Mikkie Gets It! Former RNC Chair Denounces The Chumph

Don’t know if it is something in the coffee at MSNBC, vs something in the psychedelic moonshine at Faux – but Michael Steele, former chair of the RNC has had it with the Chumph’s racism.

 

Apple Boycotts Trump Republican Convention

Another major corporation dumps their normal donation to the Republican National Convention…

Apple Withholds Support For GOP Convention Because Of Donald Trump

The real estate mogul’s candidacy is growing costlier for the party every day.

Apple will not contribute funds or other resources for the Republican National Convention due to presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump’s prejudiced remarks, Politico reported on Saturday.

The decision by one of the United States’ largest and most popular companies is the biggest corporate defection from the Republican convention, where the party will formally nominate Donald Trump. And it marks a significant win for progressive groups, which are pressuring major companies to boycott the convention over Trump.

Apple specifically pointed to Trump’s comments about minority groups, immigrants and women in explaining its choice, two sources with knowledge of the decision told Politico.

“The Apple news raises the bar for other corporations,” Rashad Robinson, a spokesman for ColorOfChange PAC, said in a statement. The PAC is leading efforts to pressure companies not to participate in this year’s GOP gathering.

“Not only has Apple declined to support the Republican National Convention, but they’ve explicitly told Republican leaders that Trump’s bigoted rhetoric is the reason that they’re sitting out,” Robinson said. “This is what real corporate responsibility looks like.”

There is likely little love lost between the tech giant and the presumptive GOP nominee. Trump called for a boycott of Apple in February when the company refused to unlock the iPhone of one of the gunmen in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California in December. (Nonetheless, Trump continued to use Apple products after his pronouncement.)

An Apple spokesman declined to comment. The Republican National Committee did not immediately responded to a request for comment.

Emily Lauer, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland 2016 host committee, a nonprofit helping finance this year’s GOP convention, said the committee has already raised 90 percent of its budget. That means it raised funds at a faster rate than the previous two Republican conventions, according to Lauer.

“While the media’s focus has been on those who aren’t participating, what continues to be looked past is the fact that the Cleveland Host Committee continues to make forward progress in our fundraising efforts through the participation of more than 100 donors,” Lauer said.

Interesting you should say that Emily…

Floundering Trump campaign sends out ’emergency’ email to raise $100,000 by end of the day

Setting their sights low, the campaign of presumptive 2016 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump sent out an “emergency” email Saturday morning with a goal of raising $100,000 by the end of the day — for a campaign that is expected to cost in the hundreds of millions.

With the Clinton campaign launching a multi-million dollar ad blitz at Trump in the wake of his ill-timed comments on the Orlando shooting, the Trump campaign is making an appeal to Republican donors at the same time that the party appears to be shunning him.

According to the email, “Right now we’re facing an emergency goal of $100,000 to help get our ads on the air. We need your contribution by 11:59 P.M. tonight,”

The email continues, “Crooked Hillary is about to invade your TV with ads attacking Mr. Trump. But we’re preparing to fight back,” adding Trump has plans to attack Clinton over Benghazi and the FBI probe into her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.

 

Top Black Staffers Flee RNC

Apparently conditions n the Republican Party have caused an exodus of even die hard black conservatives from the Republican National Committee. Not all are leaving the Party, but there does seem to be a movement to jump the rotted scow of a Republican ship, before it sinks. Although none will say it, it appears the siren call to racists by the Party’s leading candidate, Trump, has become so toxic as to penetrate even black conservatives notoriously thick cast iron stomachs.

Top Black Staffers Leave The Republican National Committee

The RNC, which has made broadening its base a priority, just lost its head of black outreach.

The Republican National Committee is losing the person who leads the GOP’s outreach to black communities, as first reported by NBC News and confirmed by The Huffington Post.

Kristal Quarker-Hartsfield, the national director of African-American Initiatives at the RNC, is leaving the organization to work for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) as his director of intergovernmental affairs. Her last day is set to be Friday, and she is the second black top staffer to depart the RNC this month.

