NRSC COMPLAINING ABOUT CHEAP GOP SENATORS NOT HELPING OUT THIS YEAR

Arlen Specter was one Jewish Republican the Maleks (above) couldn't count on

Bush was at the home of one of the GOP's most notorious anti-Semites the other night... raising money for a seriously strapped NRSC. Long before Malek signed on as a McCain For Prez Finance co-Chairman, he gained some notoriety as someone who had agreed to "count Jews" who an insane and delusional Nixon accused to rigging statistics to make him look worse. Malek was forced to resign as co-Chair of the NRC when that info came out, but McCain doesn't care where the money comes from... just as long as it comes. Bush has his own relationship with Malek based on Malek doing what all Bush family retainers were charged with doing a couple decades ago: trying to turn George W. into a productive member of society. This is from Ron Suskin's account in the October 17, 2004 NY Times:

David Rubenstein (a founder of the Carlyle Group) described that time to a convention of pension managers in Los Angeles last year, recalling that Republican fund raiser, Fred Malek approached him and said, "There is a guy who would like to be on the board. He's kind of down on his luck a bit. Needs a job... Needs some board positions." Though Rubenstein didn't think George W. Bush, then in his mid-40's, "added much value," he put him on the Caterair board. "Came to all the meetings," Rubenstein told the conventioneers. "Told a lot of jokes. Not that many clean ones. And after a while I kind of said to him, after about three years: You know, I'm not sure this is really for you. Maybe you should do something else. Because I don't think you're adding that much value to the board. You don't know that much about the company." He said: "Well, I think I'm getting out of this business anyway. And I don't really like it that much. So I'm probably going to resign from the board." And I said "thanks." Didn't think I'd ever see him again.'

I thought you might appreciate a little of the background of Bush's visit to Chez Malek in tony McLean last night where he raked in $2 million. Needless to say, the Republicans charged with defending the seats of a dozen or more endangered incumbents in November are happy Bush helped. But they're fuming that so many Republican colleagues aren't following his example. According to today's Hill, Democrats are showering the DSCC with money. "Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wrote a $250K check in June and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) contributed half a million dollars last year. 'Even lesser-known Democrats have given hundreds of thousands:' Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), $100K; Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), $250K; Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), $150K. Even Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) gave $100K to the DSCC in 12/07 [nearly as much as he raised for Republican rubber stamp Susan Collins]."

Of course no one from the NRSC will speak on the record or own up to their dissatisfaction with any of the senators but according to the Hill, their "parsimony" is putting the GOP "at a big disadvantage for the second election cycle in a row." They bitched about Richard Shelby (R-AL) who has $13 million in his warchest already for 2010 but has only donated $15,000 to the NRSC. The other cheapskate Republican senators not up for re-election, but loaded with legalized bribes from the big corporations and their lobbyists whose bidding they always do, include Arlen Specter (R-PA), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Pete Domenici (R-MN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Larry Craig (R-ID).

Larry Craig? He's supposed to give them money? He probably hates their guts for not sticking with him when he tried toughing it out and claiming, rather incredulously, that he isn't gay after being caught in a public rest room propositioning a handsome young undercover officer. Besides, he probably will need his money for legal defense-- as will a retiring Pete Domenici, who is likely to be charged with illegally interfering with a Justice Department investigation.
With the Alaska GOP looking more and more like an organized crime ring, Murkowski is also holding on to her cash for legal matters. And the others? Lugar is probably hoping for a Cabinet position in the Obama Administration. Specter and Snowe may well be considering joining the Democrats in January when the GOP Senate caucus shrinks down to the point where it can't even be an effective organ of obstruction anymore. That leaves Bunning and Coburn. There have been persistent rumors that Bunning passed away some time ago and that staffers vote in his place and even if he is still technically alive, the chances of him ever being able to regain enough basic functionality to be able to run a re-election campaign is... dim. Coburn, on the other hand, is probably eager for his embarrassing twin James Inhofe to lose and just doesn't want to give any money that might wind up helping Inhofe against a surging Andrew Rice. That was easy to explain.