WHY are leftist politicians so adamant about killing the SAVE ACT

Prepare to be shocked... SHOCKED, I tell ya!

Leftists opposed to the SAVE Act are once again literally on the wrong end of yet another 80/20 issue.

As far back as October 2024, 83% of American voters support the core tenet of that legislation. The few democrats voting for that act have been savaged by their hard-core, fringe-left base, treating that obvious requirement (that voting be limited to American citizens and requiring proof of citizenship to register) like the rioting scum in Portland treat the ICE facility.

Democrat supporters of this legislation, which, to be bluntly honest, DOES include our congresswoman, are verbally beaten to a pulp by the fringe-left of their own party.

They remind silent in the face of the massive, bipartisan support for this legislation across the voting spectrum of this country.

In the face of fringe opposition, one must ponder... why?

WHY do they oppose this obviously needed legislation? In fact, that opposition lends itself to outright justification to PASS it.

This situation is reminiscent of the 2020 election debacle. Georgia has recently been in the spotlight for their electoral incompetence in that election... which begs the issue: why were leftists so terrified of investigations?

They did everything they could, everywhere they could, to stop any investigation of any kind. Lawsuits, TV whining, demands to end it.... but why?

Imagine the political difference the world would face today had they agreed to the total transparency demanded by the GOP?

There were only two possible outcomes: had the democrats agreed, participated fully, encouraged the states and people involved to be totally forthcoming and the investigation revealed...

Nothing.

Or, the second outcome: that the so-called "election deniers" had been absolutely right, that their assertions of voter fraud and ballot manipulation had been correct?

Kinda like that revealed in Georgia a few days ago? You know... like that neither democrat US Senator would have been elected? Like Biden would have lost as a result of corruption replication across the several states that all mysteriously shut down their ballot counting at roughly the same time?

Folks, if my 30+ years in politics taught me anything, the most lasting lesson is that there are no coincidences in politics.

There's a reason the left attacked those with concerns about the 2020 electoral outcomes with a viciousness reserved for the mafia.

And, of course, let us not forget the DEMOCRAT election deniers who were never crucified by the press for their sour grapes. For example, 41% of Harris voters polled claimed the results were illegitimate. At least one suit filed in New York challenged the outcome.

Other democrat election deniers include Maxine Waters, Jaime Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Raul Grijalva, Stacy Abrams, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Hakeem Jeffries, Shiela Jackson Lee, Barbara Boxer and many others are ALSO election deniers... but because they're leftists?

No one cares.

One wonders: Why does the left have their OWN election deniers, while continuing to oppose steps to strengthen the very election security so many of them have complained about?

When THEY lose.

The reality is clear: had they wanted honest elections, they would have joined in the 2020 calls for investigation instead of fighting it tooth and nail.

After all, what's the worst that could have happened? That confidence in election outcomes would have skyrocketed based on the outcomes? So, why did the left fight it so hard?

And why now, when even CNN has pointed out MASSIVE support for these efforts to ensure that only legal voters are allowed to vote?

You can draw your own conclusions.

What, exactly, did those in power know, and when did they know it?

These midterm campaign commercials frequently write themselves. This is one of those times.

House GOP Leadership flipped the needed "no" vote to keep Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" alive.

EARLY this morning, one of the GOP no votes on Trump's BBBA flipped. the bill then passed when that one vote was enough to push it past the tie threshold that would have defeated the bill and enabled passage with a vote of 219 to 213.

When it pushed past the tie vote threshold, all of the GOP no votes then flipped to yes, save for one GOP hold out who likely ended his career yesterday with a surprise "no" vote, (Caucuses, by tradition, are typically supposed to lock up on what's called "procedural votes.") and who then fled the Capitol and failed to return any of Speaker Johnson's phone calls, leaving leadership hanging.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), the surprise "no" vote, immediately left the Capitol while the vote was ongoing. The political equivalent of a "dine and dash" moment, Fitzpatrick was in no mood to defend his vote nor to take the heat for it. He remained the only GOP no vote.