Quarker-Hartsfield joins several other staffers of color who have departed the RNC recently. Orlando Watson, communications director for black media, left earlier this month. Tara Wall and Raffi Williams, son of Fox News political analyst Juan Williams, both left their press positions at the RNC late last year. 

RNC Chair Reince Priebus has said that expanding the party and reaching out to groups of people who don’t usually vote Republican are priorities. After the 2012 elections, he famously released an autopsy report concluding that the GOP needed to broaden its base if it wanted to survive a changing country.

“The RNC cannot and will not write off any demographic or community or region of this country,” Priebus said at the time.

But the GOP’s presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, threatens to upend much of that work with his incendiary comments about women, immigrants, protesters andMuslims that appall many members of his own party.

Asked about her decision to depart, Quarker-Hartsfield told HuffPost, “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the RNC. It has been an honor to work for Chairman Priebus during an exciting time in politics. It has been exciting to have a front row seat to a national Republican movement to maintain the House and win back the Senate. Chairman Priebus is an innovative leader who empowers his team, and serves my Party as a humble servant leader.”

Williams denied that he left the RNC because of Trump.

“I left because I was just ready for something new. They were good to me, they treated me very well and I have no complaints about the place,” he told HuffPost. “I think it’s a part of the natural cycle of the RNC. People come and go.”

A recent USA Today poll showed that if Trump faces off against Democrat Hillary Clinton in November, voters of color would overwhelmingly reject the business mogul. Black voters were the most pronounced, backing Clinton 67 percent of the time.

 

 

Another Republican Gaffe on Race

When it comes to discussing race – Republicans are the Keystone Cops of invariably putting their feet firmly in their mouths…

Tea Party Republicans

GOP Claims Racism Is Over In Misguided Rosa Parks Tribute 

On Sunday, the Republican National Committee tweeted out an ill-advised tribute to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, praising the late activist for “her role in ending racism.”

RNC @GOP

Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism. pic.twitter.com/uxIj1QmtkU

The message was widely mocked by Twitter users who pointed out that the end of racism was news to them…

The RNC did correct their Tweet later with:

Previous tweet should have read “Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in fighting to end racism.”

Some of these guys spend way to much time listening to the clowns in their Tea Party wing, and sometimes that message leaks through.

Might just be a good idea for the RNC to not say anything to anybody about race as they invariably seem to either muff it, or say something truly offensive…

Even when they don’t mean to.

 

 

Chris Matthews Hammers Michael Steele’s Replacement

Chris Matthews leaves Reince Priebus wishing he still had Michael Steele around to buckdance up some race cover for his party…

I mean – they didn’t even invite their former Chairman to the convention in Tampa.

 

RNC to Asians & Hispanics – All Y’all Look Alike to Us!

Small problem with Republican outreach Web Page to Hispanics…

The pictures are actually of Asian kids.

RNC Latinos Site Removes Picture Of Asian Children

The Republican National Committee corrected an embarrassing mistake on Thursday after the children in a picture used on its RNC Latinos website turned out to not actually be Latino.

A blog post on U.S. News & World Report quickly spread after the reporter found thestock photo used in the site’s header had been tagged with “asia,” “asian,” “japanese” and “thailand” — but nothing to indicate that the children were Latino.

“An outside vendor developed the site and it is being corrected immediately,” RNC Spokesperson Alexandra Franceschi told HuffPost in an email.

The site, which is in Spanish, is part of an effort by the Republican National Committee to increase outreach to Latinos, a voter bloc the GOP normally loses to Democrats.

As of 4:30 p.m. EST, the photo had been taken off the page.

It’s not the first time Republicans have misidentified Latinos: HuffPost discovered in April that the National Republican Congressional Committee’s list of supposedly Hispanic candidates included two white women who were married to Latinos.

Former senate hopeful Sharron Angle, a Republican, made a more damning comment about Latinos and Asians during her 2010 race against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), telling a Hispanic group, “some of you look a little Asian to me.”

