poor management

It looks like a lot more trouble for the party of “fiscal responsibility”:

The RNC spent more than $340K at a semi-annual meeting in Honolulu in Jan., the latest example of the party spending lavishly on itself while GOP officials worry they won't have enough money to take advantage of a promising national landscape this fall.

According to FEC reports filed late Tuesday, the RNC spent $167K on facilities for the 3-day meeting, which took place at a posh resort in Waikiki. That figure doesn't include rooms and office space for the party employees who staffed the meeting, which added up to at least another $90K.

At least 33 RNC staffers and officials made the trip to HI, including top members of the political, communications and research departments, as first reported by Hotline OnCall. Party staff were reimbursed for meals and travel as part of the trip.

Already today there has been an interesting narrative evolving on this. On Morning Joe, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker said that the Democrats are just as bad. Joe Scarborough of course agreed with her. I would love to see the proof of this. Wingnuts tried this meme earlier this month, during bondage-gate, and the only expenses they could uncover was your typical hotel and limo expenses tied with fundraising. So Kathleen Parker and Joe Scarborough are trying to ignore this piss-poor management by the RNC and instead capitulate blame equally onto the Democrats.

If one thing is for certain in the uncertain world of politics, it is that 2006 is going to be the year to watch. Republicans have definitely fumbled the ball during the 109th session of Congress and not only Democrats, but also a majority of the public is awaiting someone to pick that ball up and run with it.

Time Magazine published an article today showing how bad it is for Republicans this year. Just look at this byline to the article:

If the midterm elections were held today, top strategists of both parties say privately, the Republicans would probably lose the 15 seats they need to keep control of the House of Representatives

That right there should be enough to make the right wing bloggers go off their "defend Ben" campaign and start fighting for something they believe in. If that isn't enough then here is another nice little snip from the same article:

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who masterminded the 1994 elections that brought Republicans to power on promises of revolutionizing the way Washington is run, told Time that his party has so bungled the job of governing that the best campaign slogan for Democrats today could be boiled down to just two words: "Had enough?"