In a blog post on The Atlantic website on Monday, a great analysis of who the players are organizing the upcoming Tax Day Tea Party events is written by Chris Good. In his post The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge, Good exposes the coordination efforts for the protests capturing the attention of the wingnutosphere and traces the steps of FreedomWprks, dontGO and Americans For Prosperity.
All 3 of the Tea Party movement organizers are relative newcomers to the conservative scene, and are adopting Astroturfing techniques to build up attention for their efforts to derail President Obama's economic agenda. From the article:
All three groups vehemently deny that the movement is a product of AstroTurfing--fake grassroots activism organized from the top down--as some on the left have claimed. They will tell you that citizens-turned-activists, upset with President Obama's economic agenda and the financial bailout, have been calling them, asking for help and how they can organize protests on Wednesday. The movement, they say, is entirely organic: they are mostly providing help and resources to this new class of outraged conservative free-market populists, some of whom are their own members and some of whom are outsiders to politics with whom they've never communicated before--not even on an e-mail list.
Governor Mitch Daniels was reelected by a wide margin, an outcome due almost entirely to a well-oiled campaign machine and a mere specter of token opposition. The victory was impressive, surely, but hasn't justified the level of hero-worship that has followed in its wake.
Still, the GOP is in search of someone -- anyone -- who can offer some thoughts on where they went wrong and how they can do better. Cue the appearance of Daniels at a recent Republican leadership retreat, and some words of advice that I sincerely hope sounded better out loud than they do on paper.
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.), another speaker, offered his keys to success in politics: be bold, be yourself, toss the talking points, speak from the heart, get to know the people you work for.
Have slumber parties with your constituents, he told the early risers. "End up places candidates don't go," he said.
"I talked a lot about getting your hands dirty; being with and connecting and really understanding the lives of real people. I travel all the time, I stay over night at peoples homes all over Indiana, I've been doing this for five years. Incidentily it makes a much better office holder out of you," Daniels revealed. "I think it makes a more effective advocate of you."
Allow me to translate.
Toss the talking points, except when it comes to the economy, in which case you should don those suckers like riot gear and deny or ignore everything in your path. Oh, and don't forget the slumber parties, where you can hear from ordinary people (read: campaign contributors) who love you unconditionally and will remind you incessantly of how gosh darn great you are. In addition, be bold, which is a term loosely defined as "doing whatever you want without listening to the concerns of others."
The most striking thing about the "New GOP" is its remarkable resemblance to the old one.
If Indiana turns blue at last, it won't be simply because of overwhelming turnout in Lake County or the Democratic cities like Indianapolis and Bloomington. If Indiana turns blue, it will be because Indiana Hoosiers are disgusted with the Bush Administration... and because Obama has run a terrific ground offensive in this state. He has done what many (including myself) might have thought impossible: he is making serious headway in the wealthy Republican suburbs that ring Indianapolis:
Bruce Babcock, a lifelong Republican and a retired executive with a Fortune 100 company, had no reluctance about advertising his newfound political allegiance with an Obama sign. "Bush has not done a very good job. And the Republicans don't deserve another chance at all." Babcock's last words were designed to underscore that he has no animus toward McCain: "They'd have to resurrect Lincoln to get me to vote Republican."
Two articles of note this morning raise the issue of representation at the Indiana GOP and their National Convention in general. While it may be no particular surprise to anyone, diversity isn't exactly their forte. In fact, as the Courier-Journal notes, their delegation to Minneapolis doesn't include a single African American as a delegate or an alternate. (The entire convention only has 38, out of nearly 3,400 participants.)
Joe Slash, a black Republican and president of the Indianapolis Urban League, complimented Ballard's effort and said he considers Daniels a friend who has had "a very strong representation of African Americans in his administration."
But he said Indiana Republicans "need to ask themselves why -- why is there no representation in the official (convention) delegation? It hints there are some problems."
Slash, who served as a senior adviser to former Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut, a Republican, said he couldn't attend this year's convention because it conflicts with Urban League duties. But he said he's also starting to lean more toward independents.
"I think the party has gone too far to the right," he said. "There's a fine line between conservatism and racism."
Ouch.
And if that wasn't bad enough, Mary Beth Schneider lets us know that the Republicans also hate children.
Tommaso Verderame, a 15-year-old Y-Press editor from Greenwood, said the group was first told in July that its request for credentials was denied. Attempts to appeal were rejected, he said, as they were told that it had always been GOP policy not to give credentials to people under age 18.
"Which is untrue," Verderame said.
Y-Press did get credentials in 2004 to cover both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and also in 1996 and 1992, when Y-Press was known as Children's Express
When this was pointed out to them, the national GOP actually had the audacity to tell Y-Press that their denial was "because they cannot vote."
Compassionate conservatism, the old fashioned way.
My friend Stephen Edds has a great post up today at the Crazyman website about the massive bailout extended to Wall Street brokerages, investment banks and other financial titans that is intended to shore up the economy but really is just shoring up Bu$h'$ Ba$e.
So, we're paying OUR taxes for loans to private Wall Street brokerage firms who made bad investments with OUR money in order to keep them from losing OUR money and keep their salaries?
Wall Street is out of control and they're double-dipping from the American people.
Following decisive Democratic victories in Tuesday's election, Crown Point Republicans did the only thing they knew how. They blamed each other.
Kevin Ober, executive director of the Indiana Republican Party, said the state party hopes Crown Point Mayor Dan Klein, GOP city chairman John Moos and Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley will work through their differences locally.
