own errors, they take some gravity from actual reports of media bias.

This contest for boss of the party apparatus — fergawdsakes! — has the potential to become unhealthy for the party. Not that the Gange of 168 worry a white about it.

this statement

“But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media’s double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal.”

He is absolutely correct that WE cannot continue to beaten over the head for the same crap that originated out of the LA Times in which NOTHING was said and if we do continue to allow the MSM and Democrats (but I repeat myself) to define us than we deserve the minority!

With Rush it was in context unfortunately for Chip not so much!

This reminds of the uproar over the use of the word ‘niggardly’. It’s so very easy to create rage over something that is misunderstood. The bottom line is that it’s easy to create the uproar and MUCH more difficult to explain how it is misplaced. The bottom line, just avoid this stuff. How hard is that?

but I do know the Limbaugh parody had nothing to do with Republicans at all. It was about infighting among liberals, particularly self proclaimed “black leaders”. And yes, the parody was funny.

I don’t know if Saltsman is qualified, he probably is not the best and brightest. OTOH, we like to call the Dems a party of whimps, but it seems that is what WE are becoming. Oohh, someone said something that angered the media or could seem offensive, throw him under the bus, we feel your pain, we are so, so sorry, just take him and leave us alone!

btw, is this really news, do you mean to tell me the guys competing for the same job find fault in each other? That is truly amazing.

Worse, the Republican Party is, yet again, letting the liberal media determine what’s important for the Republican Party.
Isn’t that exactly how we wound up with McCain as our candidate?
We learn so slowly, if at all.

The democrats are finally having to take some heat for reid, peloski, schummmer, dodd, frank, housing-banking scandal fraud that ended up in the reid, peloski, obama bailout. The media is trying anything to help take the heat off the democrat actions the last 2 years to destroy our economy. We conservative have to yell, fight, stomp back and keep the heat on the democrats where it should be.

That is communication stategy. This is the fundemental weakness of the Republican Party. A wiser, smarter person would have been more cautious and thought about this decision. Surely Mr Saltsman should have known there would be a backlash. But my own opinion is he did not know or did not care to know, A wiser smarter man would have used this oportunity to present a forward thinking vision for the party for the 2010s. A smarter wiser man would have had a bold plan for building the party and adding to it not mocking the next President of the United States (POTUS).

There are some serious structural problems with the US Job market in the coming years. There are not enough new well paying jobs to keep up with the demand, We need to be talking the endless regulations that you must adhere to start a new business. We need to ask President Obama how will he pay for his stimulus scheme. We need to ask what his national defense strategy is. We need to ask what is plan to fight the drug war. What is his plan for homeland security? What is his plan to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons? What is his plan to deal with the rising gang violence coming from central america? The list goes on and on. Instead we have to deal with this kind of silliness. We need to do better.

nt

“Republicans cannot win elections by blackballing news outlets, crying foul, and crusading against “unfair” media portrayals.”

Sorry Jim, but I disagree on this point. The press is nothing more than the mouth of the DNC and it’s high time we call them on it.

I quit reading newspapers and watching “main-stream” newscasts long ago. I’m saddened whenever I see Redstate blogs bemoaning some New York Times op-ed. Why pay them any attention? Cancel the @#$&! subscription. If enough Americans stop reading their crap, eventually they’ll lose their influence.

Doc Holliday is right. The parody is of Al Sharpton whining because Obama is getting all the attention w/o paying his dues like Sharpton has. I dare say, 90% of the media who have reported on this have no idea what the parody is about and have never listened to it. I think we should really hammer the media on this.

Why is the attorney who, in 1981, “represented John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan” also “Obama’s own [personal] lawyer”?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Craig

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/rahm-emanuel-foot-in-the-door-1212436.html
Rahm Emanuel: Foot in the door

Barack Obama’s chief of staff could have been a ballet star. And when the new team moves into the White House, his are the moves that everyone will be watching

Saturday, 27 December 2008

If you want, at the dawn of this brave new era, a sobering insight into the way Barack Obama will go about being the Most Powerful Man in the World, try sitting down with a copy of the official report into his office’s dealings with the disgraced Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich.

The document, published on the news-burying day of 23 December, was written by Obama’s own lawyer, Gregory Craig, and details every contact the president-elect’s transition office had with the dodgy politician who now stands accused of attempting to “sell” a seat in the United States Senate.

