STEELE: It was unfortunate. It was, you know those are images that were pulled off the internet. They’ve been out in the public domain for a while and a staffer was putting together a presentation for a small group of about 9 or 10 folks and thought they would intersperse their presentation with humorous shots. [...] It was stuff that was pulled off the web that was inserted into a presentation to members of a finance team. It did not go out publicly.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think copyright infringement is the reason for the sane world’s reaction to the fundraising pitch. Nobody’s saying, “Hey, that picture of Nancy Pelosi next to cartoon villain Cruella DeVil offends me because it reproduces a Disney character without permission!” Or perhaps Steele is trying to blame the internet for… existing? Magically downloading itself into the RNC’s PowerPoints?
FOX News is sad that Barack Obama is so mean to the Senate Republicans, who are just interested in good-faith negotiation! (FOX News)
Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry totally gay for earmarks? Yes, according to fellow Republican and opponent Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison! (CNN)
New York Gov. David Paterson will not run for reelection because governing is just so hard! And definitely not because of any domestic violence scandal or abuse of power, or anything. (NYT)
Black people were much better off as slaves than they are now because they are all abort-o-holics, according to Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ). I for one am looking forward to when Michael Steele has to go on TV to defend this statement. (TPM)
Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio is all about fiscal responsibility, which is why he will pay back the Florida GOP for the flights he accidentally charged to the state party’s credit card. (Miami Herald)
GOP Chairman Michael Steele needs a new sales pitch because this doesn’t sound too inspiring:
Appearing on Sean Hannity’s nationally syndicated show the same day his new book, “Right Now,” hit store shelves, Steele said the GOP is set for “nice pick-ups” in the House. But, he said, at the moment there aren’t enough candidates to take out enough Dems.
“I can’t give a number [of seats the GOP will win] yet, because like I said, we’re just now beginning to look at the races,” Steele said. Asked if GOPers will take back the House, Steele confessed: “Not this year.”
“I don’t know all the candidates yet,” Steele continued, according to a transcript of the show. “We still have some vacancies that need to get filled, but then the question we need to ask ourselves is: If we do that, are we ready?”
In fact, when Hannity followed up on the point, Steele said he doesn’t know if the GOP is ready to take back the reins of power.
“I don’t know. And that’s what I’m assessing and evaluating right now. Those candidates who are looking to run have to be anchored in these principles,” he said, referring to 5 conservative ideals he lays out in his new tome. “If they don’t [anchor themselves], then they’ll get to Washington, and they’ll start drinking that Potomac River water, and they’ll get drunk with power and throw the steps out the window.”
Yet another reason to vote Democratic: the head of the Republican Party doesn’t thing his party can run a country.
In addition to abortion, the RNC’s health insurer also offers end-of-life counseling or, as Sarah Palin would call it, “death panels.” Why does Michael Steele want to kill all of his employees’ grandparents in a bureaucratically efficient manner? (ThinkProgress)
Here is a look into the thought process behind Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators in a New York City civilian court. (Washington Post)
President Obama urged members of Congress this morning not to politicize the trial of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for the November 5 Fort Hood shootings. Um, Mr. President, have you met these members of Congress? (CNN Political Ticker)
Before last year’s vice presidential debate, Joe Lieberman advised Sarah Palin to be herself and not let the McCain campaign “tell you what to say or how to think.” Thanks, Joe! Maybe he really is a Democrat after all! (WSJ Washington Wire)
Your RNC is just not comfortable with handing over the company credit card to Michael Steele to spend on his “hip hop,” or whatever it is the kids are saying doing days. (The Hill/Washington Times)
If healthcare reformers don’t stop saying mean things about healthcare reform blocker Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), then he will pull this car over right now! and nobody will get healthcare. (TPMDC)
Here are some lovely photos of that time someone at the Pentagon thought it would be a good idea to fly Air Force One straight over the Manhattan skyline. (NYT The Caucus)
President McCain just does not care for this Obama upstart and his “change” that he keeps talking about. (CNN Political Ticker)
Republicans may have been able to dodge a guy with a video camera asking them whether they think Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, but they’ll have to answer the eventually–on the floor of the House!
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood (August 21 of this year), Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) is introducing a resolution commemorating the historic achivement of the state of Hawaii, including being the President’s birthplace:
“In the language of the resolution, there is a statement that Hawaii is the birthplace of the 44th President of the United States,” Abercrombie spokesman Dave Helfert confirms.
That confronts House GOPers with a choice: They can vote for the measure, and endorse the idea that Obama was born in Hawaii, which could earn the wrath of birthers. Or they can vote against commemorating the 50th state’s joining of our blessed Union. Or GOPers can skip the vote, but that could look nutty.
“Far be it from us to try to stir things up,” Helfert said puckishly. “The president was born there, so what are you gonna do? Not mention it?”
It should be interesting to see what some Republicans will do when faced with the options of either publicly endorsing birther-ism or going home to face a very angry, wacko base.
In the process of the defending the RNC’s unambiguously terrible fundraising presentation (where shall we begin? The picture of Obama as the Joker? Mocking the RNC’s small donors as clueless rubes?), RNC head Michael Steele seems to have missed the real issue:
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