 

Mikkie and “Republican Justice” AKA Lynch Mob

Mikkie talks about being a victim of the Republican Lynch Mob…

Mikkie is shilling hard for that new high-paying job on cable.  Where he lands is going to be interesting. It would appear that Faux News is out, as his recent comments have effectively cut that string…

The new conservative Comcast directed MSNBC?

 

Michael Steele Explains…On Rachel Maddow Show

This one is pretty good. An interview of Michael Steele by Maddow. Unfortunately, the interview –  to the point this clip ends, dodges the central issue of the motivations behind the folks who started the anti-Steele campaign. And how the majority of the RNC could come up with totally different views of Steele’s “success”.

Anther interesting issue is this:

Black RNC Members Not Backing Steele

Don’t expect the Republican National Committee’s two black members to support Chairman Michael Steele in his re-election bid in January.

Ada Fisher, the black RNC committeewoman from North Carolina, has been an outspoken critic of Steele since she voted against him and for former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson in 2009.

“Nobody asked the black members of the RNC what they felt, and I don’t know that the other people were courted or asked for their votes,” she said of that contest.

Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, Senate candidate and state party chairman, was touted as Republicans’ response to the first black president, Democrat Barack Obama. And even more recently, Republicans see Steele promoting his race as an asset to the party.

When Steele announced his bid for re-election on a conference call, he concluded by saying, “Who you elect as our next chairman will speak volumes about our willingness to truly be the party of Lincoln,” according to the Washington Times. A prominent member of the RNC, James Bopp Jr., complained to the Times that Steele had used “the race card.” Steele responded by calling Bopp “an idiot” and accusing him of bitterness over a consulting contract the RNC canceled.

The racial tension comes after elections that saw huge Republican gains, including two black Republicans elected to the House. Reps.-elect Tim Scott of South Carolina and Allen West of Florida are the first black Republicans to serve in the House since Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts retired in 2003. Both Scott and West declined interviews for this story.

The chairman may be looking for new allies. Yet even the two black members of the RNC — out of 168 total members — have never rallied around Steele. Fisher, a retired physician, and Glenn McCall, a retired banker who serves as the committeeman from South Carolina, both supported Dawson for chairman of the RNC on all six ballots in 2009. Dawson, who was criticized for his former membership in a club that didn’t allow African-Americans, finished second to Steele. Fellow black Committeeman Keith Butler from Michigan, who has since left the committee, supported former Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis.

One of the central themes of Steele’s term was to make the Republican Party more inclusive – which included supporting the record number of black candidates running as Republicans, and resulting in the election of the first 2 black candidates to federal office in over a decade… Which were only the 3rd and 4th black Republican candidates elected out of the 6,525 House elections, and 500 Senate elections since Raygun. Yet black Republicans on the RNC didn’t support Steele…

Crabs in a barrel…Indeed.

 

SS Mikkie Sinking Fast

The vote tally for RNC Chair after three rounds: Priebus, 54 votes; Steele, 33 votes; Wagner, 32 votes; Cino, 28 votes and Anuzis, 21 votes.

 

UPDATE:   The SS Michael Steele has officially sunk,

GOP Chief Drops Out of Race for Re-Election

 

Time To Pay The Piper for Uncle Mikkie

Michael Steele, AKA Uncle Mikkie faces his toughest critics today in an election for who is the new RNC Chair.

Rogue's Gallery of Choices - (l-r) Priebus, Anuzis, Steele, Cino, and Wagner

Zero hour for Michael Steele at RNC

When the 168 members of the Republican National Committee vote to choose a new chairman Friday, they’ll be selecting more than a political tactician-in-chief.

At the end of a cycle that left the RNC deeply in debt, battered by charges of financial mismanagement and undercut and overshadowed by a throng of GOP-aligned outside groups, the committee needs a prolific fundraiser who’s also a top administrator and communicator.

No one in the running exactly fits the bill.

