Politico broke a story yesterday about a fundraising document prepared by the Chairman of the RNC Finance Chairman.
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.
In neat PowerPoint pages, it lifts the curtain on the often-cynical terms of political marketing, displaying an air of disdain for the party’s donors that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political operatives.
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…
Inserted from <Politico>
While crude caricatures of Bush circulated throughout the Bush Regime, never did they reach such an extreme, and they were a net phenomenon, never rising to the level of national fundraising.
Here’s video:
Particularly noteworthy is the disdain with which they hold their oen supporters.
…The presentation divides fundraising into two traditional categories, direct marketing and major donors, and lays out the details of how to approach each group.
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."… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
Righties, how does it feel to be goose-stepping behind people that insult you?
Michael Steele is squirming desperately to distance himself from this disaster. He claims he didn’t know. While he may not have known about the specific presentation, he had to know about the strategy it represents.
Remarkably absent from this presentation for fund raisers was any reference to a valid reason for people to vote Republican. Why were such references be excluded. Only one answer can explain this. There are no valid reasons. With no valid reasons to vote Republican, fear is all they have.
12 Responses to “GOP: Fear Is All They Have”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
This may not hurt them with their donors as much as we’d hope — donors like the policies they like, even if they don’t like the individuals who implement them — but aside from the obvious poverty of the tactic revealed, the incompetence is astonishing. No sensible person would even have taken such a thing into a place as public as a hotel lobby, never mind left it there.
I watched the MSNBC interview with Steele, and “squirming” is an understatement. He protested, made excuses, did the Right Wing Whine and came away looking like the liar that he really his. The Republican party is about racism, religion, and hate. This is no mistake. It is their game plan and the fact that it was so widely publicized assures it reaches an audience of millions as opposed to just a few operatives. Well done. Well done indeed.
Hey, it won them 2 elections….
Here’s the deal, if/when this backfires in the upcoming election, the republican party will have a readily available scapegoat.
TomCat,
,Today’s iltra-conservative Republicans are morally, spiritually, and intellectually bankrupt. They are using fear solely to gain power, but have no coherent or practical policy guidelines to guide them if, by some nightmare, they were to again regain governmental control. Their laissez-faire economic policies have been discredited again, just as they were in 1929, yet they continue to offer them as a solution to our current recession. They hate government and therefore cannot properly govern, as was evidenced by Katrina in 2005. They have no strategy for nipping radical Islamic fundamentalism right at its bud, and they have no new ideas. They are a dying group of old ideas which MUST die, or this country will begin to lag in many, many areas. This is a political movement whose time has come – and gone. They are no longer useful and cannot reforge the dynamism and growth we so badly need right now and going forward. They have descended into a group of saboteurs and obstructionists. Rather than regain power, the time has come for them to get the hell outta the way and allow the forces of progress to triumph. It is time for them to disappear altogether. EVERY REPUBLICAN MUST GO!
The terrible thing is, most of their mob agree with them, they are probably losing some independents, hopefully a lot of independents, but their hardcore are lapping it up.
Infidel, I disagree. Calling a fat cat ‘ego driven’ is bad for the ego driven fat cat’s ego. Calling a teabuggerer ‘reactionary’ smacks down their belief that they are just average Americans, not the lunatics they are. Both are insulting and hurtful. The incompetence does not surprise me. If Republicans were competent, they would not have destroyed the country through their elitist avarice.
Thank you Mike. We need to work together to expose this for what it is.
C, that gos without saying. They always have a bus-ready throwee on hand.
Jack, you illustrate perfectly why I say that draining the Democratic swamp must follow eradicating the infestation of GOP alligators.
Of course they are, Holte. But their base is less than 25% of likely voters. Sadly I see no redemption for those poor fools, because speaking cannot help those who refuse to hear. But they will also need to hoodwink a bunch of sane people to win elections. Spreading this far and wide will help prevent that.
“Remarkably absent from this presentation for fund raisers was any reference to a valid reason for people to vote Republican.” But, but what about:
“Freedom!” “Liberty!” “America!” “Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim!” “Obama was born in Kenya!”
Well, at least Micheal Steele is finally distancing himself from some of the crazy shit these assholes are saying. Although, I am pretty sure he did know about it, that doesn’t excuse his back stepping now.
Jack, very well said. Remember when the Dick used “if you don’t re-elect us, we’ll get hit again” mantra? Exactly what do they have to fear now? Socialism? Please, give me a damned break. It’s called policies that every civilized country (including our neighbors to the north) have already exacted. Oh, and that great healthcare that Rush raved about in Hawaii, yeah, that’s solicalized medicine right there. Hawaii enacted a law 40 years ago to make every employer provide health insurance to anyone working 20 hours a year? And as soon as some one pointed that our to Mr. Douchebag, he back peddled too. What a fucking hypocrite!
I can’t believe that their followers are this stupid! But then there are the Teabaggers. These republicans no more care about the people who are supporting them than they do the rest of the country. I, personally, would feel insulted and stabbed-in-the-back by these men if I was a contributor, but it’s already been commented that this was a “left wing set up” to try and hurt the RNC. Because the Dems are so desperate, you know.
But we have “friends”, to use the term loosely, that won’t even listen to anything contrary to what FOX (fair and balanced) says. If I say anything to try to explain why I don’t agree with right wing tactics, it’s “Oh, she’s on her soap box again.” I guess they enjoy being used like lowly pawns in a rich man’s chess game.
Americans need to think about giving Republicans more power than they have. What will they do? Cut taxes and increase the debt? Isn’t there enough proof, that their policies have hurt America? Isn’t there enough proof, that they lie and try to divide Americans? What are our problems, and what have Republicans offered to help solve those problems? Nothing!
Fear is the most potent weapon of choice for the Reich Wing. It is used effectively with the rest of their arsenal: anger, deceit, greed, false patriotism, and false religion.
LOL, Tom H! That’s about it! :-/
Lisa, the reason Steele is distancing himself from the craziness is not that he eschews the strategy. It’s that he is embarrasses because the document exposes the rationale behind the strategy.
Judi, check out the snip in today’s Open Thread about Hannity’s stance. Sadly the 24% of Americans who prefer Faux as their favored source of TV news, watch nothing else.
Tom, The GOP wants to return to the ‘success’ of the Bush years. 🙁
Dave, greed is the hidden motive of the GOP. Deceit and Supply-side Jesus are the means of the GOP. Anger and pseudo-patriotism are symptoms of fear.