Posted on 05/02/2013 3:32:23 AM PDT by iowamark
The Politico is reporting (read: let’s wait for a second source to confirm it) that the RNC, well, “[t]he Republican National Committee has chosen a Karl Rove-linked voter data project called Liberty Works to help it compete with Democrats in the digital arena. Liberty Works will team up with Data Trust, whose chairman of the board is former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski confirmed to Politico.”
This is deeply troubling, if accurate, because I maintain the GOP must distance itself from the Bush administration players to start being successful again. Further, for all of Karl Rove’s fine attributes, he is also largely a direct mail guy who learned at the foot of Lee Atwater and never really learned anything after Atwater passed. I’m just not sure, after the 2012 race, that this is a wise investment. Direct mail guys believe the data is the value and what Team Obama discovered is that the tools to analyze the data are the value.
This concerns me. As a friend said on twitter yesterday, the GOP motto for fixing itself seems to be “incest is best.”
And this whole thing, excepting the incest crack, gets me to Rush Limbaugh.
I keep hearing people say Rush Limbaugh is a detriment to the Republican Party, holding it back, and if we cannot move beyond him we will never win again. Frank Luntz and S. E. Cupp both have taken after Limbaugh lately and they are not alone.
The way I see it, Rush Limbaugh is a fighter. The guys who have taken to actually fighting on values like Rush does, i.e. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul have been putting all the points on the board. They’re keeping the fight against Obamacare alive just as the GOP is trying to cave and public animosity for the law grows. But for those three, we’d have gun control legislation. On the House side, the Republican Fight Club of Congressmen Amash, Bridenstine, Broun, Gohmert, Huelskamp, Jones, Massie, Pearce, Salmon, and Yoho have been the only ones leading the fight to stop the Republicans from expanding government at a time distrust of government is a commonly held sentiment.
Limbaugh gives voice to them and those who listen to Limbaugh encourage them. The guys with the spine are the ones we should be supporting and they are the ones Rush Limbaugh supports. But there is something else, which goes full circle to Karl Rove controlling the data.
If you disagree with Rush Limbaugh, he may note that disagreement on the air. You might get some angry constituents calling your office. But that’s it. He’ll be right, you’ll be wrong, but life will go on.
If you disagree with the other side of the GOP, though, they’ll plant stories about you in the New York Times, make sure the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal attacks you, threaten donors and demand they withhold money from you, take away your committee positions, shut down all your legislative initiatives, etc. That’s why the GOP should not put data in Karl Rove’s hands.
The establishment has a worse track record on candidates that those who’d side with Rush Limbaugh. They have an even worse track record on policy (how’d steel tariffs in Pennsylvania work out?). And if you do not tow their line that often loses, they will punish you in ways Rush Limbaugh never would or even could.
But these guys would have you believe it is Rush Limbaugh on the outside, and Senators Cruz, Lee, and Paul and Congressmen Amash, Bridenstine, Broun, Gohmert, Huelskamp, Jones, Massie, Pearce, Salmon, and Yoho who are the ones holding us back. Only among Washington Republicans is that fantasy a reality.
I think the RNC is making a big mistake. The one hope is that conservative super PACs will respond in kind or Karl Rove and the RNC can make clear now that they will not treat the data and the tools to analyze the data as treasure, denying it to the rest of the Republican coalition they just happen to disagree with or cannot control.
Yeah, take me.....I only hate the 3 R’s....
Rubio
Ryan
Rove
But I could LEARN to hate others, like Rand....
Like I said “so much hate...so little time”
” Sometimes dealing with these people who blindly follow political personalities regardless of the facts you throw at them “
For me, there are maybe 2 or 3 dozen long time FReepers who never seem to get fooled by the politicians
4 that immediately come to mind.
Liz
Sickoflibs
AuntB
Travis McGee
These FReepers never fail to do their homework/research.
Some get flamed more than others : )
I’ll reserve comment )
” I’ll reserve comment )”
Why? You must be for Obama : )
Well some seem to think so! ;)
I've no truck for the GOP-e. But can you name one Republican Congressman or Senator who voted for Obamacare?
Okie01 I can’t name one republican that voted for the health care bill.
That being said I would like to point something out to you, the house and senate rules require for a bill to NOT be read into the record that no one objects. Even one senator or one congressman object and the whole bill MUST be read in to the record.
