Michael Steele Spent GOP Funds At Club, Lavish Hotels

Quote:

---

Palin wants name off RNC invite

Andy Barr reports:
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has asked the Republican National Committee to remove her name from a fundraiser the committee is planning, piggybacking off the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, POLITICO has learned.

Palin’s staff has twice told the RNC to remove her name from an invitation sent to donors, obtained by POLITICO on Wednesday, showing her as an “invited” speaker to the four-day fundraiser in New Orleans, timed to coincide with the SRLC event in Louisiana.

Palin, who will appear at the SRLC, “will not take part in any RNC fundraiser in New Orleans,” an aide said.

---

Quote:

---

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council and an influential social conservative, is urging his members to stop giving money to the Republican National Committee, POLITICO has learned.

"I've hinted at this before, but now I am saying it: Don't give money to the RNC," Perkins will tell FRC members in the group's next e-mail newsletter. "If you want to put money into the political process, and I encourage you to do so, give directly to candidates who you know reflect your values."

---

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmi...ey_to_RNC.html

The Tea Party is, then, from what I read herein, completely destroying what is left of the group formerly known as the Republican Party. The social conservatives started taking over the party during the 80's with the whole 'family values' thing, and the increasing influence of the Reeds and the Falwells and the Dobsons, etc.

It reminds me anymore of a populist-driven, anti-intellectual, greed-based concoction of rigid social mores that will never be 'pure' enough. Some of us miss the old Repulbican party that was actually based on a view of government. Nowadays, that doesn't matter anymore, except to bash the opposition party.

The only winner in this development is the Democratic party, because regardless of how bad democrats are at governing, Americans do not like (or vote for) angry, rigid, religious purists.

Republicans are fond of telling themselves that the American people are mostly cente-right. For the past decade, they have focused on the 'right', forgetting the 'center' part.

We, the electorate, are the worse for it.