Subject: U.S. Republican Party

• Prez to "Hostile Press": Come Dine With Me!

  May 28, 2007

• Herald Called Out For Sipping on GOP Kool Aid

  August 21, 2008

• Ugly Shirts Keep Florida Delegates Safe

  September 2, 2008

• College GOP Official Resigns After Stupid Slur

  September 9, 2008

• Miami's Cuban-American Voters Still Republican, but Split on Social Issues

  September 17, 2008

• How McCain Will Lose Florida, According to Time

  October 20, 2008

• Diaz-Balarts on Leaked GOP "Death List"

  October 24, 2008

• Beyond 2008: GOP Needs to Fix Its Florida Problem

  October 28, 2008

• Everyone Agrees: Crist Blew It For McCain

  October 29, 2008

• Local Conservatives Think Conservatives Weren't Conservative Enough

  November 6, 2008

• GOP Governors To Get Their Nails Did

  November 10, 2008

• How to Rebuild the Republican Party: Trickle-Down Truck Nutz Theory, Lincolnstein, and The Second Coming

  November 12, 2008

• Randy Shannon's Cryptic Punditry

  UM Coach Randy Shannon is clearly sending secret signals to the GOP about the path to redemption after a few years of stining defeat. Listen Republicans, Randy Shannon took the helms of Larry Coker's sinking ship and has turned it around. Whoever takes over your party in is going to face the same problem, but substitute Coker with Bush (who was also a coker back in the 70's). --Kyle Munzenrieder

  November 14, 2008

• House GOP Goes Right Again, Leaving Miami's Moderates in the Cold

  All three of Miami's Republican representatives staved off Democratic challengers in the election, but the brand of Republicanism they represent is losing influence in their own party. While last week's Republican Governors Association conference didn't come to a clear conclusion on which ideological shifts the GOP should make, the Republicans in Congress selected staunch conservatives for new leadership roles. Conservative John Boehner will continue as minority leader, but his two deputy chi

  November 19, 2008

• News Roundup

  Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer may have billed the party for personal expenses. It's not $150k on a wardrobe, but it's almost as bad. Like $3,600 on a single dinner. [Herald]The Miami-Dade Dems elected new leadership, and they didn't celebrate with a $3,600 dinner. [Naked Politics]What do you need to run for high office in Florida? Apparently a recognizable last name. We fall for that trick every time. Bud Chiles, son of Lawton, maybe, sorta, kinda might run for Gov in 2010. Allegedly. [Naked Po

  December 8, 2008

• Jeb Bush Should Just Run for RNC Chairman

  We imagine running the GOP looks exactly like this anyway: wearing a wizard's hat while leading a bunch of racially insensitive white people with children's brains. The Republican Party has become more or less a parody of itself. Chip Saltsman is running to chair that sinking ship, and as part of his campaign sent out a CD with a song on it called "Barack the Magic Negro" by some sub-Weird Al satirical songster who's featured on the Rush Limbaugh show. Politics is supposed to be serious busi

  December 30, 2008

• Is There a Major Bush vs. Crist Feud Brewing?

  Tucked away in the RedState.com post we linked to earlier is this delicious little nugget: "Charlie Crist has been on a roll lately undermining conservatives. Behind the scenes, he is trying to drum up opposition to Jeb Bush's Senate run, not because he doesn't want another Bush, but because he wants a more moderate candidate."You can either take it at face value, or assume certain people sympathetic to Jeb Bush and more conservative ideologies are churning out rumors trying to paint Crist

  January 5, 2009

• State Officials to Put Thousands of Piscine-Americans out of Work

  Riptide used to be under the impression that in America, anyone could get a job and work his or her way to the top. And even when the pay was low, employment was noble because even the lowliest jobs kept the engine of America rolling, and the satisfaction of a good day's labor was reward enough. It certainly was reward enough for the brave Piscine-Americans (AKA fish) that went to work each day eating away the dead skin from people's feet. Well, apparently your Florida state officials don't beli

  February 20, 2009

• Obama Inspires; Bobby Jindal, the Anti-Crist, Offers Nothing

  It's been said so many times the economic problem is as much psychological as monetary that it must be true. Conveniently, we've just elected a president in part on the basis of how much he's inspired us and given us hope. Last night, in his biggest speech since the inauguration, President Obama sat Americans down and gave us a pep talk. And according to poll numbers, 92 percent of Americans reacted to it postively, with 68 percent reacting extremely positively. By all accounts, his unofficial S

  February 25, 2009

• Charlie Crist's Mug Suspiciously Missing On RGA's New Website

  Completely embarrassed by the state of the national party it seems that the Republican Governors Association are engineering a takeover of the Bland Ol' Party. They have a nice new website asking for your money called The GOP Comeback with lots of pretty glamour shots of your favorite Republican Guv All-Stars. There's Palin in all her glory, Haley Barbour and his wonderful eyebrows, and newly minted national folk hero Bobby Jindal.Wait. There seems to be one or two GOP guvs of some of the n