MAGA is, of course, furious. That said, Johnson likely needs to tread lightly based on the reality that Fitzpatrick, now considered a full-blown RINO, could switch parties, reducing the number of votes required to derail any GOP bill to what would then be effectively a 3-vote majority. (There is no tie-breaking mechanism in the House, unlike the Senate.)

I had declared the bill dead with the 4.... then 5... "no" votes and 8 GOP reps not voting to that point. That may also have been done strategically, as anyone voting on the prevailing side of any vote can then request immediate reconsideration.... and the House leadership (GOP) could then determine exactly what "immediate" means, which would have resulted in more time for GOP Leadership to do, what ultimately was done regardless-get more time for leadership to do what they did: flip the "no" votes.

Now the bill moves on to final passage.

Will the GOP continue to hold the needed votes? That's the question. They can count on Fitzpatrick to continue to be a no, and others like Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY) who has been claiming to be a rather militant "no" on this bill but who, in the end, voted yes on the procedural vote, may once again vote "no."

This is riveting drama for political junkies. Otto von Bismarck is credited with a saying that applies here: "There are two things people don't want to see being made: sausage and legislation," or words to that effect.

As I'm writing this, the democrat leader is engaging in the House version of a filibuster by whining on the House floor. As a caucus leader, by tradition, he's allowed to speak as long as he wants... aka "the Magic Minute."

He's been at it for 3 hours or so.

Isn't politics "fun?" (Polymarket, a renown political betting site, indicates an 84% chance the bill will now pass and pass today.)

Efforts are underway to try and "unify" the state GOP after the results of Tuesday's primary.

That's an extremely long putt.

Right or wrong, the effort to trash Semi Bird was, occasionally, over the top. 

We are typically a "feelings" based society.

It was clear to me months before any of this started that Bird never had a chance. He had no money and essentially zero name recognition, particularly in the Puget Sound region... which, like it or hate it, is where elections usually are won or lost.

Had we never heard of his military record, good or bad, he still would have lost.

But had we never heard of his military record, chances of unity would be much greater today than they, in reality, have any chance of approaching.

Which is none.

On June 26th, having given this a great deal of thought, I wrote:

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Here is my professional opinion of the outcome.

The GOP candidate in the general will be the former Congressman.

When the GOP-endorsed candidate gets clobbered in the primary, two things will happen.  First, the GOP base will stay home in droves for the general. There will be zero ways to incentivize the base to throw their support behind a candidate who, along with his surrogates, never misses the opportunity to belittle the soldier’s supporters... and who, all while the non-endorsed candidate, when he was in Congress, on the surface at least, has a voting record in office that would make Patty Murray smile.

Think in terms of Jaime Herrera voting to impeach Donald Trump in that totally unconstitutional congressional kangaroo impeachment court… or Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger's democrat efforts on the Jan 6 Committee.

But the exact, same, thing would happen if the Soldier won. The leftist Republicans would refuse to vote for him, making the outcome inevitable and a replay of the Culp campaign 4 years ago.

Second, by committing political hara-kiri, the state party will have been reduced to the political laughing stock of the PNW.

Far too often, even those actively engaged in the political realm fall victim to the “is he like me” syndrome instead of the “can he win” syndrome.

That’s what happened here.

Conservatives are frequently unable to separate the two because a major part of conservatism all-too-frequently involves feelings instead of political reality.

That is not to say that conservatives are wrong in their thinking as to what is the best course of action of those available. But that IS to say that frequently, conservatives as a group forget that they make up, perhaps, 30% of the electorate. And in this state? Likely even less.

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In all of this, we can see the symptoms. No one realistically believed Reichert could win statewide. The Establishment hacks that put him up to it are the same hacks that supported the democrat over the Republican in the 3rd Congressional District 2 years ago and spent millions to torpedo him, which they did successfully.

The GOP establishment would rather have a democrat win than a conservative Republican.