While each of the four party insiders seeking to oust Chairman Michael Steele– who took office less than two years ago with a pledge to give the RNC “something completely different” – brings a unique set of skills, none have the national stature to compete with Steele’s TV-ready style.

Still, the former Maryland lieutenant governor enters Friday’s voting in a dire position, with a majority of RNC members less inclined to praise Steele than to replace him. Steele has already slipped behind his leading challenger in public vote counts of the RNC race.

On a tactical level, the race has come down to two questions: How quickly can Steele’s challengers leave him in the dust? And can anyone get a decisive edge if the chairman falters early?

Just for you, Mikkie!

 

Heezy-Sleazy to Re-run for RNC Chair – Michael Steele

Mikkie announced yesterday “I’m not going anywhere!” Mikkie becomes the real….”Rerun”.

 

Mikkie Toast? Report: Steele to Step Down

The NY Daily News and Politico are reporting that RNC Chair Michael Steele is set to announce he is stepping down as RNC Chair today, after increasing calls from donors that he resign due to corruption and serial failures. Mikkie is likely going to make a move to be the black Sarah Palin. Wouldn’t terribly be surprised to see him run for the Veep slot under Sarah. The Sno’ Ho’ and the Ho’ Ho’…

Indeed.

Time up for Michael Steele and RNC? Republican chairman rumored to be ending tenure in January

Michael Steele‘s time as Republican National Committee Chairman looks like it will come to an end on Monday, as supporters told Politico.com they expect the controversial politician to step down from his post.

Steele reportedly sent an email to RNC members over the weekend asking them to join him on a conference call Monday evening, where insiders anticipate he will reveal that he is not planning to seek re-election.

The former Maryland lieutenant governor was chosen to lead the RNC in January 2009, shortly after Republicans suffered heavy losses in the 2008 election, including the Presidency.

His term has been marred by a series of scandals and gaffes, and many Republicans have publicly called for his resignation.

Steele’s selection by his Party drew snickers from commentators and inspired spoofs on “Saturday Night Live” for being what many saw as an obvious reaction to the election of the country’s first black president.

It only went downhill from there.

In 2009, Steele was exposed as charging tens of thousands of dollars per public appearance, which many considered an unsavory use of his position as RNC chair.

He also called the conflict in Afghanistan a “war of Obama‘s choosing” in July – despite the fact that the conflict began under George W. Bush.

In an attempt to defend Tea Party candidates from their numerous gaffes during the election season, Steele told David Gregory on “Meet the Press” that he didn’t fault people for messing up words.

“Folks make mistakes,” he said in the October interview. “Lord knows I’m familiar with foot in mouth disease.”

His missteps, combined with his poor fundraising ability, caused Republicans to quickly tire of Steele.

While he hasn’t told any close allies of his plans to step down, Politico reported, he notably hasn’t assembled a known reelection team. If he did, he would face a large pool of candidates seeking to replace him.

“Clearly, the whole Steele administration has really been about promoting Mike Steele for whatever future role he was going to play in the American political debate and not really focused on what the core mission of the Republican Party is,” Connecticut Republican Chairman Chris Healy told the Los Angeles Times.

The RNC chairman will be selected at the party’s meeting in January.

 

 

 

Uncle Mikkie – Former RNC Chair?

Looks like the pissed-off Republican Illuminati are doing a bit of Michael Steele Head Hunting. One can only conclude that after the recent election where Republicans elected 2 (2.5 according to some folks) real Republican Negros…

The need for Mikkie to hold that lantern out on the lawn is over.

Michael Steele draws first challenger in RNC Chair race

Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis announced this morning that he will run to be chairman of the Republican National Committee, becoming the first — though almost certainly not the last — candidate in the race against Michael Steele.

“We cannot be misled by our victories this year,” Anuzis wrote in anannouncement posted on his blog. “Chairman Steele’s record speaks for itself. He has his way of doing things. I have mine.”

Anuzis, clearly hoping to emerge as the choice of the anti-Steele forces within the 168 member Republican National Committee added that “I will NOT strive to be the voice or the face of our party” — seeking to draw a direct contrast with high profile (and gaffe prone) current chairman.

