Usually when you contribute to losing a race that has been controlled by your party since the civil war, you lay low and avoid words like referendum and change. Pete Sessions hasn't read that memo.
Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, lost races in both California (not a surprise) and New York (huge surprise) and yet he is spending his day saying last nights election results are a referendum on the popular Democratic President. The big surprise is Sessions, like Tom Craddick in the State House, is so out of touch, he has directly contributed to helping increase the Democratic majority in Congress.
As mentioned today on the Plum Line, "NRCC chair Pete Sessions's statement says the gubernatorial wins prove independents are "dissatisfied" with Dems and will continue "moving away from them at a rapid pace."
The NRCC and Sessions came out strong against the Republican nominee and for the independent/conservative candidate. Yet, they lost.
Do we extrapolate then that Sessions is unpopular and the people of New York and the Republican Party as a whole made a referendum on the leader of the caucus? No. That is ridiculous.
What it does mean is that the Republican Party is still in total disarray and lost traction in local races and lost ground in Washington D.C. where the battle over health care reform, insurance reform, environmental reforms, clean energy reforms, and many many other initiatives are being fought. Clearly the people of California and New York both want Washington to move forward.
This is a signal that Democrats can continue to win tough races in fragmented parts of the country as long as Sessions, Cornyn, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Rick Perry can't agree on what their party stands for and what sort of candidate they should field.
Both sides need to use last nights results and learn. 2010 is going to be tough and Democrats will lose seats in the U.S. Senate and House and in local races if the fail to mobilize and turnout. When Democrats can sweep in federal races but lose gubernatorial races perhaps we should stop throwing out buzz words and start asking why.
Why are Pete Sessions and John Cornyn gloating when their jobs just got harder? Why is this a referendum when VA has swapped parties with the President for nearly four decades? Why aren't we comparing Corizine and Bloomberg instead of comparing Obama to the whole Republican Party of New Jersey?
Let's start asking some questions and stop making blind, sound bite assumptions. Oh, and let's get to work for March and November.
After Houston Mayor Bill White's campaign reported $1.5 million raised this quarter, leaving them with $4.18 million on hand, national observers took notice. Politico's Josh Kraushaar wrote that White had "posted one of the strongest fundraising totals for any Senate candidate this quarter."
Then it was the NRSC, led by Texas' own John Cornyn, who read the good news about White's fundraising and decided to go on the attack. From Whitless Humorings:
“Bill White’s fundraising diligence is exceeded only by his negligence to his current position. The city of Houston is facing a $50 million budget shortfall, Houstonians are facing potential tax hikes, city employees are facing possible layoffs, and yet, Bill White is traveling around the country raising money while collecting a paycheck from Houston taxpayers. Instead of spending his time worrying about a job promotion Bill White ought to focus on the job he was elected to do.” – Brian Walsh, NRSC Spokesman
The White campaign issued this response to the NRSC's statement on Wednesday, via the Mayor's Facebook page.
"Houston has run operating surpluses for most my time as Mayor, while we cut tax rates. Meanwhile DC borrowed trillions to pay operating expenses even before the recession. Yet some party hack in DC criticizes me for raising money for my Senate race, ...saying I neglected our City's finances? (See the link below.) They don't get it. Many fiscally conservative Republicans serve with me on City Council and they deserve credit--as do all Council members--for working as a non-partisan team to make sure that Houston is in the best financial condition of any of the nation's big cities.We aren't raising taxes or laying off employees. When is the last time they ran a surplus in DC? 1998-2000? Is it possible that in DC someone is looking at a poll and is worried?"
National Republicans are worried about holding on to this senate seat, and for good reason. When was the last time the NRSC attacked a Democratic candidate for a seat that was not even open yet?
If you prefer not to believe qualitive reports that show Bill White gaining traction, how about a quantitative report?
Here's a number for you: 400,000+. That is how many pages the National Republican Senatorial Committee has requested from the office of the Houston mayor for opposition research...in a race that still does not exist in completely tangible terms.
Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which recently filed a massive opposition research/document request to the mayor's office, said they filed the request because White's record will be "a key issue" in this race.
"Bill White is going to present voters with his version of his record so we want to make sure voters have the full version," Walsh said. "We intend to spend whatever it takes to keep this seat firmly in the Republican column.
This is all pretty standard procedure for an opposition plan to any candidate, but the extensive open records request (.pdf) made right now only shows that the Republicans see Bill White as a clearly viable threat to their statewide dominance here. When was the last time we can say with confidence that a Texas Democrat fit that description?
