RNC Chair 'open to' punishing Senators who voted for stimulus

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 3:31pm

Basically, he took Neil Cavuto's bait and admitted to being open to withholding funds from the re-election campaigns of Specter, Snowe, and Collins. Could he push any or all of them into the Dem caucus? Snowe and Collins are already derisively referred to as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) by conservatives.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/michael-steele-open-to-pu_n_169550.html

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 3:47pm

well of course he's open to it. if he wasn't his fund raising coffers would be dryer than they already are and people would be calling for his head. that said, those three knew what they were getting into and surely expected some blowback. they all have thick skin and won't be abandoning the party anytime soon. i also highly doubt that despite the tough rhetoric that they'll be denied any funds come election time - assuming there are any there at all!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 5:29pm

How dare they act in their state and country's best interest? Don't they know being a Republican means party first, last, always?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 5:58pm

That sound awfully close to a description for a democrat.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 6:15pm

Oh really? Like when the former president said we needed to come together for the safety of the nation and sked for bi-partisan cooperation to pass the PATRIOT ACT and the war resolutions against Afghanistan and Iraq? I forget-did those votes go along party lines? Did the Democrats decide that they could score political points and vote against those three important votes that the president asked for?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 6:16pm

Well Wikipedia says this about the PATRIOT ACT: The Act was passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress and was supported by members of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

They can be wrong though.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 6:19pm

Wow- I think Wikipedia got it wrong on Afghanistan too! Look what they say: On September 14, 2001 bill House Joint Resolution 64 passed in the House. The totals in the House of Representatives were: 420 Ayes, 1 Nay and 10 Not Voting (the Nay was Barbara Lee - D-CA).


Senate
On September 14, 2001 Senate Joint Resolution 23 passed in the Senate by roll call vote. The totals in the Senate were: 98 Ayes, 0 Nays, 2 Present/Not Voting (Senators Larry Craig - R and Jesse Helms - R).


Wow they make it sound so Bi-partisan.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 6:25pm

Well I KNOW Iraq went strictly by party line- NO democrats supported the president then, I'm sure. But I checked the congressional record and look at the error they made! They said that a whole bunch of democrats voted for it!

Alphabetical by Senator Name Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Breaux (D-LA), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Carnahan (D-MO), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Cleland (D-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Daschle (D-SD), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Edwards (D-NC), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hollings (D-SC), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Miller (D-GA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Torricelli (D-NJ), Yea

That HAS to be wrong, right? PLEASE Mr. Roxy set me straight!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 7:34pm

what you call bipatisanship, joe is actually simple cowardice. the democrats betrayed their ideals, their beliefs and their supporters because they worried that their principles would be unpopular.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 7:41pm

Getting in a little trouble with the Republican party machinery is hardly a politically dangerous act these days - especially for senators like Specter, who just saw his Republican colleague unceremoniously dumped for a Democrat in the last midterm and works in a state that went pretty strongly for Obama.

Most states split their Senatorial work - one guy is the "local interest" guy, and the other is the "national interests" one, who can perhaps afford to veer off from a strict partisan agenda a bit. Specter is PA's "national interests" Senator. For the little things we have Sen. Casey. So Specter's just doing what he's always done - he crossed the party line on immigration in '06, too, as I remember it.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 12:49pm

"rnc chair 'open to' punishing senators who voted for stimulus"

Good! Let them tear each other apart.

[nexttoelectric]

Posted: 2/25/09 at 1:26pm

Will he use a paddle and dress up like a congressional page?