Sadly, my professional opinion in all of this is that absent some major October Surprise, this election is already over. And my professional opinion is not the result of any bias for or against anyone. It is my assessment of politics in this state.

Were I wrong in this assessment, leftists would be rioting against their city governments. Seattle has turned into a sewer. Tacoma may even be worse. Most every city of any size in this state, including Vancouver, refuses to act to end crime, homelessness, drugs and everything that goes with it. And the majority of these cities continuing to foster these outcomes all have the commonality of leftist dominance in city government.

Even Lynnwood has city council members involved in drag queens for 2 year-olds. Grooming is obvious and open. And who’s doing anything about it?

ANGER is required to replace incumbents or titular incumbents.  And it’s just not there at the state level. It SHOULD be. But it isn’t.

And as a result, the winner in this state will not be a Republican.

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Some reading this may disagree. But I believe that the harder Reichert supporters pushed (against a guy who had no chance to win anyway, IMHO), the less likely there was any chance Reichert could win as I believe many... far too many... will refuse to vote for him based on how they believe he treated Bird and how, effectively, his surrogates, formal or otherwise, treated Bird's supporters.

The "let's make nice" attempt is needed. But it will also fail.

In the future, the party needs to take a deep, hard look at itself. Before it can figure out how it can win, they need to figure out why they keep losing.

And for close to the last 40 years, the magic key has eluded them.

That does not mean become "democrat light." Nor does it mean "out-democrating the democrats" as the GOP has done all too frequently in the name of "bipartisanship."

As a former executive director for the state GOP, and a senior legislative staffer in Olympia, like the saying goes "I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two." But frequently, people in politics in this area and this state don't like what I have to say because it moves them out of their comfort zone.

Next time around, determine a candidate's "win-ability quotient."

THEN figure out if they support enough of the platform that the party, in turn, can support them.

But it does no one any good to put forward a candidate who checks every platform box, but who has none of the equipment; from money, to knowledge, to know-how to name familiarity to get it done.

And leave how you, as a party, "feel" about them out of it.

So, is Jon Russell a RINO?

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Usually, the title "RINO" is applied to someone not unlike Jaime Herrera, who co-sponsored and voted for SEIU legislation the past two sessions while voting to strip out the last $229 million from the state emergency fund... or our completely worthless Secretary of State, Sam Reed, who has done nothing to improve election security; nothing to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and who, because it makes his job much easier, has been an advocate of restoring voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they're released... instead of after they've completed ALL of the requirements of their sentences such as restitution and probation.

But there is more than one kind of RINO. There's the opportunistic, far right variety... like Jon Russell.

Two separate sources have confirmed to me that Russell has indicated that he may file as a Tea Party member as opposed to a Republican.

That's kind of bizarre on a variety of levels, but given a review of the record, maybe not so much:

Russell, not all that long ago, ran the Port Levy campaign.

That's right; Jon Russell, alleged conservative, ran the campaign to slam those living in the Port District with the largest tax increase in local history.

That's not very "conservative" of you, Jon.

And telling people you're considering running under some other banner besides that of the Republican Party isn't, well, very Republican of you.

In fact... you could be called a RINO for that sort of thing, couldn't you?

But then... a fine, upstanding young man like Jon would never do THAT... that Florida Governor Charlie Crist thing.... would he?

Nah.

Cross posted at Jon Russell Watch.
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When republicans are idiots: WA State GOP hasn't paid legal fees for Top 2 case.

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Besides idiotically supporting democrat Tim "The Liar" Leavitt, Washington State GOP'ers have additional idiocy to contend with: They've failed to pay an owed $55,000 legal bill to the state for their multiple moronic challenges to this state's Top Two election system.

The stupidity of the state GOP continuing to whine and snivel about the will of the people as expressed in the vote changing this state to the top two vote getter system for primary elections, SHOULD be self-evident.

