Cao To Steele: Come And Get Me -- Just Remember You Need My District

Talking Points Memo ^ | 11/8/09 | Versha Sharma

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Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), the lone GOP vote for the House health reform bill that passed late last night, has responded to RNC Chairman Michael Steele's warnings about stepping outside of party lines. (WATCH Steele: "We'll come after you.")

Cao told CNN that Steele retains "the right to come after those members who do not conform to party lines, but I would hope that he would work with us in order to adjust to the needs of the district and to hold a seat that the Republican party would need." He represents the second congressional district of Louisiana, a solidly Democratic district that includes New Orleans. Cao said earlier today that he put the needs of his district over what was popular with his own party.

Cao's opponent was former Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), who was under indictment on corruption charges at the time of the election, widely seen as the sole reason the Republican was able to triumph in this specific district. His unique victory was celebrated by Steele and other GOP leaders, a fact which the young lawmaker is not letting party leadership soon forget.

[Cymbaline]

Speaking strictly metaphorically, of course.

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Let them see what the farmer does. Steele, and we, are the farmer.

[XenaLee]

I would personally like to ask Cao how his father would approve of him caving into the commies like he did and claiming it was for his constituents. That makes no sense. He has no logic. He’s a leftie. It’s a dead giveaway.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Looter Guy could have beaten fricking Jefferson, for crying out loud. For Cao to crow about defeating him is akin to the Globetrotters bragging about a victory over the Generals.

Interesting that Cao can't articulate to his district that Obama's policies would keep them in continuous poverty & still without health insurance even if Obamacare passes. He voted for it because of a measly commitment from a known liar and fraud, the same fraud who promised transparency among other things.

Not only has he lost his support in the district and from grassroots conservatives, but the Dems are going to target him because they're going to be facing losses next year and will try and save/win as many seats as they can.

What a complete, worthless tool.

[4rcane]

i like to ask, we need his district for what

[voteNRA]

"He took out his revolver and shot the dog right in the back of the head."

Although a simple public censure followed with removal of financial support would satisfy me, I understand your frustration :)

[Gene Eric]

Steele has been a disappointment so many times, but unlike his predecessor, I think Steele could be a decent RNC leader. He needs to forgo a few of his social needs.

[XenaLee]

I don’t know. Shooting Cao in the head might appear a bit harsh. How about if Steele just smacks the crap out of him instead.

[OrangeHoof]

Cao took William Jefferson’s district in a surprise and he’s truly in a no-win situation. If he votes like a good conservative, his 60% slum district will vote him out. If he votes like a Democrat, his 60% Obama-loving racist slum district will still vote him out. He’d have never won election in the first place if it were not for Jefferson’s corruption.

So, I don’t understand Steele suddenly puffing his chest and acting like Cao needs to fall in line when there are so many other Republicans who need that sort of talking to and aren’t repping districts as leftward as Cao’s.

Wasn’t Steele pimping for Dede Scuzziwuzzi last week and Cao’s no worse than she was. Picking on him is silly because he’s dead congressman walking anyway, even if he were a perfect Republican.

[Just mythoughts]

Cao is seriously deluded if he thinks his vote for Obamacare is going to save his seat. He's a chump who needs to find a gentler line of work.

Think maybe that was what the BamaKennedy phone call was about, a job offer when he gets tossed out of office. Time will tell. There sure has to be a czar position waiting to be filled or maybe even an ambassador opening?

[SaraJohnson]

We don’t need his district and we don’t need him.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Cao is a symptom of a bigger problem.
Basically, Republicans need to stop running as liberals in liberal districts. Just run as conservatives and tell the liberals that liberal policies do not work and there are better alternatives.

If they lose, so be it - let the voters choose the Rat and continue on with their misery while other districts flourish. They'll get the hint sooner or later.

Cao doesn't understand that the reason why there's an uproar over this is because the vote was for Obamacare. This wasn't some dinky vote for more education spending or whatever. Obamacare affects EVERYONE and Cao's district is no more special than anyone else's.

[Cobra64]

Write him off, Mike. No brainer.

That's right. Mike Steele is a "no brainer." He's a worthless, spineless RNC chairman POS.

[Dapper 26]

If Cao studied to be a Jesuit, he is a liberal. He ran as a Republican because it was probably the only way he could survive the primary, if he was the only Republican to run.
I heard him on the House floor and he was only concerned federal funding of abortion. By his previous votes - with the Dimocraps - and his vote for Pelosi Care, he is a Democrat. Let’s see when the Senate sneaks abortion back into their bill.
What makes it even worse is I fought and bled for his country’s freedom all for him to come to America and vote to take away mine.

[hattend]

If he’s not going to vote the party line in the most important bill he has voted on then we don’t need the seat.

F him and the donkey he rode in on.

[martinidon]

bingo, this seat was/is going back to the dems no matter what. The only reason he won is because jefferson refused to step aside and it created a three way race. He was toast anyway in the next election.

[Clock King]

His district IS the problem. The people in it are weak and dependent. They need a lesson in reality.

[Cymbaline]

I’d be satisfied with just returning Cao to private life as soon as possible. (Along with every other RINO.)

[nathanbedford]

All politics in America is not local but racial

We FReepers are indignant and we do not know whom to be more angry at, Rep. Cao or Republican national Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Perhaps we should consider that both men have their jobs because of race.

Michael Steele was chosen to be the Republican national committee chairman in order to get a wedge into a black voting constituency that delivers 90% or better of its population for Democrats. Cao won his election by a scant 3% against a flagrantly corrupt black man in a largely black district which is extremely likely to revert to a black Democrat in the next election. His Election was a fluke, an outlier.

But before we take out our indignation on either man, let us consider the limitations of their options. Michael Steele as chairman of the national committee is obligated to support the nominated candidate (or should I say for New York's 23rd district the "selected" candidate). He cannot make unilateral decisions to throw maverick representatives like Cao under the bus. Cao knows that in his district to be thrown under the bus by the Republican Party enhances his chances for reelection.

The reality is in America we have a demographic slice of the pie amounting to about 12% of the population that is reflexively voting for one party and, so long as that party has an African-American as its titular head, there is no realistic expectation that African Americans will vote otherwise. It is this 10% or so election day cushion (90%-95% of 12%) which gives the Democrat party an edge.

If one looks into the culture of the African-American "community" (God how I hate that euphemism!) One sees many characteristics of a tribe or a cult in which conspiracy theories run rife, the scientific method is flatly rejected, authority is exalted over reason, intolerance and bigotry demand and attain conformity. Few indeed are the Thomas Sowells and the Shelby Steeles who can break free of these leaden chains. Although I have fought long and hard against the nomination of Michael Steele, fairness demands that we acknowledge that there are few indeed of African-Americans with the courage to stand where he does.

What a very great pity it is that the greatest nation on earth must lay virtually every political question on the template of race. It is an even greater pity when political correctness so often prevents us from facing reality.

For the record, my view is that Michael Steele should acquire the consensus needed to make an example out of of Rep. Cao for the good of party discipline. The seat is likely lost anyway. If held, it will be a canker unremittingly oozing pus. There is nothing to be gained within the African-American community by pandering to them and the blowback from the rest of the electorate cost real votes which we biannually exchange in the forlorn hope of denting the elusive 10%.

[UnwashedPeasant]

No more RINOs! A regular wolf is better than a wolf in sheep’s clothing.