The GOP Continues to Play the Blame Game

Narrowly defeated in his bid for a fourth term, Montana Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record) turned his anger on the National Republican Senatorial Committee and commercials it had run months before the election.

Couldn't possibly have anything at all to do with corruption, now could it?

"The ads hurt me more than they helped. I wouldn't have spent the money," he said, his comments characteristic of the season of second-guessing now unfolding among Republicans.

No, he wouldn't have spent it; more likely, given what we already know about Burns, he would have pocketed it.

President Bush's low approval ratings, the unpopular war on Iraq, voter concern about corruption and Democratic fundraising all figured in the GOP loss of Senate control in last month's elections. But among Republicans, long-hidden tensions are spilling into view, with numerous critics venting their anger at the GOP Senate campaign committee headed by North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Why does it not occur to these people that Americans, of all stripes, are sick of them. They have a president who is waging, not only an unpopular war, but a criminal one; a war of aggression, built on lies. They haven't done jack-shit about it, and they are the only ones who have had the power to do anything about anything, because of the way they ran the House, and the Senate for that matter. They have out-right refused to do any meaningful oversight on anything of any real importance. It seems to us that the GOP idea of oversight means calling a hearing to figure out how best to change laws that their president has already broken, often without even telling them, let alone anyone else.

The GOP has morphed into an authoritarian, corporatist monster that had to be stopped!

In recent interviews, officials said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., as well as Ken Mehlman, the party chairman, set up outside checks on the committee at critical points in the campaign.

As early as last summer, Mehlman signaled he lacked full confidence in Dole's committee. In an unprecedented move, he set up an independent entity to control more than $12 million that the Republican National Committee spent for television advertising in Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri.

Aides at both party committees insisted at the time the decision was a joint one. But Mehlman privately told associates he was frustrated with the Senate campaign committee. His actions contrasted sharply with the battle for control of the House, where the RNC contributed funds to an existing campaign organization rather than create its own.

So, Liz is going to get the blame, eh? That's typical.

Frist also wanted an outside check. In an unusual move, he hired a polling firm, The Winston Group, shortly before Labor Day to conduct surveys in six important races.

Based on the results, officials said Frist stepped in to help overhaul Bob Corker's struggling campaign in his home state of Tennessee. Corker ended up beating Democrat Harold Ford Jr. Frist also pushed for a resumption of party-paid advertising in Montana and questioned plans for a multimillion-dollar investment in New Jersey.

Oh yeah, Frist knows a lot about investing, even in a blind trust. He is nothing but a crook and a highly annoying one at that.

Final fundraising figures show Dole's committee raised $30 million less than the Democratic counterpart headed by Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) of New York. Given the disparity, several Republican strategists questioned the decision to spend more than $4 million last fall in New Jersey and $800,000 in Michigan in an unsuccessful attempt to find a weak spot in the Democratic lineup. Democrats won both races by relatively comfortable margins.
At the same time, more than a dozen party officials and strategists criticized the steps the committee took — or did not take — in Montana and Virginia in the campaign's final weeks.
Burns and Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) lost exceedingly close races — the margin of defeat a fraction of a percentage point. A victory in either one would have left the Senate tied at 50-50, giving Republicans control on Vice President Cheney's ability to break tie votes.

We understand that elections are all about money, until they aren't.

Yes, the Democrats raised more money, largely because the GOP ran a do-nothing congress and Americans, after New Orleans drowned, finally saw the light. We had a dysfunctional, corrupt, incompetent government which the GOP completely controlled.

George Allen showed his true colors and got caught io tape. He did himself in.

Two more weeks of ads in Montana might have made a difference, said one of many Republicans who expressed anger that Dole's committee aired no television advertisements in Burns' behalf for between Labor Day and Halloween.

In Virginia, Allen and the Senate campaign committee combined were outspent on television advertising in each of the last five weeks by challenger Jim Webb and the Democratic campaign committee, according to internal GOP figures. The gap exceeded $700,000 in the final seven days.

Numerous Republicans also have displayed anger at Bush for the party's election losses, in particular his decision to wait until after the election to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary.

Did it ever occur to any of the GOP that Bush had no intention of replacing Rummy had the election gone the other way?

"If Rumsfeld had been out, you bet it would have made a difference," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., who was not on the ballot but lost some of his power nonetheless. "I'd still be chairman of the Judiciary Committee."

We had all already seen how well that worked out, Arlen. You did not have the courage or the backbone to do your duty to defend the Constitution against the threat to it, currently residing in the White House.

The prospect of presidential visits sparked debate within campaigns.

At one point, officials said, White House aides wanted Bush to make a late-campaign trip to Missouri. NRSC strategists were opposed, fearing the impact of his low approval ratings.

Ultimately, Sen. Jim Talent (news, bio, voting record)'s campaign aides decided the president should go to strongly Republican areas, but not Kansas City or St. Louis, where surveys showed the president was particularly unpopular.