I advocated all along that the leftists who ignore anything approaching diversity of thought should take all the heat for bitch-slapping the people of this state in their effort to avoid losing a little power.

That said, the state GOP owes $55,000 in what seems like hard dollars for their failed effort to again ignore the will of the people. And how idiotic is that? What did it get them?

Local News 53°F

Originally published Monday, November 16, 2009 at 2:35 PM

Comments (1) E-mail article Print view Share

Wash.: GOP hasn't paid legal fees for Top 2 case

The state says Washington's Republican Party is deadbeat in repaying legal fees associated with a failed challenge to the Top 2 primary system.

The Associated Press

SEATTLE —

The state says Washington's Republican Party is deadbeat in repaying legal fees associated with a failed challenge to the Top 2 primary system.

In a federal court filing Monday, the Attorney General's Office wrote that while the Democratic Party has paid the $37,700 it owes, the Republicans haven't made a dent on their $55,000 bill. Furthermore, Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey T. Even says a GOP lawyer told him not to expect payment any time soon.

The Libertarian Party has also failed to pay. It owes $16,300.

The political parties sued to challenge Washington's Top 2 primary system, by which the top two finishers in a primary advance to the general election. Washington lost in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and paid the parties' legal fees. But after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the appeals court, a federal judge in Seattle ordered the parties to repay the state.

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So, what does NY 23 mean to the fringe right?

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Look, like most people to the right of Lenin, I opposed the candidacy of Dede in the 23rd.

Like most mainstreamers, she was a democrat who had found it politically expedient to run as a fake "R" because someone else was running as the "D."

As a rule of thumb, candidates endorsed by the scummier elements like ACORN and Kos are not particularly "Republican" in nature. That the decision to run this miscreant as an "R" was made by 11 county GOP chairs instead of going with a primary or at least getting a PCO vote district-wide shows the all-too-frequent incompetence of the GOP on the ground.

Let's remember the topography here: this Congressional District had ONLY been represented by the GOP since the Civil War.

Since the Civil War.

So, even though in most areas where elections took place, the GOP made gains; some, like in the case of New Jersey, spectacular gains; the GOP also managed to take some moronic, unnecessary loses

And let's remember: Christie was no Hoffman in his political positions or philosophies. Christie was much closer to Dede then he was to Hoffman.

Christie did not win running a campaign on GOP social themes. He ran a campaign on the classic fiscal and integral themes to clean up rampant corruption and to rein in out of control government spending. Fortunately, Corzine was dragged down by the multiple appearances of a clueless president; a situation he obviously (and wrongly) felt to be to his advantage because he, Corzine, had failed to appreciate the impacts of campaigning with a failure.

And looking at New Jersey, let's not forget there was an independent candidate in this election as well, and how well did he do? (He has 5.7% of the vote at this writing)

The largest newspaper chain in New Jersey, the Star Ledger, had even gone so far as to endorse the independent, saying among other things, thus:

The lamentable fact is that the two parties are, themselves, little more than narrow special interests. Their competition for short-term political and/or monetary gain has jeopardized the state’s long-term economic health and left it with a tarnished national reputation.

Where the major parties have differed, their differences have been inconsequential. Where they’ve been the same, their similarities have been destructive.

All political parties seem to have become punch lines on the political scene; many of them populated by the most gullible, blinded, desperate, arrogant people I have ever known.

That type of attitude is marked here locally with the fringe-right wing support of Tim "The Liar" Leavitt and among those surrounding the conservative in the NY 23rd.

Here locally, we get this kind of garbage from a Jon Russell lackey:

Finally, I want to offer some advice to Jon’s political opponents within the Republican Party who have so eagerly manipulated this to reflect negatively on Jon. Take a look at all the Comments left by readers of what you’ve published on this. No doubt, I haven’t found all that has been written along these lines but of the ones I’ve found, I haven’t found one single Comment that supported the author’s position. With that in mind, I would encourage you to consider what I have termed the “Hoffman v Scozzafava … Wake-Up-Call …”. As the old folk song says, “The times, they are a changing” and you should be giving more sober thought to how your words and especially your actions, fit in with the current political landscape.

