Steele Threatens to Withold RNC Funs from Collins, Specter, Snowe?

[Lunar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocqIEAaPVok&eurl

Speaking of Senators Arlen Specter, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, Steele said that the Senators were likely to face primaries as a result of their vote for the stimulus bill.

Then Steele was asked by Fox’s Neil Cavuto: “Will you, as RNC head, recommend no RNC funds being provided to help them?”

Steele confirmed that he would “talk to the state parties about.” When pressed on whether he was open to it, Steele said: “Oh, yes, I`m always open to everything, baby, absolutely.”

This is obviously about throwing red meat to the base, but it’s pretty interesting, because it sets the RNC up to take a hit from the right if he doesn’t follow through with this.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/michael-steele-threatens-to-withhold-rnc-funds-from-gop-senators-who-backed-stimulus/

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Well (for now) he can withhold all he wants from Snowe and Collins; only Specter is up in 2010.

[Purple State]

Let 'em waste their money.

[Lunar]

Of course, and the "talk to state parties" thing would obviously exclude the Maine Twins anyway since the ME State GOP doesn't suffer delusions about an extremely partisan conservative's ability to win their state.

And besides, Specter is frickin' loaded with cash. I think he has more on hand than any vulnerable Senator.

[TeePee4Prez]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

[Lief 🗽]

Steele has an annoying habit of saying "baby".  Hopefully he'll get over it...

Nah. It makes him seem "hip hop".

[Holmes]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Don't hold your breath on getting Snowe or Collins' seat any time soon.

[Landslide Lyndon]

This guy should get along with Sarah Palin and toghether the should found the Anti-Mensa.

[Keystone Phil]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

By the way, Steele is an even bigger FF for this when it comes to denying Specter funds.

[bullmoose88]

Boo Steele. 

[Landslide Lyndon]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

By the way, Steele is an even bigger FF for this when it comes to denying Specter funds.

Yeah. And if the ladies from Maine or Specter pull a Jeffords then I fully expect him to become a folk hero for the base.
Hooray for the one who got rid of those pesky moderate Northeasterners!

Of course it will give the Democrats complete control of Congress, but hey!
Who said that ideological purity comes cheap?
 

[CultureKing]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

By the way, Steele is an even bigger FF for this when it comes to denying Specter funds.

Yeah. And if the ladies from Maine or Specter pull a Jeffords then I fully expect him to become a folk hero for the base.
Hooray for the one who got rid of those pesky moderate Northeasterners!

Of course it will give the Democrats complete control of Congress, but hey!
Who said that ideological purity comes cheap?
 

Maybe that was the plan all along; screw up America enough from 2001-2008 to get all the moderates taken out via elections and thus purify the GOP!

[Lief 🗽]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

By the way, Steele is an even bigger FF for this when it comes to denying Specter funds.

Yeah. And if the ladies from Maine or Specter pull a Jeffords then I fully expect him to become a folk hero for the base.
Hooray for the one who got rid of those pesky moderate Northeasterners!

Of course it will give the Democrats complete control of Congress, but hey!
Who said that ideological purity comes cheap?
 

Maybe that was the plan all along; screw up America enough from 2001-2008 to get all the moderates taken out via elections and thus purify the GOP!

[Sam Spade]

Steele has an annoying habit of saying "baby".  Hopefully he'll get over it...

lol

[Lunar]

Steele has an annoying habit of saying "baby".  Hopefully he'll get over it...

lol

I think it's especially hilarious in the phrase "I'm always open to everything, baby."

Of course "Drill, baby, drill" wasn't much better.

[justfollowingtheelections]

I don't know if he does it on purpose because he thinks it makes him "cool", but every time he says something, I think I'm reading the Onion.

[Keystone Phil]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

By the way, Steele is an even bigger FF for this when it comes to denying Specter funds.

Yeah. And if the ladies from Maine or Specter pull a Jeffords then I fully expect him to become a folk hero for the base.
Hooray for the one who got rid of those pesky moderate Northeasterners!

Of course it will give the Democrats complete control of Congress, but hey!
Who said that ideological purity comes cheap?
 

I don't care about Collins and Snowe.

This isn't about ideological purity; I believe that Specter is a liberal, not a moderate. When it comes to screwing the party, Arlen is a master and yet he still finds a way to guilt people into backing him. I've always said that one of the big disagreements that I've had with Santorum (and Bush) was the endorsement of this guy in 2004.

We want him gone. I just got back from a local political meeting and it's almost hilarious how many people are calling for his head. This guy wouldn't stand a chance if we had a top tier candidate in the running already. He probably won't even survive against a second tier candidate. You'd be amazed at how many of us would prefer a Democrat (provided the Dem wasn't some extremist) to Specter. There are still some that refuse to vote for Specter even if he does run against a Democrat that we can't stand.

[Eraserhead]

Steele isn't a professional.

[Nym90]

Can't wait for Htmldon to find this thread.

[jamestroll]

lol @ gop hack extremists.

[Keystone Phil]

Can't wait for Htmldon to find this thread.

Don has already stated that he's not as enthusiastic about Specter anymore (or at least that's how I read it) and is extremely disappointed in the three voting for the Stimulus Package.

[Padfoot]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

With all due respect, Pennsylvania has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate 5 times in a row now, twice in very close elections.  Its a lean Democratic state, not a swing state.

As for Steele's threat, this is a great way to chase these three into the Democratic caucus either as independents or full blown Democrats.  If their voting record thus far in the 111th is any indication I don't think it would take all that much to get them to flip.  So by all means, keep pushing Steele.  Maybe if you push hard enough we'll get some House flippers too.

[Keystone Phil]

With all due respect, Pennsylvania has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate 5 times in a row now, twice in very close elections.  Its a lean Democratic state, not a swing state.

Yes, on the Presidential level.

[Ronnie]

Christmas comes early for us!  Does he want to hand 3 seats to the Democrats?

Please try your hardest to stop thinking of a swing state like PA as an automatic pickup in a midterm election. Please.

With all due respect, Pennsylvania has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate 5 times in a row now, twice in very close elections.  Its a lean Democratic state, not a swing state.

As for Steele's threat, this is a great way to chase these three into the Democratic caucus either as independents or full blown Democrats.  If their voting record thus far in the 111th is any indication I don't think it would take all that much to get them to flip.  So by all means, keep pushing Steele.  Maybe if you push hard enough we'll get some House flippers too.

Snowe would never become an independent or Democrat, and Collins use to speak in favor of the NRSC.  I doubt either of them would switch parties.

If Specter has any sort of aspirations as a politician, he won't run as an independent in the 2010 election.

[Nym90]

Can't wait for Htmldon to find this thread.

Don has already stated that he's not as enthusiastic about Specter anymore (or at least that's how I read it) and is extremely disappointed in the three voting for the Stimulus Package.

True, and so maybe he sees Steele as a FF for this, though I think he'd still prefer those 3 to a Democrat.