Republicans were order by their leaders to not object so the bill would not have to be read in to the record. That allowed them to pass the bill because no one knew what was in the bill, by no one I mean the public. The republican leadership knew what was in the bill long before it was voted on. How do I know this, well remember the NRA provision that was thoughtfully put in the bill by some conservative member?
Thank you for your time.
After being burned by GWB over a decade ago and Rush back then by partial extension I always start out them in the skeptical mode.
I rate them inversely by BS and what sounds like BS.
Rubios first alarm was on a Sunday show saying that illegals are natural conservatives, and Rand said similar to that afterward.
But Rubio’s big lies were that they
1) would all wait >10 years,
2) that they will be on back of line compared to those waiting to come here
3) They will get no government benefits (the whopper)
When they lie to me I write them off.
BTW : I was the first here to warn that Ryan was a phony and that Palin wouldnt run, this is my Rushbo ego trip :)
And the fact you did everything imaginable to sow dissension among conservatives and spread the standard MSNBC line on Palin was a big plus for us all.
And thanks in small part to your/those like you’s ongoing efforts across conservativedom, we were all able to later come together as a unit and elect the finest conservative since Reagan to compete against the communist.
Well. It is the documented truth...except the coming together part. Your PDS is legendary. Then again I’m a cultist so nevermind.
I knew Bush was a fraud when he praised Ted Kennedy and signed the “No Teachers Union Left Unfunded” 2002. I had him pegged early : )
“See you at the signing” you “vigilantes!”
“” And then, of course, there’s Senator Edward Kennedy. And the folks at the Crawford Coffee Shop — (laughter) — would be somewhat shocked when I told them I actually like the fellow. (Laughter and applause.) He is a fabulous United States senator. When he’s against you, it’s tough. When he’s with you, it is a great experience. (Applause.)
And I’m signing this bill here because it’s the home of the Chairman, John Boehner. (Applause.) John did a really good job. He shepherded the process. He made sure people showed up for the meetings. He was dogged in his
determination to get this bill done. children, and I’m proud to sign it in their presence. (Applause.) “”
Jan,2002
Because there wasn't one.
However, if you wanted to be technical there was one: Olympia Snowe.
She provided the one minority vote that was needed to get the bill out of committee and onto the floor -- where she voted against it.
Accordingly, if you want to assign blame to the Republicans for Obamacare, you could at least assign the blame properly: to Olympia Snowe alone.
” However, if you wanted to be technical there was one: Olympia Snowe.
She provided the one minority vote that was needed to get the bill out of committee and onto the floor — where she voted against it. “
If the Republican Party had any BALLS, they would have fought tooth & nail every day in the media to scare off average Americans, and more than a few politicians. They should have exposed all the lies, and graft. Someone like Snowe might have backed off too, out of fear.
How, precisely, are you supposed to do that if the MSM won't give you the time of day?
I recall a number of press events staged by the Republicans for exactly the purpose you describe which either a.) weren't reported or b.) weren't even attended.
The Republicans had only one reliable outlet for their complaints -- talk radio -- and they used it.
At the time, I also recall Boehner and McConnell getting a lot of credit here on FR for keeping all of the Republicans on the reservation.
Am I disappointed in the GOPs performance since 1994? Onn balance, damn right. But I don't see anything more that they could've done to stop passage of Obamacare -- save Olympia Snowe keeping her legs crossed, of course.
My point was that the republican leadership ordered members to not object to the bill not being read in to the record, thereby the public did not know what was in the bill.
The leadership could have stopped her from letting it out of committee.
The point is this, the republican leadership is NOT on our side, they want our money and votes and that’s it. They are all part of the New World Order.
Jeez. New World Order. I haven't heard that threadbare term for a decade-or-so.
You're sure it's not the Bilderbergers who are responsible for all this. Instead of run-of-the-mill political stupidity and incompetence...???
It is so old that even Bush spoke of it.
I know it's old...and that it originated with GHWB.
I just hadn't heard a conspiratorialist invoke it for about ten years...
So the standard MSNBC line was that she was not going to run, which she proved true in Sept 2011?
So your view of libs is that they ‘sow dessention’ by telling the truth and so we must do the opposite? That is very strange logic indeed. But then ...
I do appreciate when you call me legendary.
“ And that, folks, is why Rush is still Number One. The man has got a rational mind that's as clear as a sparkling brook, on nearly every undercurrent in this country. ”
Fox News Becomes Most-Watched Channel in the Fractured Cable Universe April 24, 2013 #14
A FRiend of yours?
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