  February 25, 2009

• See, We're Not the Only State That Can Screw Up an Election

  via Wikimedia CommonsIt has been over eight years now since Florida changed the history of the world forever by not being able to count votes correctly, and we have been apologizing for it ever sense. I mean, we weren't sorry enough to not vote for Bush in 2004, and Broward County wasn't sorry enough to avoid that whole Miriam Oliphant scandal, and we weren't sorry enough to avoid that whole meaningless primary debacle last year (but hey, that worked out pretty well for Obama, didn't it?). But w

  April 2, 2009

• It's My Party and I'll Squash You If I Want To

  August 24, 1994

• Michael Steele Will Grace Miami with His Presence

  Awkward Republican National Committee Chairmen Michael Steele is coming to Miami Monday! Hooray! If you're the kind of person who likes to protest the GOP, Steele is probably the best thing that could have happened to that party. It hasn't been announced exactly where Steele will be, but Riptide has some suggestions for a different kind of protest sign. That's right, put away your "No Blood for Oil" posters and show some love for Michael Steele. Here are a few to get you started: "Thank you for

  April 3, 2009

• Return of the Mummy

  October 30, 2008

• McCain Meets Macrame

  An ArtCenter exhibit puts politics on pins and needles.

  September 25, 2008

• Sexxxy Time

  The porn stars are coming! The porn stars are coming!

  April 17, 2008

• Adieu, Republicans

  February 9, 2006

• Nixon Rewound

  August 19, 2004

• FIU, too! All right?

  November 21, 2002

• The Money Trail

  October 31, 2002

• Heretics in the House

  April 11, 2002

• Have Bullhorn, Will Travel

  December 7, 2000

• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Chad

  December 7, 2000

• Republicans Aren't Here to Make Friends

  The Republican Party is doing such a good job painting itself as a party slowly collapsing in on itself that Democrats really don't have to do anything but highlight that fact once in a while. The Republicans are clearly not here to make friends like so many reality show contestants before them, as evidenced by their ever-shrinking share of the electorate.  "Hey, should we produce a smart little ad highlighting the faults of conservative ideology?" "Um, why don't we just take that Olympia

  May 6, 2009

• Anitere Flores in the Mix as Potential Lt. Gov.

  via AnitereFlores.orgFlores with a voter. We figured the best solution to the Marco Rubio "situation" was for the GOP to tack him on as Bill McCollum's running mate to quell any anger amongst the conservative wing for the party bending over backwards for Charlie Crist in the senate primary. Well, Naked Politics reports another young Cuban American is actually being discussed as a potential Lt. Gov. Candidate for the Republicans: Rep. Anitere Flores. Only 32 years old, she represen

  June 10, 2009

• Bold Names Line Up Behind Rubio, a.k.a. "The GOP's Barack Obama"

  Warning to anyone who wants to believe MSNBC reporter Carlos Watson's recent profile of Marco Rubio, in which the former House Speaker is praised as the "GOP's Barack Obama": It's a trap!  Watson, a Miami native, proclaims, "He's young. He's attractive. He easily connects with crowds. Remind you of anyone we know? Ten-to-one, this guy will soon be labeled the GOP's Barack Obama." Naked Politics has the transcripts of the feature. Back in hi

  June 19, 2009

• Remember When GOP Governors Were the Future of Their Party?

  The atmosphere at the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown Miami last November during the Republican Governor's Conference was hopeful. The GOP governors where the only national wing of the party to actually gain membership in the 2008 election, and the line was it was they who would bring their party back on track, emerge as the leadership that Republicans so badly needed, and it was quite possible that one of their members would challenge Barack Obama for the presid

  July 3, 2009

• Who Wants to Be Republican? Anyone?

  According to voter registration since Election Day, the State of Florida has 70,946 newly minted Republicans! But wait, there are also 100,019 newly registered independent voters, and 110,951 new Democrats. [The Buzz: Democrats continue beating GOP in voter registration]

  July 16, 2009

• Marco Rubio Without a Campaign Manager

  Marco Rubio's valiant fight to reclaim the GOP for people who refresh the Free Republic website all day and attend tea parties with "Obama Is a Socialist" signs isn't going so well financialy. So much so he's been forced to drop his campaign manager, Brian Seitchik, and top fundraiser, Ann Herberger, from the payroll. But they'll still carry own as volunteers. From the St. Pete Times: "Due to budgetary and monetary constraints, I am becoming a volunteer consultant,'' Herberger said. "I