Klein asked the state party to remove Moos and Curley earlier this week after Democrat David Uran won the mayoral office. Twenty-five-year incumbent Republican City Councilman Paul Bremer also appears to have lost his District 1 seat to Democrat Bill Feder by four votes.
Klein criticized Moos and Curley for ineffective leadership that led to the loss of those key elected offices. Curley also lost Highland, Hobart and Cedar Lake to the Democrats, Klein said.
Is it just me or does this represent the perfect parable for the entirety of the state GOP? Moreover, what better way to highlight just how far out of touch Indiana Republicans are to the ever changing political landscape of our state and its electorate.
The case of Terry J. Record keeps taking on new layers of embarassment for the Marion County Prosecutor's office. Record, an attorney for the state Department of Health, is a former intern, campaign aide and deputy prosecutor for Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. The 26 year old attorney has been implicated in two previous alcohol-related incidents which have been uncovered by local media since the Sunday night crash in which 47 year old Jimmy Cash was killed by Record when he ran a red light on Southeastern Avenue on his way home from Brad's Brass Flamingo.
Gary Welsh at Advance Indiana has been alloverthis story:
Let's face it, Indianapolis police and the Marion County prosecutor's office let Jimmy Cash's family down in a big way. Record's admission he lied about the hit-and-run accident last October was tanatmount to a plea for help. If Record had been charged and the State Board of Law Examiners notified of his transgression, Record would have been immediately placed in an alcohol rehabilitation plan if he had any hope of ever practicing law. Instead, Record was able to walk away from his crime, be admitted as an attorney just weeks later on October 20, 2006, and be free to drive his automobile. The failure of our police and prosecutor to do their job in this case is inexcusable.
(From the user diaries: I had been meaning to post on this, but had not gotten around to it. Thanks finifinito. - promoted by Thomas)
WTHR is reporting via Kevin Rader's Statehouse Blog on a story that first appeared in the Washington Time Herald on Friday concerning remarks made by Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita at the annual Daviess County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. While speaking to the assembled GOP members at the Washington Conservation Club, Rokita referred to unsourced statistics that African Americans vote in favor of Democrats 90 percent of the time and compared the relationship between Democrats and black voters to the relationship slaves had with their slave masters.
Rokita spent some time revisiting the party's history, especially concerning the African-American vote. He said that African-Americans vote 90 percent Democrat and questioned why.
"How can that be?" Rokita said. "90 to 10. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?"
Kevin Rader has requested an on camera clarification from Rokita and I am sure this is only the beginning of this story. In this day and Information Age, with YouTube and camera phones everywhere to capture comments made in public and every small town newspaper able to report to the world via the Internet, you would think a politician like Rokita would choose his words more carefully even when speaking to the base such as he was doing.
Boneheaded comments like Rokita's and Don Imus' recent incident showcase that speaking before thinking is a continuing problem for some folks. The insensitivity of the remarks Rokita made is astounding, but were probably greeted with nodding approval by the assembled soulless minions of orthodoxy that make up these types of gatherings.
I'm sure Rokita will give Rader an on camera clarification in which he will try to pass off his comments as innocuous but the damage is done here already. Comparing black voters to slaves and Democrats to slave masters not only is insensitive but damages the GOP on the subject that Rokita was addressing which is black voter recruitment. Rokita just kicked down the center pole in the GOP's big tent to close it up in a wrong headed effort to get his party to try to think of ways to gain a bigger share of the African American vote. Nice going, Todd.
UPDATE 4:30p: Brian Howey confirms this with Rokita's acknowledgement of an "insensitive metaphor" issued via a statement from Rokita's office today.
Shorter Todd Rokita: I was trying out this whole diversity thing but messed it up. My Bad.
I would like to congratulate you upon your choice to run for the office of Mayor of Indianapolis. Your candidacy is a welcome sign of the fate and fortunes of the Marion County GOP which used to control Indianapolis with an iron fist for several decades.
I would also like to compliment you on your choice of campaign strategy. It was a brilliant stroke of genius to come out swinging by alienating local Jewish residents in your first interview with The Indianapolis Star as a candidate. Despite the fact that the Mayor of Indianapolis has no influence on foreign policy, making such a bold statement on the subject in lieu of promising to fix the potholes, sewers, bridges and other crumbling infrastructure in our fair city was, in hindsight, a fantastic bit of political drama to ensure that you received wide coverage of your campaign announcement.
I would like to offer a bit of advice for the remainder of your campaign for Mayor. With the growing Black and Hispanic populations in our community, might I suggest that you might wish to find ways to alienate these voters as quickly as possible. Perhaps you could meet with leaders from the black community to discuss ways in which the city could help protect the local "pea shake" houses.
When you meet with your Hispanic leaders, perhaps you could meet them in the living room of a cramped Eastside house that you own where 18 people are living out of 3 bedrooms so you could explain your ideas for closing the Southern US border with Mexico and using IMPD to round up illegal immigrants for the concentration camp at the Amtrak Yards in Beech Grove.
I know running for office can be a daunting task, but I now you can do it and do it well. Don't waste your money hiring any PR flacks or campaign consultants, just go with your instincts and do what your gut tells you to do. Spend as much money as possible on radio and TV commercials educating the citizens of Indianapolis on more of your views. I await these with rapt attention.
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In a blog post on The Atlantic website on Monday, a great analysis of who the players are organizing the upcoming Tax Day Tea Party events is written by Chris Good. In his post The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge, Good exposes the coordination efforts for the protests capturing the attention of the wingnutosphere and traces the steps of FreedomWprks, dontGO and Americans For Prosperity.
