To hear Democrats gloat, Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is the gift that keeps on giving.
Mr. Steele is the Republican's version of Joe Biden. His mouth is never confused with his heart when he tells fellow Republicans to "shut up or fire me," or something close to that.
I like Mike. Several months ago he told a flabbergasted, jaw-dropping Sean Hannity he didn't think the Republicans would recapture a majority in the House of Representatives at the November midterm elections.
The list of politically incorrect gaffes is endless.
His main function is to raise money for the party and help Republican candidates win elections. The Michael Steele scorecard is 1-1. The RNC's war chest has shrunk from $20 million to $6 million since he was elected chairman. Meanwhile, in special elections, Republicans beat Democrats in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races and a Senate seat in Massachusetts.
Normally, one would surmise the big Republican donors would gleefully write checks to the RNC because of Steele's ability to draw national notice to the party. Not so. The big donors have turned to the House, Senate and other political action reelection campaign committees.
Tony Perkins, the voice of the Family Research Council, tells his family values followers not to financially support the RNC after the highly publicized $2,000 expense for Young Eagles attending a lesbian bondage show in West Hollywood.
There's nothing on earth that will attract media pundits and voyeurs, Republicans included, over kinky sex. Tiger Woods notwithstanding.
As an administer of a large organization, I must say Steele runs a loose ship. I do admire his candor and honesty in reporting RNC expenses to the Federal Elections Commission despite a few items becoming victims of a typographical error.
The latest: A wrong phone number to potential donors who, if they dialed it, were offered "live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl" for $2.99 a minute.
The Democratic National Committee is also not immune to misinformation filed with the FEC. Here's a few of their glitches culled from thousands of pages filed with the feds as reported by The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
In February, the DNC mistakenly disclosed that it spent $130 at a nightclub in Las Vegas called “Tabu Ultra,” featuring scantily clad female servers. “Are you ready for a nightspot that’s too hot to touch?” its Web site advertises...
Other expenses for the DNC: $20,857 at Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals baseball games; $17,330 on “gifts/trinkets” from preppy clothing company Vineyard Vines; $552 at the Ritz hotel in Paris; and $1,343 at Disney World.
(Hari) Sevugan (DNC spokesman) said most of the expenses were for fund-raising events. The Disney World tab was for hotel rooms for staffers who were in Florida to promote health-care legislation.
The DNC also mistakenly disclosed an expense for $1,656 at the Elysian Beach Resort in the Caribbean. The DNC said the expense was in fact incurred for a fund-raising event at the Elysian Hotel in Chicago.
In February, the DNC spent $100 at the high-end Christophe Salon in Washington. Democrats spent another $165 at the salon last year. Sevugan said the cost was for “styling services” for Democratic officials for “media or events.”
Poor Michael Steele is the butt of late night jokes and the straight main street media (ABC has a fetish over him, News Busters reports) as well as the left-leaning cables, Web sites and blogs.
The national question is when will Steele be fired. As much as good, loyal old-school Republicans would like, it would be a political embarrassment far exceeding Steele's gaffe of the day to fire the guy before his term is up after the November midterms. It perceives failure.
Besides, Mike has got them by the short hairs just as President Obama's veto powers over Republicans who want to repeal the health overhaul legislation. It takes a two-thirds vote by the RNC board to toss their chairman into the trash heap.
Here's a trivia question to those who just returned to Planet Earth. Name the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The answer is Tim Kaine, the former Virginia governor.
Now, answer this: Which of the two is the subject of the most searches on Google?
Answer: The Republican wins in a landslide 5.58 million to 318 thousand.
My question is who will be MVP in November? That's the bottom line.
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Readers comments are welcome as long as they remain civil. We reserve the right to delete any comments that are vulgar, libelous and totally irrelevant to this posting. -- Jer
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