So Jim Tedisco really just might lose that seat in New York vacated by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. A new poll showing Tedisco trailing Democratic challenger Scott Murphy prompted a rather ridiculous reaction from my colleague Matt C, who said that “Steele needs to be ousted, period,” if Tedisco can’t pull this off. Now, Matt is surely looking for any excuse to bash Mr. Steele, given that he was always skeptical of the chairman, but I think that my own comment in that thread better sums it up: “What the hell does this have to do with Michael Steele?”
Really, it’s nothing more than the nonsensical “presiding over” argument that people in politics always spout back and forth. “Bill Clinton presided over a booming economy,” say Democrats. Ari Fleischer recently contended that “George W. Bush presided over many years of job creation.” Yes, I suppose that’s true in the most literal sense. I’ve also lost weight since Nancy Pelosi has been Speaker of the House. But the better question to ask is whether correlation and causation are linked.
Quite frankly, I don’t really see how it’s possible to blame Steele for a Tedisco loss. Tedisco has run a terrible campaign, waffling around on its most important issue, the stimulus (he refused to take a position until just a couple of weeks ago). The ad campaign has generally been seen to be going in Murphy’s favor, and Murphy has been leading in fundraising. Tedisco recently weirdly skipped out on a debate with Murphy and the recently-disqualified Libertarian candidate Eric Sundwall, who endorsed Murphy but whose departure is seen to help Tedisco. Tedisco, for his part, chose to take part in a townhall meeting stacked with sycophants. Most recently, he released a last-minute ad bashing Murphy for opposing the death penalty for terrorists. I would leave you with this quote from Aron Goldman, who also highlighted poll numbers showing voters responding poorly to Tedisco’s ads:
This ad reeks of desperation, and all indicators suggest it will be counterproductive.
Even though I strongly support the death penalty for premeditated murder, I can’t say I agree with the ad’s suggestion that justice isn’t served if someone like KSM is locked up in Gitmo, or perhaps Bagram, until his dying day; that advocacy for anything less than death makes Scott Murphy somehow unpatriotic or weak in the…Overseas Contingency Operation.
Also, it’s one thing if this were intended for an audience that’s across the entire country, but no New Yorker, not even those living upstate, need to be reminded that 9/11 was “a national tragedy.” It shouted ‘tonedeafness,’ and highlighted a disconnect on the part of the NRCC.
Last point. It can’t come as any real surprise should Scott Murphy pull this off. In how many “Republican districts” does Obama still boast a 65 percent favorable rating? And I can’t imagine the GOP faring very well in any CD where the state’s Democratic senator sports a 76 percent favorable rating.
So please, dear God, don’t blame Steele for this mess. You might as well blame Chuck Hagel.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Alex, it’s getting harder to defend Steele.
http://blow.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/steele-ridiculous/
Steele: I am very introspective about things. I don’t do — I am a cause and effect kind of guy. So if I do something, there’s a reason for it. Even, it may look like a mistake, a gaffe. There is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it.
Lemon: Even with the current events in news–
Steele: Yeah.
Lemon: There’s a rationale behind Rush, all that stuff?
Steele: Yup. Yup.
Lemon: You want to share it with us?
Steele: Sure, I want to see what the landscape looks like. I want to see who yells the loudest, I wanted to know who says they’re with me but really isn’t.
Lemon: How does that help you?
Steele: It helps me understand my position on the chess board. It helps me understand, you know, where the enemy camp is and where those who are inside the tent are.
Lemon: It’s all strategic?
Steele: It’s all strategic.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Knepper,
Are you saying that the RNC chairman who claimed he could win in the Northeast is free from any blame at all if Tedisco goes down in a Northeast seat that should be won by our candidate by double-digits?
If it doesn’t go our way on Tuesday, I’m not going to pin everything on Steele but I think you are giving Steele quite a bit of a break if you don’t think the brouhaha in the past month with his leadership made it harder for us to get this one.
If that ad is so terrible, then why isn’t Steele producing his own ad and running it for Tedisco? Why isn’t he taking greater authority over this race? This is supposed to be his turf…
March 28th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Tell me why we should blame Steele. What the hell does this race have to do with him? He can’t help it if, two months into his tenure, a crappy candidate emerges out of the woodwork in one district.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Knepper,
What does this race have to do with him? How about him being the RNC chairman who bragged about taking on the responsibility of Congressional races?
We can still pull this one out…but if we don’t, let’s hope Steele had a good month of March for fundraising.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Ugh, that’s just rhetoric. If you can’t link Steele to this in reality, then don’t do it in rhetoric. Or, as Thomas Sowell would say, is reality optional?
