Infighting RNC over Martinez seen as Rove/WH Pick over Steele

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061114-123344-8613r.htm

<snip>

Some RNC members, already dismayed by last week's election that swept Republicans from control of Congress, expressed anger at the way Mr. Rove leaked his choice of Mr. Martinez immediately after a conference call in which the Florida senator's name was floated for the first time.

During the call yesterday with RNC members in which Mr. Rove, Mr. Mehlman and White House Political Director Sara Taylor participated, some members raised the names of Mr. Martinez and Mr. Duncan as possible successors to Mr. Mehlman, said an RNC member who was involved.

"But Rove and Mehlman never said they were going to name these people as chairmen, and we never voted or even gave our opinion," the member said.

<snip>

Aides to the lieutenant governor confided that Mr. Steele was "furious over his treatment by Bush operatives," who they said accused him of "not being a team player" because he had spoken to The Washington Times last week after his name was first proposed for the RNC post. Steele aides said White House officials threatened to withhold from Mr. Steele a Cabinet appointment he had been promised in lieu of the RNC chairmanship.

<snip>

Some RNC members yesterday saw the naming of Mr. Martinez as a continuing tendency of the Bush administration to manipulate the national party.

:rofl: Be nice if civil war broke out in the Repuke party!

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. It looks like the first shots over the bough though...

I have a feeling that the Republican party as we know it now will be in little bits and fragments 2 years from now because the Rove camp and the Poppy Bush camp are gearing up for a BIG fight

Personally I can't wait!

[Firespirit]

3. They're ALL fighting

It is amazing. Schadenfreude at its finest.

The PNAC neocons.
The Poppy/Iran-Contra camp.
The fundie "betrayed conservative!!!11" freepers.
The "terr'ists are gunna bomb my basement if we elect dems!" freepers.
The anti-immigration freepers.

In the meantime, the true moderates are either getting out of dodge or have already been given the pink slip, and the parasitic vultures like McCain are hoping to feast upon the bloated, stinking, disintegrating elephant carcass.

[LilyLibber]

2. Shocked, shocked I tell ya!

Dirty pool and cronyism from Rove and the Bu$h administration? Say it ain't so! :P

Bring on the Repug implosion... :popcorn:

[LibertyLover]

4. WTF?

Steele aides said White House officials threatened to withhold from Mr. Steele a Cabinet appointment he had been promised in lieu of the RNC chairmanship. - :wtf:

What the heck cabinet post is Steele qualified for? And who is leaving that they can hand him one?

[yellowcanine]

5. Michael Steele finds out that tokenism only goes so far. The guy has

never won an election on his own dime. He failed when he tried his hand at business. He did zip as Lt. guv of Maryland. His one claim to fame is successfully challenging Democratic redistricting as head of the Maryland Republican Party. He has publicly dissed Bush and other elected Republicans. Even his supposedly "brilliant" campaign commercials (which he probably weren't his idea anyway) basically said "I like puppies and I will change things in Washington." Hardly makes him a statesman or even a party hack. What the heck does he expect?

[Bumblebee]

6. They lost Hispanics big time during this election so they figure

it's still easier to regain some of them by a token gesture of this kind than to successfully court African Americans when their tactics of running conservative black candidates is yet to work or translate into any gains.