The Chronicle piece finishes with the Bill White Campaign response:
Katy Bacon, a spokeswoman for Bill White's Senate campaign, said White's record will withstand the test of any scrutiny.
"So the National Republican Party is going after Mayor Bill White, a guy that works hundred hour work weeks, has been called by the Houston Chronicle, 'a tough act to follow,' and was twice re-elected with margins averaging 88 percent," she said in a statement. "People in Houston and across our state know Bill works hard and know his record; the NRSC in Washington is out of touch with Texans."
Federal records revealed Cornyn spent $152,766.63 traveling during the first six months, between October 2008 and March 2009, of this fiscal year. The amount is more than any other senator.
The report comes KVUE and highlights the Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign committees unapologetic use of tax payer money to travel the state and country.
This is about $842 a day for 182 days. It includes one highly controversial item.
The senator's biggest, and perhaps most questionable travel expense, was a retreat he took his staff on in February. For three days, the staff stayed in St. Michaels, Maryland, which is just outside D.C. It cost taxpayers more than $55,000.
What's is John Cornyn's excuse?
"Well, it's a big state..."
Cornyn is currently on pace to spend $306,372.64 in taxpayer money on trips this year and $1,838,235.82 for his term. This is only on trips, not legislative salary, staff, district offices, or any other items.
To put this in perspective, the other Republican Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison, has only spent $88,000 in taxpayer money during the same period and she is probably running for Governor.
According to the KVUE report, only 5 Senators have spent more than $100,000 on domestic travel- Cornyn, Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bob Corker (R- TN) and Kit Bond (R- MO).
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn drew boos from a crowd outside the Texas Capitol this afternoon as he spoke at a "tea party" rally organized by the Texas office of Americans for Prosperity.
[...]
"You're the problem," a crowd member hollered.
Another crowd member yelled that Cornyn voted for the initial federal bailout of Wall Street approved by Congress last year, the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Cornyn admits to the Statesman he wasn't sure what the reaction would be like, but said, "I didn't want to come some place that I wasn't wanted."
Clearly he was wrong.
Cornyn is the current chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and is one of the de facto leaders of the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate. This July 4th event shows the problem the Republican Party is having throughout Texas and the country. Their inability to lead at any level of government and their continued failures is costing them both elections and their natural base of support.
The ire wasn't directed at just Washington, Republican Governor Rick Perry also drew more than a few boos as well.
Perry drew scattered boos, notably from crowd members aware of his advocacy of toll roads to relieve traffic congestion.
If the Republican base is furious at their own party and the Democratic party in Texas is highly motivated and organized, it's hard not being optimistic about the upcoming cycle.
Update: The video is really interesting to watch.
You notice that the crowd calms down when Cornyn talks about military and shows respect to the man being awarded the Purple Heart. Once the presentation is done, the boos start up again.
"We don't have enough Republicans to filibuster even if we wanted to, which I don't think we do," said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Let's break down this short sentence.
Cornyn understands he is a giant hypocrite and doesn't care. He believes Sotomayor should be filibustered but can't lead the Senate Republican caucus well enough to hold together to do it. Therefore, they are throwing the filibuster tactic aside and possibly giving Judge Sotomayor a fair hearing.
Talk about the shortest, most idle threat threat possible from the leader of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Good to see the Republican Party won't try to hold up the U.S. Supreme Court seat like they holding up the Minnesota Senate seat. But Cornyn has shown how hypocritical he and his party are on this issue.
Big John Cornyn is all over the place when it comes to Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Last Friday Cornyn was forced to backpedal his criticism of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich-- the real Republican party leadership.
Now the Junior Senator has to back peddle his hard-line stance on the use of the filibuster.
Rick Klein of ABC News has an interesting article on the GOP dilemma.
On ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, refused to rule out the possibility of a filibuster.
"I think it's really premature to say that or to speculate," said Cornyn, a member of GOP leadership who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But Cornyn was one of the most outspoken voices in favor of the nuclear option -- in favor, that is, of banning judicial filibusters forever.
Cornyn's convictions seems to be based in partisanship instead of policy. He opposed the use of a filibuster for Alberto Gonzales and Condoleezza Rice He went so far as to characterize them as American success stories.
"From a strictly political standpoint, Democrats are hurting themselves by attacking American success stories like Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales," Cornyn told me when I was at The Boston Globe, in February 2005. "I had hoped that they had learned something from what happened on Nov. 2."
By supporting a possible filibuster against Juge Sotomayor seems to mean Cornyn doesn't believe she is an American success story. To that point, her bio seems to speak for itself.