It makes for chilly reading. Not because Craig reveals any corruption in the Obama camp (in fact, he exonerated the future president and his aides), but instead because of the light it shines on the chummy horse-trading between Blagojevich and the man many believe to be the future US president’s most powerful lieutenant, Rahm Emanuel.

Mr Emanuel’s official title is chief of staff. But really he’s the Obama team’s pantomime villain: the tough-guy “fixer” who cuts deals, twists arms and is responsible for actually getting things done in Washington. Like a transatlantic version of a parliamentary whip, his personal style veers between pit bull and mafia don. Certainly he has become a key player in the “Blago” scandal.

Despite Obama’s public promise after the election that he and his team would take a “hands-off” approach to selecting his successor in the Senate, it emerges in Craig’s report that the president-elect actually authorised Mr Emanuel to do the reverse.

In fact, Obama’s chief of staff spoke to Blagojevich twice in early November, suggesting on one occasion that Valerie Jarrett would be an “acceptable” candidate to replace the new president as Illinois senator.

I am glad that both Mike Duncan and Newt Gingrich came out and denounced Saltsman’s JOKE. To some, this whole caper may seem like no biggie to some but to many it is a bit more. The laws which legalized and codified Jim Crow came about because those who should have know better thought it was all fine and dandy. Rush Limbaugh may have played this record, etc. but Rush is not the face of the GOP and does not make policy, at least not directly. Saltsman, if elected as RNC, chair will both make and influence policy directly. And therein lies the difference.

Personally, I’m getting sick of this “Blame the MSM” meme for all the GOP’s problems. Yes, the media IS biased, but when we blame them even when we fall on our own swords then it diminishes our credibility and we end up looking like fools. There is a term for it, its called: Cry Wolf.

Earth to Republicans: here’s a tip for Republicans in elected office everywhere, and those who want to be considered for the Chairmanship of the RNC in particular:

Leave the sophomoric humor to the sophomores and professional entertainers. It doesn’t matter if you’re making fun of something a liberal said that was picked up by Rush Limbaugh; in fact, that makes it worse, because you’re trying to ride the coattails of one of their sophomoric jokes. And nobody likes a Republican trying to be funny with a liberal’s joke after Rush Limbaugh made it a retread. It’s unoriginal first of all, and you run a big risk of getting hit from both sides.

It’s a dumb move, in very poor taste, and beneath Saltsman, who apparently has some good ideas as the putative Chair of the RNC, but whose candidacy has now been overshadowed by a sophomoric parody that should never have left the editing room.

Heed the words, and be circumspect.

Over and out.

Basically what Saltsman did was hand the pistol to his enemy and that’s just stupid. Parody has it’s place but selecting this time and place to toss in what will only be viewed as racial ammunition by the Left was a mistake and shows a lack of forethought.
As Republicans we have to realize that this is a battle for the hearts and minds of the people (mainly the hearts) and we start this battle at a loss because our enemy owns the media. We have to MAKE our voices heard above the constant din of the Left and that’s a very hard thing to do and we’ll never succeed at it if our own people, Saltsman,
add volume to the Lefts roar themselves.
The battle is also made that much more complicated when people
like Duncan unleash arrows at their own side. “Do no harm …” remember that phrase, as ill conceived putting that parody out there was Duncan’s response was just as harmful if not more so.

On a side note I saw that Grover Norquist tossed his hat into the RNC Chair ring. Anyone have any ideas about him ? I am pretty much unfamiliar with him.

As someone who appreciates jackassery and off=color jokes (yes, even Richard Pryor making fun of white people), I can say one of the cardinal rules of business is to keep humor out of business dealings for the most part. What you think is funny someone else may not find so laughable. I’ve seen all too often an attempt at being cute leaving egg on the face of the teller of the attempted joke. You don’t ever assume what someone may or may not find funny.

Apparently he missed this basic fact of sales.

If we allow this sort of thing to go on we will once again allow the MSM and the left choose who represents us as they did for president.

I am tired of common sense being thrown out the window for the sake of getting a sound bite with a media group who don’t like us anyway.

Yes, I believe those making an issue out of one track on a 41 track parody are making up for a slow news day.

This has NOTHING to do with the next RNC chair other than distracting us from the real discussion.

