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.
I think travis is still here.
The next Presidential candidate had better address sovereignty....if we still have any.
His one good idea, which was getting more evangelical SoCons to come out and vote, did not account for what would happen next.
He allowed SoCons to believe that the administration which was elected with their votes would care about them and their issues, which was essentially a lie. He failed to understand, or didn't care, that the SoCons with the image of power almost within their grasp would terrify or repel millions of OTHER voters who hitherto were within the big tent, or were persuadable.
And his "genius" has been contagious, so that Democrat political operatives who want to copy him are busy building up the nutroots culture.
Polarization, in a country which has already demonstrated itself capable of Civil War over political questions, is very bad.
If we ever fight another one, Karl Rove will rightly go down in history as one of its architects.
And his OTHER big idea, the "Hispanics are key" one - that's so stupid, it doesn't even require comment.
In So Fl they ran Iraq commercials against Shaw and was a big reason why he lost(foley hurt too)
Scorecard - Republicans - 3 (more or less, now that James Trafficant is in prison) - Democrats - I don't have the number, but it's ALL of them.
What do you have against Gingrich and Paul, from a conservative standpoint?
Gingrich is the penultimate conservative when it comes to govt. Although, I will admit, that lately he's signing on to some things that I have to scratch my head over.
Paul's message has been so twisted by people that even I am not sure where he stands. But. When I listen to him talk about conservatism vis-a-vis government, I have to agree with him.
No argument here. It would still put his conservative mind in the Oval Office.
“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.”
Nice try Karl LaRaza Rove. Bush holding hands with Ted Kennedy, shoving CIR and amnesty down our throats in a critical election year is what divided the party. Bush risked it and Bush lost it. Take some responsibility.
Check out my new tagline as of today...
By the way, "compassionate conservatism", I now feel, is just renaming Clinton's "triangulation" policy.
He was banned for quite some time, then un-banned.
Turkey would not tolerate independent Kurdish control of Iraq.
Tagline fix.
Pro-life and the WOT trump everything else for me. Immigration is a hot button but social conservatives in general are mixed on it depending on which Church you attend and the numbers of illegals in their state.
The Republican party needs Gingrich - just NOT as its candidate.
paul may have some great Conservative beliefs... but ISOLATIONISM and SURRENDER, as well as blaming America for 9/11 is a MAJOR flaw that I cannot accept... no more than I would buchanan.
One thing I will NOT do, is to stop fighting liberals and dims and surrender the Whitehouse and any chance of regaining the House or Senate in 2008... all because I’m pi$$ed at Bush and the RNC... which I most certainly am. Dat is how I sees things.
LLS
The writer is on crack!
Really and who signed off on all the earmarks?
I would probably modify his statement.."Republican candidates are urged to make clear they have no connection with Bush"
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