"OK people! When the phone rings, just say what's on the cue card: 'Thank you for calling the John McCain Presidential Campaign Charity Telethon. How much is your pledge?' Stay positive, everyone!"
Posted on 07/28/2007 3:47:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
WASHINGTON -- Karl Rove, President Bush's political lieutenant, told a closed-door meeting of 2008 Republican House candidates and their aides Tuesday that it was less the war in Iraq than corruption in Congress that caused their party's defeat in the 2006 elections.
Rove's clear advice to the candidates is to distance themselves from the culture of Washington. Specifically, Republican candidates are urged to make clear they have no connection with disgraced congressmen such as Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley.
In effect, Rove was rebutting the complaint inside the party that George W. Bush is responsible for Republican miseries by invading Iraq.
MCCAIN VS. THOMPSON
Sen. John McCain, trying to keep his sinking Republican presidential campaign afloat, scheduled a fund-raiser for the same day -- Monday -- that Fred Thompson is holding his first Washington money event. McCain's reception is in the same suburban Virginia neighborhood where Thompson lives.
McCain's $1,000-to-$2,300 per person "intimate lunch" is being held at the McLean, Va., home of Wes Foster. He is chairman and CEO of Long & Foster, a major Washington area real estate firm. Thompson is holding a reception that night at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Washington.
A footnote: Alabama Atty. Gen. Troy King, McCain's state chairman, attended a private fund-raiser for Thompson in Mountain Brook, Ala., last Monday night. However, as an invited guest, King did not pay the $1,000 price of admission and said he was still committed to McCain.
PENTAGON EARMARKS
Sen. Tom Coburn, frustrated with the Pentagon winking at earmarks, wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates July 19 requesting a critique of all Defense spending items asked by members of Congress to determine whether they "are for necessary national security purposes or to satisfy the parochial self-interests of politicians and defense industry lobbyists."
Coburn has experienced difficulty in getting information from the Pentagon on more than 300 earmarks contained in the Defense Department authorization bill. Over the past five years, such earmarks have cost taxpayers $55 billion. Coburn has not received a response from Gates at this writing. He has failed to mandate such critiques by legislative action.
Earmarks cited in Coburn's letter to Gates include more than $40 million for 21st Century Systems Inc. (21 CSI), sponsored by Sen. Ben Nelson. In defending the earmark for a company that employs his son, Nelson claims support from the Pentagon.
Solicitations for a Sept. 12 fund-raising reception in Washington on behalf of ailing Sen. Tim Johnson give the impression he will be present at the event, but in fact there are no such plans.
Sources close to Johnson say he will not decide his schedule until he is back in the Senate, and there is no firm schedule yet for that. Johnson has not been seen publicly since suffering a brain hemorrhage last Dec. 13, but his staff has been raising funds for his re-election campaign in South Dakota. His campaign has $1.75 million cash on hand.
The $1,000-to-$2,300-a-ticket reception will be held at the home of Johnson's fellow South Dakotan, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and his wife, transportation industry lobbyist Linda Daschle, on Foxhall Road millionaire's row in Washington. It has been speculated that if Johnson cannot run, Daschle could attempt a political comeback.
GROUCHY GINGRICH
Contrary to reports that Newt Gingrich lost control in one of his temper tantrums at a breakfast last Monday sponsored by The American Spectator magazine, the former House speaker was variously described as "grouchy," "cool" and "arrogant" in assailing his critics.
Gingrich made clear he would not be seen anytime soon engaging in multi-candidate debates with opponents for the presidency, disdaining them, as he said Charles DeGaulle once labeled his competitors, as "pygmies." But he did not rule out an eventual candidacy.
A footnote: Republican leaders report that the most enthusiasm among grassroots activists is for Gingrich and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul.
If I posted what I really thought about Rove my post would be deleted by the moderator.
Let me just say this, instead:
Rove’s a Genius, this I know, because the RNC tells me so.
We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz...
But he and the President need to take responsibility for not forcefully defending the war--over and over and over again.
They didn't need to be zealot crazies like Cindy Sheehah, but getting out the GOOD NEWS from Iraq and showing the progress there (instead of relying on the LAMESTREAM MEDIA to do it!) would have been wise.
And, to Rove's point, if the "dissatisfaction in Congress" was a determining factor, well that just shows ME how inept the Republicans were at pointing out the corruption in the Democrat party.
Let's face it: both parties have their whackos. The fact is, the Democrats did not have any of their corruption exposed or trumpted.
Harry Reid's shady land deals? silence. Nancy Pelosi's vineyards and her wages? silence. That crook (Jefferson, was it?) down in Louisiana? barely a mention.
Even when the Foley story broke, Republicans should have been all over the Democrats for supporting that Congressman in Massachusetts who had an affair with his intern then got a chairmanship....sorry, I forget his name.
They needn't have defended Foley, just attack the damn 'rats.
This "new tone" stuff doesn't have to be implemented when you're being targeted for destruction. The "new tone" works only when you're clearly in charge--and when it comes to the press, the Republicans are NOT in charge.
ROTFLMAO!
“A footnote: Republican leaders report that the most enthusiasm among grassroots activists is for Gingrich and libertarian Rep. Ron Paul.”
That statement destroyed any credibility (in my mind) that this article may have held. Sorry, but something this crass and bogus calls ALL facts into question.
LLS
This is news?
They just figured this out?
Heck, Rush has been saying this about the election SINCE the election.
So since the prove Liars in the Junk Media tell you it all about Iraq, of course the Know Nothings mindlessly accept that as dogma.
Curious. The Democrats did NOT even run on Iraq. They ran AWAY from it. Not one Democrat campaign ad was run here in Dark Blue MN about Iraq. Thousands were run on “the culture of corruption”, not one on Iraq.
One needs to carefully distinguish between"enthusiasm" and "manic psychosis".
President Bush went out and gave several forceful speeches on Iraq the last couple of weeks.
How much media coverage did you see? That right NONE.
In fact, AP, the primary source of wire reports for all broadcast and published “news”, simply ignored 3 hours of the President on Iraq to spend ALL its coverage on a Reporter;s stupid question about Libby.
So instead of mindlessly repeating the same whine at the President on EVERY thread, how about the Perpetually Pouting Posse on the fringe Right finally grow a spine and try attacking the Left on something ONE time?
‘Rove’s an expert...”
LOL
Yea, he sure was spot on when he kissed LaRaza’s ass.
MH you’ve missed your calling on the comedy channel.
Why? Is there some sort of protection program for Rove? If so, who else?
Here in OH, it's hard to figure it out. Dickie Morris says that 16% of indies, who voted Republican in 2000 and 2004, voted Dem last election.
While it's true, as Rush says, that if you don't have a person in the military or know someone closely who is over there, the war really doesn't affect your daily life, the constant drumbeat of casualties and bad news CONVINCES people that it does.
On the other hand, other than the war, the single biggest thing that changed from 2000 to 2006 among Republicans was their willingness to spend money and get caught in scandals. That hurt, a lot. Look at Vitter: the dual standard is ridiculous, but it's a fact of life. CLEAN UP YOUR ACT, REPUBLICANS! You can't take dirty money; you can't cheat on your wives; and you can't straddle the fence on spending.
Limbaugh echo syndrome.....
Hmm. And the color of their sky, is that in the report?
They all miss Katrina - the most clever move was the rats spinning that one as “all Bush’s fault.”
Rove refuses to admit the hatred free people have for globalism and open borders.
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