GOP Unleashes America Speaking Out

The Republican Party has released the web site America Speaking Out. The goal of the web site is to get the GOP's 2010 election year message out. As usual, Republicans fail epically with new media.

Chief Deputy Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy described ASO.

“This is an open community and a debate of ideas; you submit the idea, you debate the idea, you put it into your network and you’ll continue to have that dialogue,” said project chairman and Chief Deputy Minority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.).

The web site allows open posting. The Huffington Post reports one post said the Civils Right Act was "UNCONSTITUTIONAL, PROGRESSIVE and HITLER." Apparently, wingnuts aren't aware that Hitler would not congratulate Jesse Owens or other African-American winners at the 1936 Olympics. Another poster suggested Orwellian level surveillance on Muslim Americans. So much for the Republican Party for building a big tent.

ASO is not run by the RNC or a political action committee. This is paid for by tax dollars. Republicans use the legal pretense that ASO is to shape policy. Thomas Mann and Meredith McGehee explain how this couldn't be further from the truth.

Congressional scholar Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said it is not credible to say the agenda is not intended for the 2010 campaign cycle.

“Its only purpose is as a campaign document,” Mann said in an e-mail. “They are in no position to shape policy before the election. It is a defensive move, to deal with the criticism that they are the party of ‘no.’”

But Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, said Republicans have to maintain that the document is not meant for the campaign trail, even if it is only a charade. “If they don’t, they are in danger of using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes,” she said.

Blogger Steve Benen reports that Congressman Mike Pence would not elaborate on how the ASO web site will be paid for. This is why I never take Republicans seriously when they talk about fiscal conservatism.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele had similarly disastrous relaunching GOP.com. GOP.com had a future leadership page that was empty. The web site also mislabeled Jackie Robinson a GOP hero. The site was so amatuerish that it was hacked into. The GOP is a top to down party.

The reason grassroots activism and the internet work better for the net is because Democrats needs the votes and contributions of people not in the upper tax bracket. Democrats will not vote in force if they do not believe the candidate talks to grassroots issues. If Obama made offshore drilling and sending more troops to Afghanistan his two central campaign issues then John McCain would be President. Republicans rely on redistricting, fearmongering and winning presidential elections by razor thin margins. A conservative can post a comment about clawing back money from Goldman Sachs on ASO. The current Republicans are more concerned with getting Wall Street campaign dollars then creating regulations to prevent another economic meltdown. The open dialogue with voters is an election year sham.

Michele Bachmann's Latest Nonsense

Conservative talk show host Chris Baker interviewed Republican Michele Bachmann. The Congresswoman declared the stimulus package is unconstitutional. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed both houses of Congress and signed by the President. To say a spending bill is unconstitutional is legally bogus.

Bachmann declared the stimulus package contains funding for ACORN.

Bachmann: I mean, if you think, ACORN - this is a group that's under Federal indictment...
Baker: Unbelievable

Bachmann: ...for voter fraud. ACORN - they've received a total of $53 million in direct Federal Grants since 1994. Do you know how much they're getting under this (the stimulus) bill?

Baker: Like $4 billion, I've heard.

Bachmann: $5 Billion.

Baker? $5 billion?

Bachmann: For ACORN.

A search of Recovery.gov reveals zero results for ACORN. Washington Monthly blogger Steve Benen found nothing in the stimulus package for ACORN. Search the final Senate bill. There is no funding for ACORN.

The conservative blog The Average American helped start the ACORN myth.

Education for the Disadvantaged $13,000,000,000 hmmm, Chicago and places like it? Can you say ACORN?

Free Republic accused Democrats of funding ACORN. Free Republic failed to quote the text in the bill. David "Sex Scandal" Vitter told Fox News the stimulus bill would provide money to non-profits. Therefore ACORN must be getting funding. Republicans need to have better attack dogs than Freepers, Bachmann and Vitter.

The ACORN attacks didn't work against Obama during the campaign. Republicans are desperate, if they believe a failed attack will work. I don't give a shit about ACORN and I follow politics. Republicans are kidding themselves if they think Americans will get worked up about ACORN.

My favorite moment of the Bachmann interview.

"We're running out of rich people in this country."

People are angry at Wall Street and Bernard Madoff. Voters that can't pay their mortgages aren't going to be sympathetic with Bachmann's plea to save the rich. It is a politically suicidal message. The Republican establishment can not communicate with working people. John McCain campaigned on the words: "I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong." Bachmann is selling the same nonsense. Democrats need to hammer the economic message Bill Clinton delivered in 1992. Republicans can't compete on economics. That is why their opposition to the stimulus bill has been so intense.