up in the White House.

Appreciate the candor, however.   Now, how about fixing it?

We're Steele In This Together, You And I

Michael Steele is warning his critics on the right that he's the indispensable man in the RNC chair right now.

Steele warned the audience that Democrats will try to use his troubles to shift the focus in an election year that looks like it could be a tough road for the majority party. He urged his fellow party members not to let that happen.

"Democrats are looking for those distractions," he said. "And lord knows I've provided a few."

"But Democrats also know they have some explaining to do," he added. "And they'd love nothing more than for us to keep pointing fingers at me and others instead of their radical un-American agenda. And we shouldn't fall for that trap."

And he's right, Democrats are trying to shift gears to Michael Steele.  But Steele is making it so easy to do so. Steele's been fighting for his job since Day One, and he's not exactly been the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to playing politics.  After all, his job is playing politics.

However, I don't see Steele going anywhere.  He's survived this long, they really can't fire him without admitting it was a cynical pandering move to hire him in the first place, and the guy does have charisma.  The RNC is stuck with him, frankly.

But I also believe that will continue to benefit the Democrats more than the Republicans.  After November's elections however, Steele's job security situation may change very rapidly (especially if the Republicans fail to recapture Congress.)

For now, he's Steele the one.

Steele Himself For Battle

The calls for Michael Steele's head from the Republican side are getting louder.

Prominent Republican strategist Alex Castellanos called on Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele to step down Tuesday after a series of embarrassing headlines raised questions about Steele's ability to lead the party into November's elections.


"I think a change in the direction now, at this point, would do the party good," Castellanos told CNN's "The Situation Room."

Castellanos a CNN political contributor, described Steele as a "good man, a very decent man and a tremendously talented man." But he said he had stopped serving as an informal advisor to Steele because "I lost my ability to be of service to the RNC."

And louder...

How to put this politely? Michael Steele is a man of considerable talents — it’s just that he conspicuously lacks those required for his present position. He’s energetic, personable, and articulate. But those are not the qualities most required of a party chairman. The job demands an administrator, a behind-the-scenes schmoozer, and a tactician. Showboating is a hindrance. It’s a job that requires the talents of a stage manager, whereas Steele likes to be the star.

At a time when the Republican party is the indispensable vehicle for thwarting the disastrous policies of the Obamaites, Steele is a costly distraction in more ways than one.

And louder.

But before the RNC can pick new leadership, the current leader must step aside. There are already those who are calling for Steele's forced ouster. But that would be unfortunate, and tough under the party's rules. Far better for Steele to decide it's time to go on his own. 

Remember Josh Marshall's theory:  if Steele is forced out, it all but proves that he was put in the position solely because of his race in the first place as a naked attempt to blunt criticism of the GOP on race.  The dogpiling on Steele from the right shows that he's outlived his usefulness as the puppet at the head of a party without a leader...well, without admission that the leaders are Beck and Limbaugh, that is.

We'll see how this shapes up.  I'm strongly inclined to agree with Marshall here:  Steele as RNC chair was always a naked attempt to pander.

Racing To Play, Part 2

With Michael Steele playing the race card today on his critics, Josh Marshall of TPM argues that Steele only ended up with the RNC job in the first place because of his race.

Michael Steele got the job for one reason: Republicans needed someone who could be the point man for bashing Barack Obama while being immune not only from charges of racism but any discussion of the fact that the current GOP is a party made up pretty much 100% of white folks. As is common with Republicans, Steele is the mirror image, ersatz Obama. Whatever else you can say about the 44th president, in the 2008 campaign and to a great degree still, he was a phenomenon, a meteoric political figure whose power on the political stage was much greater than the sum of his parts.

In different ways race played into the Obama phenomenon. But Republicans were always basically full of it and barking up the wrong tree when they tried to claim either that Democrats picked Barack Obama because he was black or that he was winning because he was black. So what did the Republicans do: turn around and hire someone to lead their party pretty much for the sole reason that he was black. As is so often the case, the critics of racial progress, because they don't comprehend it, resort to a parody of it.

Steele was hired because he was black. And the other truth is that now he can't be fired, in significant measure, because he's black. Because canning Steele now would only drive home the reality that Republicans were trying to paper over, fairly clumsily, when they hired him in the first place. So Republicans are stuck with his myriad goofs and #pressfails and incompetent management and all the rest because of a set of circumstances entirely of their own making. 

And everything Marshall says here makes absolute sense.  Michael Steele got the top job in the Republican Party right now as de facto leader specifically because of his race...to counter criticism that Republicans are racists.  Marshall is also correct that Steele can't be fired now, because if they do, they admit that's why he was hired in the first place.

It's pretty sad and pathetic.  But that's how Republicans see the world.  It's a bold claim to make and Marshall is going to take some pretty nuclear heat for stating the obvious here, probably all sorts of boycotts and idiocy and press blackouts for TPM, and pressure to take his outfit apart.  The GOP as a matter of fact will scramble to take the focus off Steele and put it on Josh Marshall.  You can count on that.

Remember when the GOP backlash comes that the issue isn't how Josh Marshall sees race, but how Republican party leaders see it.

Racing To Play

Michael Steele:  keepin' it classy.


Yes, and he's playing the race card, suggesting that criticism of his performance is "partially based" on his race.   You know?  That might even be true, it's just the rest of it is mostly based on his incompetence.

He's Steele Undercover

At some point you just have to start asking if Michael Steele is the greatest Democratic party double agent of all time.  Greg Sargent:

The Republican National Committee has undertaken an investigation in the wake of news that nearly $2,000 in party funds was spent at a bondage-themed club that features topless female dancers imitating lesbian sex, an RNC spokesperson confirms to me.

The spokesperson adamantly denies that Michael Steele was the party who spent the money at the club and says Steele strongly disavows such actions.

The Daily Caller reported today that FEC filings show that $1,946.25 in RNC funds was spent in February at Voyeur West Hollywood, which features scantily clad waitresses and writhing performers amid a decor of orgy chic.

The really, really sad part is  the speed at which Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller, the supposed "Right Wing Answer To The Huffington Post" that broke this story, is being thrown under the bus by the wingers for daring to report it.