LOSING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES HAVE FIGURED OUT WHY THEY LOST AND THEY'RE PISSED OFF-- AT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

A story in today's Boston Globe explores why Republican candidates defeated in November are angry at the GOP. "Now, four months after Republicans lost control of Congress, many of their former candidates are calling for major changes at the NRCC. They depict the committee as a rogue attack-ad shop that shielded party leaders from having to account for the claims in their ads-- encouraging over-the-top accusations that often hurt GOP candidates."

Well-publicized-- and obviously misleading negative ads, millions of dollars worth of 'em, that were rejected by the electorate-- damaged many of the Republicans they were meant to help. You remember the vicious-- and deceitful-- sex phone ad made by the GOP against Michael Arcuri? Or the talk about Democrats being Taliban or Communist candidates? Even after the GOP candidates tried to get the ads pulled, the NRCC refused. And the candidacies of the Republicans were flushed down the toilet in disgust.

Among the defeated Republicans who felt the NRCC's efforts caused more harm than good are Charles Taylor (NC), Michael Whalen (IA), Ray Meier (NY) and John Hostettler (IN). Meier, the wingnut who ran against Mike Arcuri (D-NY) whined that the NRCC wasn't "just attacking my opponent-- they were, bit by bit, destroying a reputation that I had spent years and years building," when they wrongly accused Arcuri of making adult fantasy calls. Well, lay down with dogs...

And although the DCCC, under ethicless sleazebag Rahm Emanuel, went in a more Republican direction in terms of tactics that play fast and loose with standards, "the NRCC was by far the biggest spender last year, spreading around $20 million more than its Democratic counterpart. And watchdog groups have tagged the Republicans-- and the NRCC in particular-- as the worst offenders in stretching the truth. Annenberg Political Fact Check, a nonpartisan group that studies campaign advertisements, called the NRCC's ads 'the very definition of political mudslinging.'"

"The National Republican [Congressional] Committee's work stands out this year for the sheer volume of assaults on the personal character of Democratic House challengers," stated the Fact Check report, which also cited one Democratic ad as based on "flimsy evidence at best."

Chris Shays (R-CT), who managed to eke out a bare victory, claims the GOP damaged his campaign and almost caused him to lose. He's introducing legislation that would prohibit the national parties from buying ads for candidates. "I would have been better off if they didn't spend one penny on my race. The least we should do is give a candidate the ability to say no." Tom Reynolds, the GOP version of Emanuel, although not as dirty or as effective-- defends the much-loathed ads and claims without them the Republicans would have lost another 10-20 seats.

Perhaps this is part of the reason the NRCC is having trouble retaining incumbents and trouble recruiting viable challengers. At the same time, the DCCC are basking in a glow that makes them look like winners and is a great recruiting tool for top tier candidates to take on rubber-stampy Republicans. Although the DCCC's recruitment committee is firmly under the control of ex-DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel, one of his puppets, Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, is the public spokesperson for the committee now. He told CongressDaily that the DCCC already has close to 10 major challengers for '08 already. I hope they learned enough of a lesson from the victories of newly elected congressmen like Carol Shea-Porter, John Hall, Jerry McNerney, Dave Loesback, and most of the other victors, to not shut out the grassroots in candidate selection.

The DCCC expects pickups in Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois and Connecticut and there are certainly seats ready for a change in California, North Carolina, Washington, and Nevada as well. 2008 should certainly be the end of the line for pathetic rubber stamp Republican Robin Hayes (NC), who will be taken on again by progressive grassroots Democrat Larry Kissell who came within 329 votes of beating him last November. There are also high expectations that strong '06 challengers like Eric Massa and Dan Maffei in New York, Charlie Brown in California and Angie Paccione in Colorado will run again.

Some of the new hot prospects for the Democrats include Michigan Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters, a former Democratic state senator, who is looking at a run against Rep. Joseph Knollenberg, in Michigan; Siobhan (Sam) Bennett, who may challenge Rep. Charles Dent in Pennsylvania; and former New York Rangers star Mike Richter who is being courted to challenge Christopher Shays in Connecticut.

The NRCC has talked several of their '06 losers into running for the seats they lost in November, including Jeb Bradley (NH), Jim Ryun (KS), Melissa Hart (PA), John Sweeney (NY), and Mike Sodrel (IN). None are likely to regain their old seats. Right now, looking out at the political horizon, it really sucks to be a Republican.


UPDATE: AND SPEAKING OF THE NRCC, THEY FINANCE THIS GARBAGE BY WHORING THEMSELVES OUT TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE... EVEN A KNOWN TERRORIST. GIVE BACK THE BLOOD MONEY, TOM COLE

Both Inside-the-Beltway Republican campaign committees, the NRCC and NRSC, took campaign contributions from a donor who was just indicted for financing terrorists. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is giving back the cash but the National Republican Congressional Committee has adamantly refuses to do likewise. Maybe they're so strapped for cash that they'd even take dough from bin-Laden. Maybe they didn't know that when Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari started giving them money he might be a terrorist. OK, fair enough. But once he was indicted, they still refuse to give up the dough. How come the NRSC donated the money they got from this character to charity but Cole still wants to hold onto it?

Oh, and in case you're wondering which Republicans are being financed by terrorists this is the list of the GOP slime who have taken money from the NRCC since Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari started financing them:
Rick Renzi (AZ-01)
Marilyn Musgrave (CO-04)
Tom Latham (IA-04)
Bill Sali (ID-01)
Peter Roskam (IL-06)
Charles Boustany (LA-07)
Mike Rogers (MI-08)
Joe Knollenberg (MI-09)
Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11)
Michele Bachmann (MN-06)
Sam Graves (MO-06)
Robin Hayes (NC-08)
Heather Wilson (NM-01)
Jon Porter (NV-03)
Steve Chabot (OH-01)
Jim Gerlach (PA-06)
Charlie Dent (PA-15)
Tim Murphy (PA-18)
Thelma Drake (VA-02)
Cathy McMorris-Rogers (WA-05)
Dave Reichert (WA-08)
Barbara Cubin (WY-AL)

Not a decent American in the whole lot! Not one has called for the NRCC to get rid of the money and not one has returned their own share of the loot to the NRCC. DCCC Communications Director Jennifer Crider asks a simple, straight-forward question: "Are these representatives going to keep NRCC money received from someone who may have supported terrorists? These representatives talk tough on terrorism so why aren't they calling on Republican leadership and the NRCC to immediately return its contributions from an accused terrorist?"