Jack & Jill Politics

Of course, Michael Steele is backing away from this bad news. But the fact remains that an internal RNC powerpoint deck left lying around at a swanky hotel showing how the Republican National Committee plans to use right wing extremist talk  that spreads lies, hatred and fear has been uncovered. Steele can duck and cover all he wants, but it’s clear that he is willing to do anything, including throw his own people under the bus in order to raise a little cheese from our nation’s most fearful, most angry and mostly white conservative citizens.

As you know, I’ve said many times that I believe “socialism” has become a dogwhistle code word on the right for “niggers”. Recall that the revered Martin Luther King was widely called a socialist in his lifetime. Steele and his staff are willing to capitalize on certain people’s fear of a black president just to line their wallet. Does it get any more cynical than that? It’s fascinating that the RNC reacted to the deck’s exposure not with pride but with shame: racism is never pretty to see and their slip is showing.

Ben Smith does a great job with this story over at Politico AND has the entertaining slide deck available for your review. I’d suggest reading the whole post because it highlights who’s left in the Republican party: either fearful small donors or greedy, selfish, angry large donors. They got caught red-handed but if the RNC increasingly needs small donors and those donors are “reactionary”, “visceral” and motivated by “Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration”. So despite the denials, expect to see GOP tacit (or overt) encouragement of the likes of Palin, Beck & Limbaugh who can whip their reactionary audiences into a fearfilled froth – because it drives donations. The dark side of this behavior is clear when you consider the violent, fatal attacks — all within one year — on the U.S. Holocaust Museum, the IRS in Texas and now the Pentagon (where I’m guessing we’ll soon learn that the reportedly “well-dressed” John Patrick Bedell held strong right wing views) from embittered right wingers. It’s got to stop — I’d encourage Steele to abandon this track and seek to compete with the Dems without resorting to stoking cloaked racist fears.

Let mama fix you a plate from Politico (emphasis mine):

The presentation explains the Republican fundraising in simple terms.

“What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate…?” it asks.

The answer: “Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”

Manipulating donors with crude caricatures and playing on their fears is hardly unique to Republicans or to the RNC – Democrats raised millions off George W. Bush in similar terms – but rarely is it practiced in such cartoonish terms.

One page, headed “The Evil Empire,” pictures Obama as the Joker from Batman, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leaders Harry Reid are depicted as Cruella DeVille and Scooby Doo, respectively.

[…]

The RNC reacted with alarm to a question about it Thursday, emailing major donors to warn them of a reporter’s question, and distancing Steele from its contents.

“The document was used for a fundraising presentation Chairman Steele did not attend, nor had he seen the document,” RNC Communications Director Doug Heye said in an email. “Fundraising documents are often controversial.”

The most unusual section of the presentation is a set of six slides headed “RNC Marketing 101.” The presentation divides fundraising into two traditional categories, direct marketing and major donors, and lays out the details of how to approach each group.

“Obviously, the Chairman disagrees with the language and finds the use of such imagery to be unacceptable. It will not be used by the Republican National Committee – in any capacity – in the future,” Heye said.

The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under the heading “Visceral Giving.” Their motivations are listed as “fear;” “Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration;” and “Reactionary.”

Major donors, by contrast, are treated in a column headed “Calculated Giving.” Their motivations include: “Peer to Peer Pressure”; “access”; and “Ego-Driven.”

The slide also allows that donors may have more honorable motives, including “Patriotic Duty.”

A major Republican donor described the state of the RNC’s relationship with major donors as “disastrous,” with veteran givers beginning to abandon the committee, which is becoming increasingly reliant on small donors.