As deftly shown in the NY 23rd, the advice this political ingrate provides is worthless. It's also breathtaking in it's pomposity and arrogance.

I oppose Jon Russell's candidacy for reasons that transcend politics and enter into my personal knowledge of him as a man. No amount of political posturing or branding can change that, and no amount of bullying by his supporters will change the facts of what I know.

There can be no doubt that the GOP ran the wrong candidate in the NY 23. There can also be no doubt that had the powers-that-be ran a primary, or took the control of making the candidate appointment out of the hands of a mere 11 people, that the NY 23 would still be in GOP hands, instead of such a massive embarrassment because the GOP hammered the 3rd party candidate like a nail until, all of a sudden, their candidate, being such great judges of character, bailed and quite effectively endorsed her fellow democrat, there being no accounting for character.

Hoffman's fringe-right perspectives were not enough. His lack of charisma, the GOP's hammering of him on Friday and sudden support of him on Saturday, the lack of a coherent message from GOP leadership, the ultimately successful efforts by the media and leftists to demonize the right... all combined to take away a seat that the GOP has owned, outright, for over 140 years.

The GOP focuses on the wins in NJ and VA... they run around telling us the tide has turned.

And in the same breath, they try not to even talk about the debacle of the NY 23... like it was all a bad dream.

I view myself what I refer to as a "pragmatic conservative," sharing many of the views of the right. But I don't do it so blindly that I can blow past common sense, my own eyes, or develop the ability to suspend disbelief. That goes to the heart of why I've bailed on the GOP.

BOTH sides took hits yesterday. BOTH sides have much to consider. Both sides won, and both sides lost.

The unanswered question is this: what are they going to do about it?
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Brian Baird: Coward (XXIII) Backs out of meeting with county GOP Chair - It's all about the partisanship, you see.

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So... our local Cowardman gave his word to meet Nan Malin, Chair of the Pacific County GOP, in what is referred to as a "living room meeting."

But because Ms. Malin had the temerity to exercise her First Amendment rights by blogging in a way the Cowardman didn't like, guess what?

He got cowardly, again, and broke his word, again, and pulled out of the meeting.

As a representative of the people, one would hope that he represents ALL of us... including those of us who don't happen to share his political persuasion. But apparently not. Apparently the Cowardman limits his representation to that increasingly smaller number of people who share his views.

Does this surprise anyone? What... were there, like, "death threats" involved? Did she, maybe, send him another bogus fax?

Giving credit where due, however, in the midst of their weeks-long Cowardman Rehabilitation Program, it must have been difficult for the local rag to actually report this. But then, Malin had reported this latest instance of Baird's cowardice on her blog. Eventually, word would have leaked out on the blogosphere, and once again, the paper would have found itself playing "catch up" as they work double overtime to clean up after our local Cowardman.

If they hadn't mentioned this, there would have been no way to try and spin the message.

Continuing to give credit where due, apparently, when the Columbian read my blog (and rest assured, various people at the paper DO read my minor effort) and actually had the guts to link to her blog... unlike mentioning this blog without a link.

Baird supporters, who would continue to vote for him even if, like Clinton, he had molested a girl scout troop, fully support Baird's cowardice and partisanship.

They never stop to think that a man of conviction, a man who truly believed the BS he ladles out, a man elected to represent the interests of almost 700,000 people in Congress would face anyone, anywhere, anytime.

This effort by the paper is the closest thing yet to even the neighborhood of journalism.

That, of course, makes their past efforts even more disappointing.

It would be one thing if they didn't know how. Clearly, here, they've shown they do know how. It's pretty clear that up to now... they just didn't want to.
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When the GOP is stupid: No numbers in their budget?

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Back in the days before electricity and running water, I took a Poli Sci 101 course and discovered the textbook meaning of the phrase "glittering generality."