Some Republicans, including at the Senate campaign committee, complain that the White House and the RNC were urging candidates to use the fight against terrorism as a campaign issue, but offered no advice on combating voter anger on the war in Iraq — an issue that one official referred to as the "800-pound elephant in the room."

Wonder if its has occurred to any of these bozos that the 60 % of Americans who had long ago parted with Bush and Cheney regarding the war in Iraq were tired of being equated with terrorist appeasers? That was really insulting and did not do the GOP any good at all, with the vast majority of the public.

Also, NRSC officials said the White House and RNC had recommended the late-campaign investment in new Jersey and Michigan.

They also lied us into war, made torture American policy, disgraced this nation, and not much they have said about anything has any real credibility with us, anymore.

None of the NRSC's critics agreed to place their views on the record. All spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to contribute to intraparty squabbling.

Plus, the obvious fact that they are all cowards and still shake in their boots every time Karl Rove farts.

Dole is recovering from hip replacement surgery and was not available to comment. But Mehlman and others stepped forward to defend her tenure.

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery, Senator Dole. Be careful with those pain pills, or the drunk in the W.H. will accuse you of being a dope addict, as was done to Cindy McCain. (Maybe John can forgive them for that, but we cannot.)

"I think Senator Dole did a fine job under extremely difficult conditions, probably the toughest election environment for Republicans since 1974," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky, the incoming Senate GOP leader.

Right! That was right after Nixon got caught abusing his power, lying like a rug to the America people and secretly bombing Cambodia, among other things. He was a drunken, paranoid mess by the end. I, for one, believe we have a similar situation on our hands and it is for damn sure, you people had no intentions of doing an effing thing about it.

(Does anyone else think Mitch McConnel looks like a dead, baby bird? Just wondering.)

Mark Stephens, the committee's executive director, strongly defended its work. He said it was the only GOP entity to increase fundraising from 2004, and that Burns and Allen — both of whom were plagued by self-inflicted political wounds — probably would have lost by larger margins without its support.

...or more election shenanigans, like we have seen for the last three elections.


Without the committee's efforts, he said, "I think it could have been a lot worse than 49 seats," pointing to Republican victories in Tennessee and Arizona.


But in the current post-election environment, nothing escapes notice.


Numerous Republicans expressed anger that a top aide at the Senate campaign committee, political director Blaise Hazelwood, was allowed to devote some of her time to a business she owns.


Hazelwood declined comment, but Stephens defended the arrangement. "At no time did anybody else's business interfere with their work here," he said, adding he would have stepped in had it been otherwise.


Burns, a three-term senator who was under constant attack for ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and the NRSC aired no television commercials in September or October after committee aides concluded he appeared hopelessly behind. That left Burns to face double-barreled televised attacks from his rival, Jon Tester, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which spent $1.4 million over the same period.


"You'd turn on the television at night and they'd typically have ... three ads whacking Conrad and then we'd have one," said one Republican.

Corruption, Curruption, Curruption! We are sick of it.

"The campaign didn't merit" earlier advertising, countered Stephens. He said polling showed Burns not only trailing his rival but also viewed unfavorably by many more voters than regarded him favorably.


In a similar vein, campaign officials said the GOP senatorial committee was off the air for two weeks in Missouri in early September, leaving Talent without protection as he faced attacks from Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill and the Democrats' Senate campaign committee.
Unlike in Montana or Missouri, the NRSC had budgeted no money for Virginia, where Allen initially appeared to face little threat. After a mistake-plagued campaign, though, the first-term senator had burned through his sizable campaign treasury by fall.

Then, of course, there was Rush Limbaugh, who managed to sink to a new low. The GOP had better wake up and smell the stench of some of their most vocal backers.

"I put $5 million into that race in October," said Stephens, adding that the effort had helped Allen recover lost ground in the race.

"There were a lot of factors that contributed to Allen's loss. It wouldn't be fair to blame it on the senatorial committee," said Ed Gillespie, a senior strategist for the campaign and Mehlman's predecessor as RNC chairman.

Yeah, like overt racism and anti-semitism, for example.


In an ironic campaign postscript, some party officials and outside strategists expressed anger in interviews that Dole did not borrow more heavily in October in hopes of preserving the GOP majority. The committee recently reported debts of $1.1 million.

What the hell is ironic about that. The GOP has put this country so far in debt, we will never get out, and anyone believes that borrowing to maintain power is beneath them?

But several Republicans said McConnell and Sen. John Ensign (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada — the incoming Senate GOP leader and Dole's successor, respectively — made clear they wanted as little post-election debt as possible.

Republicans face a difficult political environment heading into 2008 and they did not want to begin in a deep hole.

They are already in a very deep hole; morally, economically and criminally. It will be interesting to see if the fools keep on digging, there own political grave.



Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin within each individual heart.