The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to “save the country from trending toward socialism.”

The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how “ego-driven” wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and “tchochkes.”

The presentation was delivered by RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart to top donors and fundraisers at a party retreat in Boca Grande, Florida on February 18, a source at the gathering said.
[…]
“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!”
[…]
The 72-page document was provided to POLITICO by a Democrat, who said a hard copy had been left in the hotel hosting the $2,500-a-head retreat, the Gasparilla Inn & Club. Sources at the event said the presentation was delivered by Bickhart and by the RNC Finance Chairman, Peter Terpeluk, a former ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush.

Aren’t the Republicans already doing this? Oh wait, I’m thinking of Fox News. Nothing like fresh ideas to invigorate a campaign though, eh?




  1. Robart says:

    No different than my former party constantly soliciting donations from me to stop the Republican fascist state. I was bombarded with propaganda on how we need to stop the Patriot Act, unlawful wire tapping and protect our privacy on the internet.

    Best money I never spent.

  2. The Warden says:

    Dvorak,

    Where the hell do you find these leftist morons to post for your blog? I take you to be a more rational and skeptical guy when it comes to politics and politicians but the leftist blowhards you let put stories up are frankly ruining this blog, imho. You are becoming the MSNBC of blogs.

  3. bobbo, keeping the truth as a touchstone says:

    1. tchotchke – (Yiddish) an attractive, unconventional woman

    2. tchotchke – (Yiddish) an inexpensive showy trinket

    There ya go. The repugnants are up to their old disgusting power trips. Sex for access. I’ll bet its being run out of that “special” church of theirs too.

    Nothing changes.

  4. The Warden says:

    #3

    Interesting you would think the minority party that controls nothing in DC is on a power trip. But we all know that the dems NEVER politic like this. The Republicans should be as ethical and transparent as Obama and Rangel right?

    Liberalism is absolutely a mental disorder.

  5. Dr Dodd says:

    This is hilarious! The Democratic Party is the undisputed champion when it comes to using the tactic of fear as propaganda. To cry foul when this trademark maneuver is used against them is the joke of the century.

    It must be torment for the Obamaites when the fear tactic and truth in advertising look so much alike.

  6. Dallas says:

    No surprise here.

    Karl Rove mastered the art of fear to herd sheep and will always factor in as the primary GOP election strategy.

    The Dems have never found a good fear counter strategy. When Bush was taking away our Constitutional rights, the GOP fought back with “security and safety” trumped freedom.

    Roosevelt declared “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. How right he was.

  7. The Warden says:

    Honeyman,

    You have no understanding of politics and how money is raised by parties from their base. If you did, you’d not have proved your ignorance as demonstrated by your post to me.

  8. bobbo, keeping the truth as a touchstone says:

    #4–Warden–in context ((you do know what a “context” is I hope===but from what you post I would have to think not)) the repugs are on a power trip based on spreading fear amount the idiot red based fundamental rightwingnut base AND in capturing political donations from that base and from large corporations seeking welfare.

    You are SO transparent. You don’t have to “control Washington” in order to be on a power trip.

    How silly you are. Even Dr Dootie Pants is having trouble keeping up with you, although he is giving it the good college wash out try.

  9. bobbo, keeping the truth as a touchstone says:

    #9–Warden==are you going to respond to Honeyman or not?

  10. Dr Dodd says:

    #7-Dallas-Roosevelt declared “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”.

    Except of course Roosevelt himself.

    If he wanted to be really truthful with the people he would have said, “We have nothing to fear but my wife. I mean have you seen the mugg on that puppy? Oh God, she just never shuts up! I’m gonna have to die to get away from that awful whining.”

    OK, maybe he was better off lying like he did. It’s not like he could have out run her.

  11. qb says:

    And Harry Truman said “A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.”

  12. scadragon says:

    Remember “Medi-scare”? Demoncrats trying to frighten old people into voting for a Demoncrat because the Republican party was going to take away their Medicare? Demoncrats INVENTED using fear tactics.
    People seem to have a short memory.
    I say: Vot’em all out and right into the ditch!

  13. Jeff says:

    Media scare tactics go back long before the Democrats or Republicans even existed. They just used a different medium to get their message out in those days.

    Also… stop with the play on words. “Demoncrats” and “Repugs”… it makes you look uneducated.

    As for voting the Democrats and Republicans out of office. They would pretty much throw the equilibrium of this country out of balance. If you want a civil war, get the f*ck out of my country. I am not dying for cheap political theater.

    If there is one message to be learned in politics, there will only be two political parties in American politics. This is the way our system was designed.

    There simply is no leverage for a third party. Unless it was to replace one of the major two. This of course is impossible (at the moment) because it is a “game” and, or “professional theater” and they will protect each other from an outsider just as much detest each other in “public.”

    A third party system could emerge that had a chance, but it would have to be a very moderate party with the proper funding, media connections and corporate sponsorship. In other words, it would have to be as corrupt as the two that are currently in power.

    The truth as an America is you simply have to pick one of the two and pretend they are your home team and there really is a championship. Which there are, if you consider small political gains to the left or right to be important… overall true change… no.