Now, the messiah's entire campaign was one, giant, glittering generality; vague and with few specifics. As time has gone by, the basic strategy of the campaign was inarguably brilliant in conception and execution. They were able to take a wholly unqualified, far left individual puppet; package him like gum (FABulous! Ding!) and get the ignorant, the gullible, the illegal and those insidious forces who believed they could control this clown to literally buy into his shtick.

I won't go into the fact that most of his campaign was a lie, or the level of disaster this man has brought us to, the uncounted decades of fiscal pain... the massive expansion of government on the backs of the next several generations of America.

What I WILL do is point out the following: In the war of clashing "glittering generalities," we do not have a warrior who comes close to the polished, empty perfection of The One. When we send up Christian Jindals, they're going to be eaten by Lion Obamatons. Last weeks debacle, orchestrated by an apparently clueless John Boehner (House Minority Leader) and the House GOP Leadership, did nothing positive to enhance the budding issue of financial destruction The One is wreaking on this country.

Timing is a critical element in the world of politics. Utterly crucial, in fact. You set the table, which they did by setting up the word of an "alternative spending plan" (When it should have been called an "alternative budget plan" where cuts were the order of the day.) AND THEN YOU DELIVER BY PROVIDING THE SPECIFICS, SPECIFICS WITH DEVASTATING EFFECTIVENESS THAT GIVE THE RANK AND FILE SOMETHING TO GO TO WAR WITH.

Here's what you DON'T do:

You DON'T set the table in the restaurant, pull out a menu for the customer that seems to vaguely say "food," shows no meals, has no prices and then come out and tell you that "we'll have all that for you... next week, and none of that matters anyway."

After weeks of promising a comprehensive alternative to the president’s budget that Republicans have painted as excessive, bloated and wasteful, Boehner was unable to provide specific information about their proposal.

His colleagues were unable to answer line-items questions as well. Boehner dismissed those details as “just a bunch of numbers.”

Even though aides insist that GOP leaders had no intention of releasing their full budget substitute, the press event was a public relations disaster.

“It looked like a disorganized blunder,” one GOP aide said. “It’s the worst messaging snafu at a time when the party can’t afford one.”

Meanwhile, the restaurant with thousands of patrons across the street, with at least the sheen of respectability, laughs its collective ass off at the ineptitude and incompetence of GOP leadership... not scaring the leftist leadership nor increasing the stature of the Republicans, but instead, reinforcing the idea that they can do whatever they want to us and our best response if to cry "wolf."

And frankly, I can't argue.

Clearly, before we embark on the "Republican Road to Recovery," House leadership needs to embark on "The Republican Road to Rehab." With "leadership" like this, even with the golden opportunity the Moron in Chief hands us every day, we can expect to remain in the minority for a long, long, time.

Leading The News

House GOP goes from united to fractured

By Molly K. Hooper

Posted: 03/28/09 09:03 AM [ET]

House Republicans, who put Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on her heels as they voted unanimously to reject the economic stimulus bill two months ago, are now pointing fingers. The unity of the GOP Conference was strong when all Republicans voted, on two separate occasions, to oppose the stimulus championed by President Obama, who had approval ratings in the 60s at the time. While many Democrats touted the passage of the stimulus, they privately acknowledged that the extent of the Republican opposition surprised them. But that harmony has been fractured, days before a special election in New York that some Republicans characterize as a must-win. Some of the differences appeared Thursday over how they handled the rolling out of a much anticipated budget alternative, “The Republican Road to Recovery.”

More:
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Congratulations? Michael Steele elected Chair of the RNC

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Former Maryland Lt. Governor Micheal Steele has been elected Chair of The Republican Party.

Good. I have only one charge for you, Mr. Steele: Make me believe.

I'm hopeful that electing Mr. Steele is not the elective version of changing captains on the Titanic.

AP – Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele holds a gavel after he w as elected the first black Republican Chairman.