  July 24, 2009

• Volusia County GOP Censures Charlie Crist

  ​Some of the county-level Repulican party organizations have been mumbling not-so-nice things about Gov. Charlie Crist, but yesterday the Volusia County GOP passed a motion censuring him. Among Crist's crimes: Appointing Democrats to political positions, appointing so-called liberal judge James Perry to the state Supreme Court, supporting the stimulus bill, nationalization of property insurance (what?), supporting amnesty legislation, and not doing enough to support certain Repu

  August 3, 2009

• Top Ten Thursdays: Top Ten Songs for Obama Haters

  via rpof.orgJim Greer thinks censorship is very American.​All summer long I have gone shit-house-rat-crazy observing the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Karl Rove and the rest of The Right's evil elite dispense fear-mongering falsehoods in a desperate attempt to stop some much needed health care reform.Death Panels. Euthanasia. Subsidized Abortions. Health care for non-U.S. Citizens and illegals. Every time I hear a GOP politician or pundit issue one of these malevolent fabric

  September 10, 2009

• News Roundup

  Miami-Dade teachers will see their first raise in nearly four years. On average, they'll see a 1.8 percent bump in their paycheck beginning in December. [Herald]Our three local GOP congressman went to Honduras on a fact-finding mission and as a stunt to point out Zelaya should not be reinstated as president under any circumstance. [SunSent]A nurse at Broward General Medical Center was caught reusing supplies while administering IVs. She has been fired, but officials urge patients to get tested f

  October 6, 2009

• Alan Grayson Gets More Delightfully Insane by the Minute

  ​Florida Congressman Alan Grayson continues to be a hot liberal mess and not apologize for it.The Orlando-area Democrat, who came to national attention for suggesting that Republicans want everyone to "die quickly," recently sent this Photoshop job to supporters while asking for money, natch. Let's hope he got permission from nonnie9999. She has the copyright, you see.The National Republican Congressional Committee forwarded the email to reporters along with a definition of narcissistic p

  October 7, 2009

• When It Comes to "Government Waste," Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts Might as Well Be Democrats

  Cover art from CAGW's Waste Watch​The Citizens Against Government Waste's name pretty much says it all. The fiscally conservative think tank hates pork and government waste, which apparently includes programs such as expanding health care to kids in low-income families, providing low-interest loans to college students, and requiring insurance companies to cover mental health issues. No-good, useless, evil, reckless waste like that. In its annual ratings, CAGW chose 48 bills from the

  October 13, 2009

• Pop and Lock for Peace

  October 15, 2009

• Conservatives Dream About Charlie Crist Dropping Out of Senate Race

  The steady stream of right wingers trying to rain of Charlie Crist's parade continues, with some conservative have wet dreams of Crist switching races and retreating back to re-election to his Governor's seat.The chatter started with The Herald's political blog reporting that one, unnamed Crist supporter "speculated" that Crist might be considering a retreat, which lead to RedState.com's Erik Erickson, who calls the governor "Obama's favorite Republican," to pop a boner over the idea. He de

  October 16, 2009

• News Roundup

  GeneralBoston-area investor Dennis Stackhouse has been arrested and charged with bilking almost $1 million from a county-supported plan to build a biotech business park in Liberty City. [Herald]After a large amount of cases of swine flu this past spring, there haven't been many cases reported in Miami-Dade this fall, but they still might come, so clutch your Purell bottle in fear. [Herald]Hialeah Racetrack will reopen within a month. [CBS4]Burger King's earnings and sales are down. [Bloomberg]Po

  October 29, 2009

• News Roundup

  A county program that helped low-income people pay their utility bills will be shut down because the county was overwhelmed by the amount of applications that came in. [CBS4]Whiney Fidel Castro says America is infecting Cuba with swine flu, but not intentionally. [CBS4]For the 21st time this year, a slaughtered horse was found in South Florida. [Herald]Gas prices in South Florida have hit a high for 2009. The average is now $2.72 a gallon. [CBS4]PoliticsOnly 22 percent of Republicans would vote

  November 2, 2009

• Marco Rubio Would Love Sarah Palin's Endorsement

  ​Marco Rubio says he would love to get Sarah Palin's endorsement in his race against Charlie Crist for the Senate. From CBS News: Asked if he would welcome the support of former GOP vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Rubio offers an unqualified yes, adding that "I can't think of anything her and I disagree with off the top of my head."

  November 11, 2009

• New Daily Kos Poll: Rubio Narrows Crist's GOP Lead Thanks to Birthers, Still Can't Beat Meek in General

  Daily Kos/Research 2000 just released their latest Florida poll, and there are a lot of interesting little poll number factoids to be pulled. Riptide tends to have some smart readers, so we won't recap the entire poll, but instead let's mine some of our favorite nuggets. The Senate Race:Republican Primary: Charlie Crist now only leads Marco Rubio by 10 points!73% of Republicans who think President Obama was born in America would vote for Crist, only 16% would vote for Rubio. These are

  November 19, 2009