For One Senate Candidate the "R" is a Scarlet Letter

washingtonpost.com ^ | July 25, 2006 | Dana Millbank

[MurryMom]

The candidate, immersed in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, said down for lunch with reporters yesterday and had this to say on the Iraq war: "It didn't work. . . . We didn't prepare for the peace."

On the response to Hurricane Katrina: "A monumental failure of government."

On the national mood: "There's a palpable frustration right now in the country."

It's all fairly standard Democratic boilerplate -- except the candidate is a Republican .

"For me to pretend I'm not a Republican would be a lie," he reasoned. But to run as a proud Republican? "That's going to be tough, it's going to be tough to do," he said. "If this race is about Republicans and Democrats, I lose."

[WinOne4TheGipper]

See my previous two posts on this thread, I don't think it's Chaffee. There is a list of four or five issues that Candidate X sounds conservative on. Some on this thread have said that it might be Michael Steele.

[Non-Sequitur]

"For me to pretend I'm not a Republican would be a lie," he reasoned. "

Based on the current direction of the GOP you wouldn't be pretending.

[Toidylop]

"The candidate gave the luncheon briefing to nine reporters from newspapers..."

The clue is right there. He/she is NOT a present term senator. It can only be Steele...

[peggybac]

"The candidate gave the luncheon briefing to nine reporters from newspapers, magazines and networks under the condition that he be identified only as a GOP Senate candidate."

NOW the MSM keeps a secret. This is so much more important than keeping our national security program movements secret.

[Toidylop]

I wouldn't mind trading Chaffee for Steele... It'll be 100 times better for the Republican in a Blue state.

[napscoordinator]

I appreciate you posts. In fact, I wrote mine after reading the first few posts from our FREEPERS friends and of course I jumped on that band wagon quick. lol. After reading further down to including yours, now I am almost "scared" of who it can be. Steele from Maryland although blue state should learn early that it does not pay to bad mouth your party in this fashion. I understand that Marylanders are blue, but he will still have to work with or in his case for because of his junior status starting in January 2007. I believe that if it is indeed him he figured that his name would never be figured out. He might have underestimated the way reporters write and gave clues in order to figure it out. These reporters are nasty and will do anything to bring down a Republican. In fact, wasn't steele winning in Maryland at this time? I think this could be a misjudgment which hopefully won't kill his chances but should be used as a lessons learned.

[Jameison]

"NOW the MSM keeps a secret. This is so much more important than keeping our national security program movements secret."

Exactly what I was thinking.

[Grendel9]

2008 Preidential Runners: REPUBLICAN PARTY:

US Senator George Allen (R-Virginia)
US Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas)
US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee)
Former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia)
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R-New York)
US Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska)
Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas)
US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona)
Governor George Pataki (R-New York)
US Secretary of State Condoleezza "Condi" Rice (R-California)
Governor Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts)
Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado)
Former Governor Tommy Thompson (R-Wisconsin


Sounds ike Mitt Romney to me!

[linda_22003]

It's not a candidate in 2008, though; the article was specific that it's a Senate candidate THIS year. I think we can let George Allen off the suspects list. :)

[wita]

I'll counter that with, not in a million years.

[MikeA]

"In 2001, we were attacked and the president is on the ground, on a mound with his arm around the fireman, symbol of America," he said, between bites of hanger steak and risotto. "In Katrina, the president is at 30,000 feet in an airplane looking down at people dying, living on a bridge. And that disconnect, I think, sums up, for me at least, the frustration that Americans feel."

Did the article say this is Chafee because I don't think it is. I think it's Michael Steele of Maryland who already has called Katrina a "monumental failure."

But what did he really want the president to do, go stand on the flood waters? This and 9-11 were two entirely different events. New Orleans was lawless and in the grip of violent gangs after Katrina. What was Bush suppose to do, get in the middle of a crossfire?? His going to NOLA the day after the hurricane would have only hampered relief efforts. Bush stood on the pile of debris in New York City I believe 3-4 days after the 9-11 attacks. He was in New Orleans 3-4 days after Katrina. So where's the difference??

Steele is just pandering to the stupidity of Maryland blacks who have been victimized by a lying media. Why not educate them on what Bush and the government has done for the people of New Orleans to the tune of billions of dollars instead of joining in with a litany of mostly empty gripes?? Because it's impossible to preposition troops and equipment in the path of a hurricane and because the governor and mayor down there got in the way and hobbled relief efforts means we should forget all the billions of my money that's been spent on a place that was a disaster zone years before Katrina ever hit?? I'm REALLY sick of it.

[Toidylop]

Senate candidate in a blue state, and it's that clear...

[MikeA]

I am almost positive it's Michael Steele of Maryland. He has used that exact wording to describe Katrina, "a monumental failure." Rhode Island doesn't have a large black population that candidates have to pander to and sing the usual b.s. litany of complaints regarding Katrina to. Maryland does.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

I'm all for getting Chaffee out. Maybe a strong showing for a third party while essentially giving this seat to the Dems will keep the other Republicans in line.

[Grendel9]

Is it logical that NINE reporters
would answer a summons from the
Lt. Governor of Maryland? I mean,
this guy is a nobody outside of
that state. I never heard of him
here in Illinois.

Wikipoedia cites this:

"Michael S. Steele (born October 19, 1958) is the current Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, having been elected on the same ticket as Governor Robert L. Ehrlich in 2002. He is the first African American to serve in a Maryland state-wide office and the first Republican lieutenant governor in the state since the position was created in 1970. On October 25, 2005, Steele announced his candidacy for the United States Senate. He is running for the seat of Paul Sarbanes, who is retiring."

Can you see this guy wearing Frenh cuffs and links
that match his tie adnbeing fussy with his salad
lunch? I sure can't!

[Grendel9]

Katrina as "a monumental failure"
is in the Democrat Daily Playbook.
Lots of them use it, and I've heard
that phrase repeatedly on Fox News
interviews. Hillary even said it
more than once.

[Toidylop]

Yes, I can. You got to understand the mentality of the MSM. If they can get one republican to criticize his own party for whatever reason, they gather a whole media machine to show it off... I was surprised to see only 9 reporters would show up.

[LWalk18]

Is it logical that NINE reporters would answer a summons from the Lt. Governor of Maryland? I mean, this guy is a nobody outside of that state. I never heard of him here in Illinois.

I think when you have a Republican willing to whine on record about Bush, you can easily get media coverage. Besides, the Washington Post covers the Metro area, so they are covering the MD senate race anyway.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Well, it's logical that they'd answer a summons from someone who has a good chance of being the next senator from the state bordering the nation's capital. Other than that, you may have a pont.

[MikeA]

Isn't it tiresome?? As if the Dims could have done any better. Hell, they'd have done a lot worse if Blanco and Nagin were any indication. It took the president to beg Blanco to order mandatory evacuations before the storm hit, with him finally just needing to bypass the incompetent and make that call himself. And we all know about Clueless Nagin leaving hundreds of school buses to sink under floodwaters instead of using them to evacuate people and then how Dumb and Dumber (Blanco and Nagin) stood in the way of the Salvation Army bringing relief supplies to the Superdome because they didn't want to encourage people to congregate there. The failures of Democratic politicians down there are legion, but the media made a purposeful effort to try to bring down the president by focusing on the impossibility of a quick response to a massive hurricane in a town mostly submerged. This was one of the worst media screw jobs against Bush in a vast and long list of media screw jobs against his presidency.