DNC Chairman Cites Republican Hypocrisy Over Stimulus

By Monique Cala - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

At least 87 Republicans have shown hypocritical actions toward the Recovery Act by denouncing its merits in public, but attending ‘ribbon cutting ceremonies’ for local projects funded by the bill, said Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine on Tuesday.

“The very same Republicans who indignantly raised a hand in opposition to the Act, have extended the other hand in many cases to ask for and accept funds from it for projects in their states and districts,” said Kaine.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was signed one year ago Friday by President Obama, was a $787 billion piece of legislation designed to stimulate the nation's spiraling economy.

“One year ago, when the President was inaugurated, the country was averaging more than 700,000 jobs lost every month,” said Kaine. “The Recovery Act has reduced that number to just a fraction of where we would have been had we gone along either with congressional Republicans' plan to do nothing, or simply do more of what President Bush and others did over the past decade to get us into this mess.”

According to Kaine, the list of 87 lawmakers includes Senators, Congressmen and Governors who either referred to the Recovery Act as 'socialism,' or called for its repeal, but then used money from it to strengthen their achievements.

You can view a complete list at Hypocrisy Hall of Fame.

RNC Takes Swipe At DNC’s Tim Kaine

While Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele has been on the receiving end of a non-stop stream of criticism, his organization took aim Wednesday at his Democratic counterpart, Tim Kaine.

“The DNC under Kaine has been a ‘disaster’,” a newly released RNC research brief states, invoking a statement former Democratic National Committee member Steven Ybarra recently made to the Los Angeles Times.

The brief goes on to claim that the DNC has also had difficulty outpacing RNC fundraising efforts, citing a release from the Federal Elections Committee that found the DNC had only raised only thousands more than the RNC by the end of 2009.

Kaine simultaneously served as both Governor and Democratic National Committee Chair for much of 2009, a year that brought his party election losses in Virginia and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races. After Kaine’s replacement as governor by Republican Bob McDonnell, Democrats suffered another defeat when the opposition party claimed the Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy.

The RNC’s brief comes shortly after Douglas Wilder, another former Virginia governor, published an opinion piece on politico.com claiming that the Kaine’s chairmanship position was “the wrong job for him.”

Still, the shot against Kaine from the RNC seems surprising. The inner-party troubles facing Kaine seem nearly paltry in comparison to those plaguing the RNC’s Steele. Congressional Republicans have moved to block the former Maryland Lt. Governor from policy decisions, and a conference call between the RNC and Capitol Hill staffers reportedly grew heated after Steele mused in an interview that Republicans were “not ready” to win back the House. In addition, other high-profile gaffes have become You Tube gold.

However, it may be too early to judge either chairman’s performance. Both parties have had only a handful of special elections by which to measure their committees’ effectiveness and the true standard-bearer for both organizations is still on the horizon: the 2010 midterm election.

The party heads weigh in on election

Although RNC chairman Robert Duncan described his attitude about the previous night's election results as hurting too much to laugh but being too big to cry, he nevertheless made an effort to find the bright side in Obama's landslide victory.

"While it was a difficult night for Republican candidates, it was a historic night for the republican party. The election of America's first black President... has realized the vision of a color-blind society that first inspired the Republican party," Duncan said during a National Press Club discussion with DNC Chairman Howard Dean that touched on the United States' current political trajectory, the preceding election season and campaign finance reform.

Duncan dismissed the notion of a mandate for the democratic party, and pointed to Obama's support for offshore drilling, merit pay for teachers, a tax cut for 95% of Americans.

"Put simply, Barack Obama just ran the most successful moderate Republican campaign since Dwight Eisenhower".

Duncan described the political situation that Obama will be facing as president, saying that Obama will be heading a center-left party but presiding over a population that is still center-right on most issues. Duncan raised the specter of Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan, warning that an attempt to move the agenda to the left would result in a Republican victory in the mid-term elections.

Dean disagreed with Duncan's assertion that the country is right leaning and said that Obama's victory meant that there was a mandate.

"I don't think this is a center-right country...we did a lot of polling when I first became Chairman. It turns out that most people in Nebraska, not exactly known for being a very liberal state, actually agreed with democratic positions more than they agreed with Republican positions if you put them in the words of each party."

Both chairmen discussed campaign spending, with Duncan claiming that the only transformational aspect of the Obama campaign was the way it will affect the financing of future presidential campaigns.

"Presidential campaign financing as we know it died last night. No major candidate will ever submit to public funding restrictions," said Duncan.

" Less than two election cycles ago since the passage of campaign finance reform, the system has failed...the result is a campaign finance system far less transparent, less accountable, and more vulnerable for corruption."

Dean countered that the Obama campaign's ability to raise small donations was a form of campaign finance reform in its own right.

"I think the president-elect ought to get credit for the inspiration that he gave to the American people who were willing to give 5 and 10 at a time averaging 86 dollars per donation. That is campaign finance reform. That is putting politics back in the hands' of individuals and taking it out of special interests' hands."

Duncan brought up the future of the Republican party, describing how the RNC was poised to make an effort to better address their voters concerns. Duncan said that one way this this will be done is through an online forum titled Republican for a Reason.

The Democratic Party does not tolerate voter fraud

The Democratic National Committee held a conference that discussed the Republican hypocrisy of voter registration. In light of the arrest of Mark Jacoby, whose company Young Political Majors, has been accused of tricking residents of California into registering Republican, Jacoby has ties with the California Republican party and the Republican National Committee.

California Democratic Party chairman, Art Torres, said that the Democratic party does not tolerate voter fraud. Torres went on to say that “The RNC needs to immediately eliminate their ties with the committees that have been accused of voter fraud, and unfortunately, instead of doing so they have accused the Democrats of starting it.”

DNC General Counsel, Joe Sandler, brought up the issue that the RNC yells voter fraud against the Democrats, but when a Republican official is asked to list incidents of voter fraud, they are unable to do so. Sandler also criticized Republicans saying “The RNC needs to stop accusing the Democrats of voter fraud when most, if not all of the cases are on their side.”

With 14 days left until voting day, Sandler believes that this is not the last time the public will hear about voter fraud. “This is all the RNC has left, to yell voter fraud and blame it on the Democrats,” Sandler said at the end of the conference.

Michelle Obama speaks at the DNC Women's Caucus

A group of high-profile female Democratic politicians gathered to speak at the DNC Women's Caucus. Among these women was Michelle Obama, the wife of Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). Also in attendence at the caucus was Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who emphasized Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) negative voting record on issues such as abortion rights and equal pay for women. She stated that he has a "zero-percent voting record in favor of issues important to women." Boxer declared, "[Obama] is a hero, McCain is a zero."

During the caucus, a group of anti-abortion protesters broke into the meeting. Every delegate in attendence stood up and started chanting "Obama."

Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) drew attention to the importance of the female vote in the coming election: DeLauro stated "[women] set the agenda, and [women] make history," referring to the so-called gender gap (in which women are more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate, and influence the election) in the current world of politics .

Mrs. Obama cited the hardships Senator Obama watched his hard-working mother and grandmother endure during his childhood as making him understanding and compassionate about female issues and ideals. She discussed Mr. Obama's legislative plans, such as ending wage discrimination against women and supporting pro-choice legislation.