March 28th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Knepper,
Listen, you and I are getting a little ahead of ourselves. The votes have not been tallied yet and nobody has lost. I would hope that Steele is working his ass off these final two days to get the base out.
However, now that Obama is so involved, a Tedisco win could be framed as a repudiation of Obama and his economic policies in a district that leans our way.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
When will we have your permission to call for Steele’s head Alex? Exactly how many signs of ineptitude do we ignore for your irrational desire for a new kind of RNC Chair?
March 28th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
When Steele displays true ineptitude, I’ll get skeptical.
But I tend to like waiting for more than a couple of months before calling for someone’s head.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
So, you’ve had your eyes closed this past month. And sent out a pre-emptive strike on using election results.
A few months from now it’ll be too late.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Actually, I made a commentary on Steele’s ‘gaffes’…
March 29th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Alex, I probably disagree with you more often then not, but you took the words out of my mouth. The Steele/Rush “controversy” was completely over hyped by Democrats. And if I had to put money on it Jim Tedisco is going to win. He’s been ahead in every other poll, he has the name recognition and the Republican base in the 20th district.
March 29th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Alex, you silly man, it’s all McCain’s fault!
Dang RINOs.
March 29th, 2009 at 12:45 am
clinton did created more jobs than any gop presidents. that’s a fact.My republican father said he had best life in 90′s.
March 29th, 2009 at 1:07 am
My dad is a very conservative independent, and he too very much liked Clinton as a President.
March 29th, 2009 at 6:55 am
#13 “clinton did created more jobs than any gop presidents. that’s a fact.My republican father said he had best life in 90’s.”
Heather, the President doesn’t create jobs, as we are a (somewhat) capitalist economy.
March 29th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I do not believe a President is in control of my life or my job opportunities, but the best years of my life were during the Bush years.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:01 am
In that Siena poll Murphy had a 2 point lead but more people regardless of who they were goin to vote for thought Tedisco would win. Maybe because Republican voters tend to turn outmore for these kind of elections?
March 29th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Chairman Steele has been a powerful and authoritative influence on the resurgent GOP. In his short tenure so far, Chairman Steele has bolstered not only the image of the GOP but also its electoral prospects by updating fundraising and online infrastructure and acting as an effective spokesman for the Party. Oh, and he raised a pile of money, nearly doubling the DNC take. Chairman Steele knows how to win!
March 29th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Blame Steele. A lot.
March 29th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Michael Steele should resign from the GOP Chairman. He is not conservative. The Republican Party need to get rid of these liberal and moderate Republicans. For example, they are just like the Democratic and they are favored to raise taxes. It need to be conservative.
March 29th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Folks, if Tedisco loses, why call for Michael Steele’s resignation and not the chair of the NRCC?
March 29th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
The percentage of Americans who disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president has reached a new high (31 percent), according to the latest Gallup daily tracking job approval poll.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx
March 29th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
http://apps.facebook.com/videosyoutube/ytvideo.php5?yid=T8Rh4lsTVbc&q=glenn+beck+conversion+story&page=1
This is a true Christian. Part of Glenn Becks testimony! You can find the rest on youtube. You might need to log into Facebook to see this, but this is what makes a Christian, not arguing over some doctrinal differences.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Alex,
The RNC Chairman’s job is to organize, fundraise, and do behind-the-scenes stuff for the GOP. No matter who it is. Even if it’s a “flashy” guy like Steele.
The fact of the matter is, this should have been little league stuff for Steele. This was the ONLY race he’s having to deal with right now. The ONLY one. It’s in a Republican-leaning district where GOP registration outpaces Democrat registration by double-digits. This was a warm-up game for Steele for the governor’s races later on this year and then the midterms in 2010.
But if he can’t even win this, what’s the hope for multiple races at once, where he’s going to have to divide and conquer? Right now, he could be putting 100% of his time, energy, resources, and effort into this race. That will not happen again for a long while.
Instead, Steele is out performing on every media outlet he can get himself on, making a public spectacle of himself and creating gaffe after gaffe after gaffe – instead of providing leadership in the party.
I’ll say it again – if we lose NY-20, Steele has to go. Period. You ask what the hell Steele has to do with NY-20? What doesn’t he have to do with NY-20? Is he, or is he not, Chairman of the GOP?!?
March 29th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I give steele credit for cleaning house at the RNC. Lets give him a full 2-year term and see how things go. It’s not like Katon Dawson or Chip salzman or Ken Blackwell impressed anybody, their runs for chairman were largely inept.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I’ll ask again 24. If Tedisco loses, why are you not calling for the chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee to resign?
March 31st, 2009 at 8:59 pm
[...] Knepper: “Don’t blame Steele” [...]