The last Presidential campaign was a throwback to the abortive effort by Sen. Bob Dole... and that's not the kind of "change" I can believe in.

So far, the wimpy efforts of the GOP in the Senate in caving and allowing, for example, the confirmation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, does nothing to strengthen my resolve, although I will admit that the late opposition to Mr. Obama's Generational Indebtedness program is a hopeful sign.

I repeat, Mr. Steele: make me believe. I was one of the most hard core Republicans alive, working my butt off to get Republicans elected... Republicans that then betrayed us and engaged in either corrupt or expedient politics that has sold us out.

Just like their leftist counterparts.

Do what has to be done. Require every state party to immediately design, staff and implement a full time, year-around, Minority Outreach Program. Require every state party to design and implement an early candidate identification, vetting, training and funding program for state-level candidates.

Make each state party relevant again. And you might want to start with the West Coast.

Just a thought.

Make me believe, Mr. Steele.

Michael Steele becomes first black RNC chairman

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer – 16 mins ago

Featured Topics:

• Barack Obama


• Presidential Transition

Play Video AP – Raw Video: Steele becomes RNC chairman

WASHINGTON – The Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in its history Friday, just shy of three months after the nation elected a Democrat as the first African-American p resident. The choice marked no less than "the dawn of a new party," declared the new GOP chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Republicans chose Steele over four other candidates, including former President George W. Bush's hand-picked GOP chief, who bowed out declaring, "Obviously the winds of change are blowing."

Steele takes the helm of a beleaguered Republican Party that is trying to recover after crushing defeats in November's national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress put Barack Obama in the White House.

GOP delegates erupted in cheers and applause when his victory was announced, but it took six ballots to get there. He'll serve a two-year term.

Steele, an attorney, is a conservative, but he was considered the most moderate of the five candidates running.

He was also considered an outsider because he's not a member of the Republican National Committee. But the 168-member RNC clearly signaled it wanted a change after eight years of Bush largely dictating its every move as the party's standard-bearer.

Steele became the first black candidate elected to statewide office in Maryland in 2002, and he made an unsuccessful Senate run in 2006. The former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party currently serves as chairman of GOPAC, an organization that recruits and trains Republican political candidates, and in that role he has been a frequent presence on the talk show circuit.

He vowed to expand the reach of the party by competing for every group, everywhere.

"We're going to say to friend and foe alike: 'We want you to be a part of us, we want you to with be with us.' And for those who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over," Steele said.

"There is not one inch of ground that we're going to cede to anybody," he added.

More:

Et tu, Brutus? A blast from the past - Williams: Mielke will lose.

Self-proclaimed Republican and utterly clueless Commissioner candidate Craig Williams gave the world the benefit of his political ignorance with this moronic email to the Columbian the day after Mr. Willams, with all of his "I know what I'm doing and Mielke doesn't" garbage, achieved a fabulous 4.73% of the vote (next to last out of an eight-candidate field) in the August 19th primary.

Politics Blog

Williams: Mielke will lose
Thursday, August 21 11:53 a.m.

The day after Tom Mielke ended fellow Republican Craig Williams's first race for county commissioner, Williams said Mielke has an "'anti-everything' message" that isn't likely to win in November.

"Tom had a lot of signs and name recognition, but he had nothing new to offer the voters and it showed," Williams wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. "Tom's message is an old one that carried only enough weight to inch him out of this primary. It will not likely carry him to a general election victory."

Mielke, 66, finished second in the primary with 23 percent of the vote. Williams, 43, finished sixth with 5 percent.

Williams, an energy trader, put more than $6,000 of his own money into the race. A religious conservative, he called on men to "increase their respect for womanhood" and on his party to increase its respect for environmental regulation.

"Every so often, conservatism needs to be redefined," Williams said Wednesday. "You know, the Ron Paul phenomenon in our country and in our county was another part of that."

Williams added that he hopes Mielke will win.

County Commissioner Marc Boldt, another Mielke backer, said Williams is mistaken about the future of conservatism.