Judge Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican descent, and was born in the Bronx. Her father died when she was nine, and she was raised by her mother. Sotomayor graduated with an A.B., summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1976, and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979, where she was an editor at the Yale Law Journal. She was an advocate for the hiring of Latino faculty at both schools. She worked as an Assistant District Attorney in New York for five years before entering private practice in 1984. She played an active role on the boards of directors for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the State of New York Mortgage Agency, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Sotomayor was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed in 1992.
Cornyn's threat comes as an even bigger surprise based on what Cornyn said during the Bush administration.
Cornyn criticized Democrats for raising possibility of filibustering a Hispanic nominee. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said Democrats appeared to be trying to attack Bush through Gonzales, and to send a message that they would oppose Gonzales's elevation to the Supreme Court. He said that Democrats are opposing a Hispanic appointee for attorney general just a week after many spoke out against Bush's nomination of a Condoleezza Rice a black woman to become secretary of state. "From a strictly political standpoint, Democrats are hurting themselves by attacking American success stories like Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales," said Cornyn, who serves on the Judiciary Committee. "I had hoped that they had learned something from what happened on Nov. 2," he added, referring to the election, when Republicans picked up four Senate seats, including that of then-Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. [Boston Globe, 2/5/05]
Cornyn spokesperson says Democrats are tone deaf for opposing a Hispanic nominee. Republicans say Democrats are "tone deaf" on the level of support for this nominee in the Hispanic community. Opposing the Gonzales nomination "is an exit strategy for the Democrats in '06," says Don Stewart, a spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas. Despite opposition, Democrats say they are not planning to filibuster this nomination. [Christian Science Monitor, 2/1/05]
In the background of John Cornyn's threat to leave a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court vacant, Norm Coleman and the NRSC challenged to Al Franken's victory in Minnesota keeps the Senate one Senator shy of making Cornyn and his threat irrelevant. Perhaps that is why they are spending so much time and money to prevent the people of Minnesota from having two senators in Washington.
Regardless, as Klein points out, all of Cornyn's posturing is mostly irrelevant.
Still, should some Republicans choose to filibuster Sotomayor, it will almost certainly fail. Democrats are one court ruling away from getting a 60th Senate seat -- the threshold needed to overcome any filibuster in the Senate.
The only tactic left to make the NRSC or the national Republican Party relevant is hypocrisy and hate.
National Republican Senate Committee Chairman John Cornyn isn't all to popular these days (and we're not talking about with Democrats). As the chair of the fundraising arms for his Senate colleagues, he's charged with trying to help them claw back to relevance in the upper chamber. So while money and message are very much in his court, he's running into some problems. Namely- his donor base is becoming increasingly conservative making him beholden to the very people that are turning off the voters he needs to win.
So what happens when you mix a NRSC chair who is a Texas Senator and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a Latina Supreme Court nominee, a NRSC fundraiser with Rush Limbaugh, and commentary from Newt Gingrich? An epic fail of GOP entertainment.
"Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman.' Wouldn't they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism. A white man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."
"Here you have a racist - you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist," Limbaugh said of Sotomayor on his show.
...
"When the rubber hits the road, such as in this nomination, where are these moderate Republican groups on the nomination? Where are the moderate senators? Where is Colin Powell? Where is Tom Ridge?" Limbaugh asked.
"I'm the one doing the heavy lifting. Colin Powell panders to moderate Republicans," he said. "If the moderates in the Republican Party offer no way to address this danger, then they are useless."
Important to note, Rush Limbaugh is headlining a fundraiser for the NRSC and NRCC on June 8th expected to raise millions for the committees.
John Cornyn's reply? From the Hill...
Q: We've heard Rush Limbaugh and the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calling Sonia Sotomayor a racist, saying she should withdraw. What do you make of the rhetoric that's tumbling out these days?
A: I think it's terrible. This is not the kind of tone that any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advice and consent.
Q: Do you worry that language like that harms the discussion? Harms your party's image- especially among Hispanics, where the Republican Party's been losing ground lately?
A: Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials. I just don't think it's appropriate. I certainly don't endorse it. I think it's wrong.
Oh snap. Double snap with his added commentary in talking with KXXV TV (Waco/Killeen) today.
Cornyn took issue with Rush Limbaugh's recent comments about Sotomayor, saying it was a "rush to judgment." Limbaugh had previously called Sotomayor a "bigot" and "reverse racist" among other things. On Friday, Cornyn said "the comments I've seen are comments that I disagree with...It should not make any difference, the ethnicity or a sex of a judge any more than it should make a difference about the ethnicity or race of an umpire in a baseball game. Their job is to call balls and strikes, it's not to somehow impose their perspective because of their ethnicity."