This is the second time Anuzis is making a bid to lead his party. He ran and lost in 2009, dropping out after the fifth ballot.

In addition to Anuzis, there are at least four other people making calls to RNC members to test the waters for a bid, according to an informed source on the committee. That quartet includes: Wisconsin Republican party chairman Reince Priebus, who managed Steele’s 2009 RNC campaign, veteran GOP strategist Maria Cino, Connecticut Republican party chairman Chris Healy and former Ambassador Ann Wagner.

While it’s not clear whether any — or all — of those candidates will run, many people are looking at next week’s Republican Governors Association gathering in San Diego as a time when people either need to be in or out.

This song is indeed… About Mikkie –

 

The HNIC Invites Brietbart to RNC Event

Just when you thought Mikkie couldn’t Tom anymore…

He raises the bar.

The RNC has scheduled a fundraiser where Michael Steele and Andrew Breitbart are the featured guests, and will speak at the opening.

A regular Uncle-Tom-athon…

TPM Exclusive: Steele To Hold RNC Event — Co-Starring Andrew Breitbart

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has a party fundraising event coming up in August that is scheduled to feature a very special guest: Conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart, according to a copy of the invitation exclusively obtained by TPM.

The fundraising event, billed as an “Election Countdown,” will take place from August 12-14 in Beverly Hills, California, and will also feature other politicians such as California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, and Nevada Republican gubernatorial nominee Brian Sandoval. Steele and Breitbart are scheduled to co-headline a welcome reception on the first evening, August 12.

It’s certainly some odd timing for the RNC to be working closely with Breitbart, who, of course, has made headlines recently for circulating a video clip of then-Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod, an African-American, seeming to tell a story about how she would not help a white farmer who was down on his luck 24 year ago. Sherrod was quickly forced to resign last week. And as it turned out, the full video showed that Sherrod was telling a story about how she ultimately did not discriminate against the farmer — that this was a great turning point in her own personal story of race relations in the South — and she did help him. Indeed, the farmer himself has come forward to defend her and discuss their lasting friendship.

Sherrod has since received apologies from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and President Obama. Breitbart also said he felt sorry for Sherrod — despite the fact that he was the one who posted the questionably edited video in the first place.

RNC spokesman Doug Heye confirmed to TPMDC that the event is going on, but declined to comment further on the nature of fundraising events. We asked follow-up questions about whether Breitbart is still confirmed to attend the event, and also asking when this was first scheduled.

Heye did not comment further, but instead only referred us to the earlier confirmation of the event.

The Four Seasons hotel company, which owns the Beverly Wilshire, has also confirmed to TPMDC that the event is booked for those days, but was unable to confirm a guest list.

Andrew Breitbart did not return our requests for comment.

Come on down and get your award, Mikkie!

RNC Chairmain Michael Steele AKA the HNIC - for Sponsoring Event Featuring Andrew Brietbart

 

The HNIC and the RNC’s Cooked Books

The RNC has been reporting for months that it has taken in contributions, and is in a no-debt position…

Turns out the HNIC was lying.

And from their choice of attorneys to defend the RNC against Federal Election Commission fines – it appears the dirt on this one goes a lot deeper than just an accounting error.

Looks like the HNIC could be getting fitted for his very own Orange Jumpsuit!

Did Mikkie Cook the Books?

RNC fails to report $7M in debt to FEC

The Republican National Committee failed to report more than $7 million in debt to the Federal Election Commission in recent months – a move that made its bottom line appear healthier than it is heading into the midterm elections and that also raises the prospect of a hefty fine.

In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer – a charge RNC officials deny.

Mr. Pullen told the members that he had discovered $3.3 million in debt from April and $3.8 million from May, which he said had led him to file erroneous reports with the FEC. He amended the FEC filings Tuesday.

Campaign-finance analysts said that simply misreporting fundraising numbers to the FEC can lead to millions of dollars in fines and that criminal charges can be levied if the actions are suspected to be intentional.