California Conservative

Everybody knows that the GOP has been, to be polite, apathetic the last 2 election cycles. That isn’t news. What’s news is that the apathy appears to be abating. There are several explanations for the GOP’s disappearing apathy. One of the biggest reasons for the GOP’s apathy disappearing is Eric Cantor keeping his House colleagues from voting for the Democrats’ Porkulus bill. Another reason why conservatives aren’t apathetic is due to Michael Steele’s election to be the next chairman of the RNC.

The biggest reason for the apathy vanishing act is because President Obama foolishly picked a fight with Rush Limbaugh. Michelle Malkin has rightfully titled this episode The Rush Revival. Here’s the most astute observation Michelle makes in her NY Post column:

The stimulus bill is a prime example, a collection of pet projects connected by no coherent ideological strategy except spending. Do Democrats really support it because it’s a good bill? Or is it simply because Republicans oppose it? (more…)

Anything that Patrick Ruffini writes on the subject of using technology to return the GOP to majority party status immediately gets put on my must-reading list. Patrick posted something on the subject yesterday that I didn’t get to think through. I made reading and thinking it through a priority of my Saturday morning.

The starting point of Patrick’s post is Leon Wolf’s post that I also referenced. Further down in Patrick’s post is this nugget of wisdom that needs to be expanded on:

Attacking technology as a way to rebuild the party misses the point in another way. It assumes that technology is just a tool, that it doesn’t change the dynamics of the political process itself. And that it can’t be an instrument in nudging along the kind of change we all want on the issues and ideas front.

Were MoveOn.org and the netroots primarily about technology or ideology? The answer is both. They were instruments for the ideological “reformation” of the party that just happened to use technology. They were both successful because they tied technology to sense of political purpose, direction, and action.

EXACTLY RIGHT!!! This isn’t an either-or question. It’s a rare double-sided truth. One wouldn’t exist without the other. (more…)

This post is a great explanation why the GOP should focus on shoring up the base first. Here’s the part I agree most with:

5) It’s conservatives, not moderates, who contribute the money, work on GOP campaigns, and are generally going to vote Republican, if they vote at all.

Although it’s fine to reach out to moderates, if you go too far and alienate the conservative base, it will hurt your fundraising, leave you without enough campaign volunteers, and may depress turnout amongst your most loyal supporters.

Our ‘alphabets’ fundraising has stunk the last 2 election cycles. That’s because the activists have refused to support candidates that would be as comfortable in the Democratic Party as they’d be in the GOP. The Democrats hire their GOTV machine. The GOP doesn’t. That’s why we need enthusiastic activists. The perfect example of this is in Minnesota’s 2nd District.

John Kline has impeccable conservative credentials. As a result, Rep. Kline’s had a big base of volunteers this campaign season: (more…)

While it’s doubtful that Charlie Rangel has served his last day as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, it’s entirely possible that he’ll soon be the subject of an ethics investigation. Here’s why:

Representative Charles B. Rangel paid no interest for more than a decade on a mortgage extended to him to buy a villa at a beachfront resort in the Dominican Republic, according to Mr. Rangel’s lawyer and records from the resort.

The loan was given to him by the resort development company, in which Theodore Kheel, a prominent New York labor lawyer, was a principal investor. Mr. Kheel, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Rangel’s campaigns over the past decade, had encouraged the congressman to be one of the initial investors in the project.

The loan, which was extended to Mr. Rangel in 1988, was originally to be paid back over seven years at a rate of 10.5 percent. But within two years, interest on the loan was waived for Mr. Rangel and six other early investors because the resort was generating less income than projected, according to a statement released on Friday by Jose Oliva, director of the resort.

(more…)

John Hinderaker’s post on Powerline is today’s must reading. To say that John is upset with the anarchists is understatement. He’s got a right to be. I’ll let John’s words speak for themselves. Here’s what John said:

The first day of the RNC was fun but muted. One group, though, wasn’t deterred from pursuing its agenda by events in the Gulf. The Communist/anarchist/truther/pro-Obama protesters were out in force, committing various crimes and attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
The most shocking events are described by Jim Hoft, who was on a bus that was attacked from above when a group of protesters dropped sand bags on to the top of the bus. This is attempted murder: if the protesters had succeeded in hitting the windshield, a sand bag would have crashed through and killed the driver. The resulting accident would have killed or injured others on the bus. To my knowledge, the left-wingers/would-be murderers were not caught. (more…)

According to ABC’s Brian Ross, the McCain-Palin headquarters couldn’t be happier. Here’s why:

The McCain campaign raised more than $10 million in the two and a half days after Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was named as the vice presidential running mate, bringing the total raised in the month of August to more than $47 million, campaign officials tell ABC News.

The final, official figures are expected to be reported in the next few days, but the amount appears to be a record for the McCain campaign, almost twice as much as it has raised in any other single month.

“We’re still counting,” said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

Rush was right. A couple months ago, Rush was talking about the NRCC’s and NRSC’s anemic numbers, as well as McCain’s fundraising numbers. His opinion: When Republicans start acting like Republicans, the money will start flowing in. They did, starting with the House Oil Wars Rebellion. Donations have been improving ever since.

When Sen. McCain picked Gov. Palin, the floodgates flew open. Like Brian Rogers says, “We’re still counting.” That must bring a smile to Sen. McCain’s face. Following his acceptance speech Thursday night, he’ll get a check for $84 million. The good news is that Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin will be doing fundraisers for the RNC, which can spend the money on whichever race they choose.

Technorati Tags: RNC, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Fundraising, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog