Heat Wave at the Last Manatee

*Let's see whether my eyes can get through this without the grammatical mess of the last post.

Most interesting post I've read this afternoon is by a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission who argues Shirley Sherrod should sue Breibart and Fox for slander. She doesn't meet the legal standard of a public figure and the author argues that she has an open and shut case, which would be beneficial to everyone fighting racism. Perhaps, the right picked this up. Ann Coulter is arguing that Breibart was set up by his source. Glenn Beck said today Shirley Sherrod is part of Obama's plot to discredit Fox. Well, I'm sure he has enough sense not to do it on his big Wall Street Reform day. Sue Shirley! Fired up! Ready to Go!

Sensing the tide has turned, the GOP whipped out their new revolutionary agenda. Senator Cornyn told NPR that he will do everything in his power to prevent 'bad laws" from passing until after elections. Senator Corker and Tan Man Boehner want the Obama Administration to pledge there would be no major legislation in the lame duck session after the elections. So this means the Republican legislative strategy is to prevent all laws until after the new Congress comes back in 2011. If you remember 2006, one of the key reasons the Democrats took power was that the Republican House was only in session six months of the year. So here we go again. Tan Man Boehner even said he would not author any legislation for the first year the GOP runs the House. Is that cool?

Instead, Michele Bachmann said today that the GOP should focus all of its attention on issuing subpoenas and holding hearings investigating the Obama Administration and Democrats. "I think that's all we should do," she told a GOP Youth Convention in Washington. "I think all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another and expose all the nonsense that has gone on." She said that Republicans have all their chips on the table. "This is the year--this is it," she said.

If Republicans won the House, they would take control of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. We know that Rep. Darrell Issa of California is interviewing now and preparing to hire two dozen heavy weight lawyers for the staff if the Republicans win. We also remember that Nancy Pelosi took the impeachment of George W. Bush off the table before the 2006 election. This was especially important considering the case was a strong one. I guess turnabout is not fair play.

Oh ,about those small business loans. The Republican Senator from Florida is a co-sponsor and Ben Nelson supports it. What was strange was the Republican Senator telling NPR that the bill was "deficit neutral so I can't tell why my other colleagues won't support it." Utah's Bob Bennett responded that it was because Republicans didn't write the law and were not allow to submit amendments. Still it might actually get the 60 votes for cloture so a vote could really be done.

President Obama did talk to Shirley Sherrod, probably thanking her for discrediting Fox News. He also issued a statement that he wanted the tax cuts for the rich to expire. So I guess the game is on for preserving middle class tax cuts and ending the tax cuts for the upper income brackets. The political point is to draw the line in the sand prior to the mid-terms, not after. You have to make the larger political point about where the Republicans are before you make the deal. This is different from the larger legislative issues, which actually needed time to formulate. This is one of those short two page bills the Republicans like so much.

Marc Ambinder rained on the GOP parade today with his Atlantic piece "RNC Chaos Threatens GOP Chances for House Takeover". Ambinder reports Republican strategists fear that the chaos at the RNC threatens to cost Republicans the chance to take the House. The RNC serves as a bank account to shore up House races and it coordinates the party's field operations and funds "Victory" committees with state parties. Observers complain the RNC barely is fulfilling the second function and has less than $10 million on hand and probably will not be able to help by the time of the elections. The report of the failure to report a deficit to the FEC has hindered further fund-raising. Apparently, the political director, Gentry Collins, has seen his budget slashed and the state parties are complaining about the condition of the party's Voter Vault datamart.

What does that mean in terms of practical politics. It means that state parties have to outsource their voter mobilization efforts. This is inefficient, costly and probably ineffective. The deficit issue means the party can not regain its financial footing in time for the election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has twice as much cash on hand as the National Republican Campaign Committee. Charles Cook rates 73 House races as competitive . To win the House republicans have to pick up 44 seats. Even if Republicans win most of the tossup seats and those that lean Republican , they'd still have to win about half the seats that lean Democrat right now. Without a solid field operation and facing financial disadvantage, the edge Republicans now feel will be lost.

Apparently the fights within the RNC have become downright nasty. Michael Steele hypes his recruitment of candidates, especially an unprecedented number of blacks and women, and wants his legacy to be the reform of the presidential primary rules. But the professional political operatives see the deterioration of the much-vaunted GOTV apparatus, which proved to be the prime Republican weapon of choice in the past.

That's why the Democrats retooling David Plouffe's Obama operation is so important. Once President Obama addressed Democrats a few months ago, asking blacks, Latinos and women to mobilize for the mid-terms, you saw the right-wing echo chamber rev up the anti-Latino and anti-black rhetoric. Even if the Obama surge voters do not materialize in the same numbers they did in 2008, just a fraction can mean the difference in several House seats. And, in terms of GOTV operations, the Obama operation has the superior technology and voter targeting data.