    At the end of the day, however, we have to realize that the left and right is mostly an illusion (except for small pockets of ideological driven people)who are simply used by their party for reelection and fund raising.

  14. angry says:

    A rose by any other name…

    technically what we have here is fascism if it makes that jack boot on your neck feel any less onerous.

  15. LDA says:

    Ha! Zombie fights. My favourite.

  16. scadragon says:

    I think the next winning party will be the “Party of the AK47”

  17. Guyver says:

    Nice distraction from the side that has control of the White House and Congress and still can’t accomplish their goals…. but of course it’s not their fault. 🙂

  18. Guyver says:

    Got this in an e-mail the other day, but it’s related to what’s being discussed:

    Poverty in Our Cities…

    City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level

    1. Detroit , MI
    32.5%

    2. Buffalo , NY
    29.9%

    3. Cincinnati , OH
    27.8%

    4. Cleveland , OH
    27.0%

    5. Miami , FL
    26.9%

    5. St.. Louis , MO
    26.8%

    7. El Paso , TX
    26.4%

    8. Milwaukee , WI
    26.2%

    9. Philadelphia , PA
    25.1%

    10. Newark , NJ
    24.2%

    U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007 What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?

    Detroit , MI (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1961;

    Buffalo , NY (2nd) hasn’t elected one since 1954;

    Cincinnati , OH – (3rd)…since 1984;

    Cleveland , OH – (4th)…..since 1989;

    Miami , FL – (5th) has never had a Republican mayor;

    St. Louis , MO – (6th)…..since 1949;

    El Paso , TX – (7th) has never had a Republican mayor;

    Milwaukee , WI – (8th)….since 1908;

    Philadelphia , PA – (9th)…since 1952;

    Newark , NJ – (10th)….since 1907.

    Einstein once said, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats—yet they are still POOR.

    “You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”

    – Abraham Lincoln

    I’d be curious to know if someone is really bored enough to see if the stats are in fact true (not that the stats proves a causal relationship). 🙂

  19. smartalix says:

    26,

    Who are their federal representatives?

    A town’s mayor does not control the federal government.

  20. smartalix says:

    Follow up question for bonus points:

    What does Lincoln say about corporations?

  21. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    That quote is not from Lincoln.

    I suspect that if you grabbed a pile of cities with current or recent Republican mayors the poverty numbers would be the same. And there are probably a number of cities with lower poverty numbers and Democratic mayors.

  22. Guyver says:

    28, SmartAlix, http://tinyurl.com/a89rwq

    29, Olo Baggins of Bywater, That’s a good catch…. I didn’t bother checking the Lincoln quote.

    On the matter of grabbing a pile of cities with Republican mayors, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find similar poverty figures. However, the list is supposedly about the top ten cities with the highest poverty rates (regardless of political affiliation)… cherry picking for Republican mayors COULD lead to similar but with lower figures (assuming the ranking was accurate to begin with).

  23. gooddebate says:

    This doesn’t make sense if you think that the democrats and republicans are going opposite directions. But that is wrong, they are going the same direction. They both have a certain outward persona but internally they are progressives. And soon the only people that think either of them are doing a good job will be the same folks who believe the moon landings were staged.

  24. RSweeney says:

    hmmm… higher taxes, higher energy prices, increased union power – especially for public service unions, horrendous government debt, printing money, crony capitalism, and government micromanagement of everything by people who have never managed ANYTHING.

    And oh yes, virtually the entire press acting as a fan club for this.

    What could America possibly be concerned about??

  25. BadBadThing says:

    You know, maybe if you all at D.U. would take a second and quit patting yourselves on the back for how clever you think you are and look at some of this stuff in depth with more than an interest at how you can cheap shot things, you might, just maybe find that there is a lot of this you *should* be scarred of no matter what political direction it’s coming from.
    Then again, maybe it’s time I took ANOTHER year off from reading D.U. if this is how you plan to continue.

  26. ECA says:

    #26, cooollll

    #28, ASK ABOUT THE CARPET BAGGERS after THE WAR AND HIS DEATH..

    #29 PROVE IT..

    #32 correct.. iDIOTS THAT PARTIED THROUGH SCHOOL, on a Business program…
    They learned politics from OTHER idiots..

    #33 rather pat on the back then a PAT on the butt… the problem isnt simple, as this has been happening over 40 years.. Things have added over and over..

    #34 you are FALSELY name calling.. you are as STUPID as the rest of the idiots..Do you inder stand we are a REPUBLIC, AND DEMOCRATIC…Which means we WORK under any format needed, AND if enough vote for it..

  27. I'm Abe Lincoln And I Been A Thinkin' says:

    Both parties use the same tactic. Where the Republicans have the advantage is they can do it by telling the truth.

  28. ECA says:

    well lets ask something

    WHo is screaming TRANSPARENCY??
    Not the demo..
    NOT the repub’s..
    Neither has installed TRANSPARENCY on their OWN sites, or even IN THEIR OWN GROUP..

    ASK THE PEOPLE, not the corps..what they want.


0

Bad Behavior has blocked 5905 access attempts in the last 7 days.