When asked if Limbaugh was wrong to call Sotomayor a "bigot," Cornyn said that questions should be brought up about Sotomayor but "to do so in a civil and dignified proceeding. Name-calling is not the way to get started on the right foot." He also wishes "people would calm down a lot" about discussing Sotomayor's qualifications.
If Cornyn disagrees so much with the leading message and tone coming from Republican Party leaders talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh then he can show it by making sure Limbaugh's invitation to headline the RNSC's June 8th multi-million dollar fundraiser gets lost in the mail.
Just like Texas Rep. Mike McCaul uninvited Rush Limbaugh from his campaign fundraiser in Houston this week. Photographic evidence of that included below via the Austin American-Statesman.
Junior Senator, John Cornyn is having a tough time as the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
According to Washington Post's "The Fix", Cornyn has decided he would rather spend donor money to help former Senator Norm Coleman pay legal bills than compete in elections.
NRSC Aids Coleman Recount Effort: The National Republican Senatorial Committee has committed $750,000 to former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman to help cover the vast legal expenses incurred during the former incumbent's lengthy challenge to the election results of his race against Democrat Al Franken. Sources familiar with the move said it should not be read as a down payment for a prolonged Coleman legal battle at the federal level if he loses his ongoing challenge before the Minnesota Supreme Court but rather a good faith effort to keep him from going into massive debt.
The financial numbers flying around this legal process are dizzying -- but I look at it this way. The more the NRSC is spending on keeping Coleman's challenge going, the less they're going to have to spend on protecting their vulnerable seats in 2010 -- of which there are going to be several.
Cornyn and other Republican leaders began urging donors to give directly to Coleman almost a week ago, and have thrown in $750,000 of the NRSC's money too more legal challenges. That is an impressive waste of money for a person who is no longer elected and is not on the ballot for at least 6 years. Let the people of Minnesota have both of their Senators... Senator.
There is some good news for Big John. Soon, Cornyn will become the Senior Senator from Texas. Cornyn has shown he is having a difficult time managing the NRSC and it's spending, and without an election, Cornyn has seen his numbers dwindle to 40 GOP Senators. Perhaps this is the best news Cornyn will get this year (or next). The worst part for Cornyn is, his good news comes with losing one more Republican Senator.
Before you or someone you know gives their hard earned dollars to former Senator Coleman, you need to know why his "campaign" needs the money. It's not about partisan control like Senator Richard Burr or others would like you to believe.
Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) - who continues to contest election results that appear to have Democrat Al Franken winning the Senate seat by a whisker - is asking the Federal Election Commission for permission to use campaign funds for legal fees related to allegations that a supporter funneled payoffs through Coleman's wife.
Coleman's year-end campaign filings showed he had already spent close to $300,000 in legal fees, and his legal team has since expanded to include several of the Gopher State's best-known criminal defense attorneys.
Just prior to last year's election, Paul McKim alleged that longtime Coleman friend and supporter Nasser Kazeminy funneled a $75,000 payment to Coleman through Deep Marine Technology, a company primarily owned by Kazeminy. McKim is the former CEO of the company.
McKim alleged that at Kazeminy's direction, the company made payments to an insurance broker in Minneapolis that employed Coleman's wife, Laurie, despite the fact that the insurance company never provided any services to Deep Marine. McKim alleged that the only purpose of the payment was to provide cash assistance to the Colemans.
A second suit among shareholders in Delaware contains essentially the same allegations.
The Roll Call article highlight's the continued ridiculousness of the Republican brand. This isn't a total surprise. It's not completely uncommon for a formerly elected Senator facing legal question to ask others to help pay for his court fight. What is truly odd about this situation is 11 Republican leaders are joining Coleman's campaign to encourage American's to donate to Coleman's failed U.S. Senate campaign in order to assist a legal fight.
The list of advocates includes Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican John Boehner, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, and our very own Junior Senator John Cornyn as head of the NRSC.
As the Washington Independent points out, "if your donating to Norm Coleman, you might see your dollars sucked into a defense fund for a lawsuit that has a bit less to do with control of the Senate than the former senator's challenges of the results of the 2008 election."
Best case scenario, these 11 Republicans are being hypocrites by asking every vote to be counted in Minnesota while we inch closer to voter suppression legislation in Texas. Worst case scenario, they are misrepresenting the fact and helping raise money for Coleman to pay legal bills unrelated to the November election.