"I doubt that he'll get a Christmas card from the Republican Party," added Boldt, 53.

michael.andersen@columbian.com
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"Inch him out of the primary?" Mr. Williams, Tom received almost twice as much in the vote then his nearest competition. How is that "inching out?"

"You know, the Ron Paul phenomenon in our country and in our county was another part of that."

What "phenomenon" was that? All that money... and how well did Paul do?

Once again, the US Senate GOP blows the call: “McConnell says GOP could back stimulus.”

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I used to be a hard-corps Republican. GOP idiocy like this made it easy to leave a party that had left me a long time ago.

Michelle Malkin bangs it like a drum. Once again, my government will make me ashamed. Once again, I'll find myself wishing for a political fairy god-mother who could make all of the idiots disappear on both sides of the aisle who've led us into this moronic idiocy, and who are too incompetent to lead us out.

I have no political affiliation at this point. I completely support candidates based on what their vision and history is, regardless of the letter after their name.

Mitch McConnell provides no reason to support the GOP. He has no vision, no plan, no clue. He disgusts me, as does any elected official who supoports his brand of socialism. After all, why vote for fake demoicrats when there are so many of the real thing available?

H/T to Michelle Malkin, the Goddess of Conservative Blogging

Mitch McConnell gives us another head-banging-against-the-wall moment

By Michelle Malkin • January 4, 2009 06:16 PM

Take some Maalox before you read this headline from The Hill (via HA headlines):

“McConnell says GOP could back stimulus.”

The upshot, as I read it, is that the Republican Party is willing to entertain the Democrats’ massive stimulus so long as they get kabuki hearings and some nominal input into the package.

Here I was, gearing up this week for a united conservative front against the Obama boondoggle, and Mitch McConnell opens his mouth. Where’s my head-banging-against-the-wall graphic again? Oh, there it is:

Fellow conservative Twitter users, give Mitch McConnell your feedback here.

Posted in: GOP, Subprime crisis

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Idiots.
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Michelle Malkin nails it: Road to GOP redemption: Roll back the bailouts, draw a line in the sand

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Why Republicans EVER supported this is beyond me. There is nothing "Republican" about a "bailout" by any stretch of the imagination.

To be a Republican is to SUPPOSED to include fiscal conservatism. It's SUPPOSED to include personal responsibility. How did caving to the left in the bailout issue reinforce either one of these Republican principles?

And then, we find out that the entire basis for the bailout, the so-called "purchase of troubled assets" was a lie, and we're not going to purchase those assets!

Well, I see "bailout as a strangely appropriate term here. And what's happened is that the leaders and pilots of our government from both sides of the aisle have bailed out of the "plane of state," leaving us without anyone to fly the plane... and leaving those of us who are passengers to sit and wait for it to crash.

This type of betrayal is why I've now become an independent. Why would anyone want to be a Republican when to be a Republican is to betray your core principles for political expediency?


Road to GOP redemption: Roll back the bailouts, draw a line in the sand
By Michelle Malkin • November 17, 2008 07:36 AM

While Republican strategists and Beltway blowhards convene VIP retreats and meetings and save-the-party parties, the road to GOP redemption starts right now. There is opportunity to be seized right now. There is a line in the sand to be drawn.

Right now.

The first step toward GOP redemption is to stop the automakers’ bailout and roll back the creeping conversion of the Crap Sandwich 2.0 into an all-purpose bailout bonanza for every last American industry and corporate special interest in financial peril. The second step is barbecue Naked Emperor Hank Paulson and the Federal Reserve over their refusal to disclose how they are dispensing billions of dollars in loans.

John McCain screwed this up. The out-of-touch Republican leadership in Washington screwed it up. And let’s be honest: Too many of the same tired old faces now trying to reclaim seats of power — like Newt Gingrich — crumbled on the massive banking bailout and capitulated to Reid/Pelosi/Paulson/Bush when steel spines were needed most.

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