Taking Politics Private
With the help of Michael Steele’s blundering and a Supreme Court decision, the RNC—if not the Republicans—is fast losing its grip.
By John Heilemann
New York Magazine
Published Apr 9,2010
Ever since it was revealed that the Republican National Committee had, as they like to say in da club, made it rain to the tune of $2,000 at a lesbians-in-bondage-themed joint in West Hollywood, the sharks have been circling the leaky, if not completely capsized, vessel that is the GOP chairmanship of Michael Stephen Steele.
This week, Steele did what any sufficiently desperate captain does in such a parlous situation: summarily chuck his first mate overboard. The victim in this case was Steele’s chief of staff, Ken McKay, who reportedly learned that he’d become chum when his wife saw the news on cable. But the ouster of McKay and his replacement with an Ur–Steele loyalist did little to quiet the waters. Instead, the GOP consultant and former Steele adviser Alex Castellanos went on CNN and became the first big-name Republican to call for Steele to quit. “We still have seven months to pull our act together,” Castellanos said. “I think a change at this moment would be a good thing.”
Within a few days, however, the conventional wisdom was congealing around the sense that, barring other embarrassments—which, when it comes to Steele, is akin to saying barring the possibility that the sun rises tomorrow in the east—he would keep his job. No movement to toss him seemed to be stirring inside the party; no obvious replacement has stepped forward. With Steele’s term up in January, Republicans apparently prefer to ride out the rest of the year rather than endure the ugly news cycles that would be guaranteed if they attempted to turf him out now.
Yet even if Steele does survive, the RNC may not, at least not in anything like the form it has traditionally taken or with the power it has traditionally wielded. In the wake of McCain-Feingold and more recently the landmark Citizens United Supreme Court decision on campaign spending, both national parties were already in the process of seeing their roles weakened dramatically and taken over by private interests. That trend is secular and has nothing to do with Steele. But his gaffes, mismanagement, and all-purpose absurdity may very well exacerbate the trend within the GOP—in the process presenting a short-term opportunity for Democrats to do better in 2010 than the political class expects.
(More here.)
By John Heilemann
New York Magazine
Published Apr 9,2010
Ever since it was revealed that the Republican National Committee had, as they like to say in da club, made it rain to the tune of $2,000 at a lesbians-in-bondage-themed joint in West Hollywood, the sharks have been circling the leaky, if not completely capsized, vessel that is the GOP chairmanship of Michael Stephen Steele.
This week, Steele did what any sufficiently desperate captain does in such a parlous situation: summarily chuck his first mate overboard. The victim in this case was Steele’s chief of staff, Ken McKay, who reportedly learned that he’d become chum when his wife saw the news on cable. But the ouster of McKay and his replacement with an Ur–Steele loyalist did little to quiet the waters. Instead, the GOP consultant and former Steele adviser Alex Castellanos went on CNN and became the first big-name Republican to call for Steele to quit. “We still have seven months to pull our act together,” Castellanos said. “I think a change at this moment would be a good thing.”
Within a few days, however, the conventional wisdom was congealing around the sense that, barring other embarrassments—which, when it comes to Steele, is akin to saying barring the possibility that the sun rises tomorrow in the east—he would keep his job. No movement to toss him seemed to be stirring inside the party; no obvious replacement has stepped forward. With Steele’s term up in January, Republicans apparently prefer to ride out the rest of the year rather than endure the ugly news cycles that would be guaranteed if they attempted to turf him out now.
Yet even if Steele does survive, the RNC may not, at least not in anything like the form it has traditionally taken or with the power it has traditionally wielded. In the wake of McCain-Feingold and more recently the landmark Citizens United Supreme Court decision on campaign spending, both national parties were already in the process of seeing their roles weakened dramatically and taken over by private interests. That trend is secular and has nothing to do with Steele. But his gaffes, mismanagement, and all-purpose absurdity may very well exacerbate the trend within the GOP—in the process presenting a short-term opportunity for Democrats to do better in 2010 than the political class expects.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home