If we allow the media to set our agenda and discussion with crap like this we’ll end up with Duncan and his cronies back in charge. If that happens I will drop my pail of water and become a fifth column within the Republican party for the creation of a Conservative party.

… anyone with any sense of leadership and public relations should know that, at the point you’re debating whether or not it’s racist or offensive, you’ve lost.

When Rush Limbaugh sparks controversy, he gains in the ratings.

When the Republican “Leadership” sparks (non-policy) controversy, it loses Republican voters.

If Steele can stay out of this and keep his trap shut, he has a solid case for GOP Chairman. He needs to appear to be above it all and quite frankly, deride Mike Duncan for creating more MSM-hysteria that divides the GOP.

Duncan has GOT TO GO and Steele/Gingrich need to play this hand wisely.

Join the RedState Strike Force

people want to make the word ‘negro’ an officially taboo word they should have the United Negro College Fund renamed.

UNNECESSARY DISTRACTION.

Why would we want to spend our limited media exposure attempting to explain the details of this situation rather than describing the broader Conservative (hopefully Republican) message and its merits?

Geeezzzz ……. because the Dims keep shooting themselves in the foot ……… do we have to follow? And their stupid ideas have significant consequences …………. well beyond political ones.

Keep in mind, the economy going into ’09 is like a jumbo jet with an engine out in bad weather and the pilot has never successfully flown an intact jet in perfect conditions. Then we end up complaining about the food service on board.

In these types of situations, and judging from history, starting from what happened to Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Trent Lott, George Allen and even Larry Summers, the proper response is to stand fast and fight unapologetically and unstintingly to save yourself and your reputation.

You don’t back down, you don’t pull punches, you certainly do not apologize. Your response should be all fire and brimstone.

In politics, there’s no profit in restraint, and no one will admire you for your “patience” and “grace” as you sit back and let yourself be destroyed. Bush did that, and look where it got him, and us by extension.

Frankly, I just don’t get it. Finally, at long last, Republican leaders are no longer taking part in the polite fiction of a balanced media and acknowledging the decades-long reality of media bias, and yet they’re obviously still having a problem internalizing it and accounting for it in every public act.

Saltsman was stupid for getting into this mess in the first place – and the fact that he could look at the title of this song and not realize that it would cause something like this proves that he’s not fit to take the helm at the RNC. The guy deserves a Darwin Award for the self-immolation of his political career.

And the award should primarily be for the way he’s responding to this so-called “controversy.”

By the way, what is the proper response?

You do not run. You do not hide. You do not wait to be “cornered” by liberal reporters who would only pound another nail into your coffin. More importantly, you do not attempt to change the subject – no “let’s move on to real issues” nonsense that George Allen tried.

You’re not a Democrat and only Democrats are allowed to “move on” from gaffes and slip-ups. You’re a Republican so you don’t get that kind of consideration. For a Republican, the only way past this sort of conflagaration is through it.

You call a press conference – and record it. Reason for that? One word; YouTube. You schedule appearances on any television and radio station that will have you. You prepare a video statement for uploading to YouTube. In Saltsman’s situation, you call Rush’s scheduler and ask for a spot as soon as possible.

If I were advising Saltsman, I would tell him to stand at the lectern and proceed to read David Ehrenstein’s article, then play Rush’s show segment on that article and the song. Then, to make it clear, explicitly set about explaining the genesis of their entire issue, starting from the LA Times article to Rush’s reaction to the inclusion of it in the CD sent to RNC members.

Defend it as a valid parody of liberals’ obsession with race, and challenge the notion in the media that Barack Obama’s race should somehow exempt him, and other liberals, from being the subject of satire and parody. In other words, the song was no more racist than the article that spawned it.

Then take questions. Carefully, with an eye out for “gotchas” and do not be surprised by questions from as far back as Willie Horton and the so-called “Southern Strategy.” Be aggressive, be hostile, under no circumstances go on the defensive, and while liberally {heh} dropping comments like “I know most of you voted for Obama …” warn them that everything will be on YouTube within the hour so they should be careful of what they leave behind on the cutting room floor.

It may work. It may not. But its results would of a certainty be no worse than the pathetic Run-Hide-Surrender tactic we have employed for the past three decades.

Either way, Saltsman’s bid for the RNC Chair is over.