As of 1:15 a.m. Friday, I count 16 blogs listed by Memeorandum as linking to Ralph Z. Hallow's exclusive:
The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, Ralph Z. Hallow will report Friday in The Washington Times.Well, it's Friday now, and the full story is online, and here you go:
Several of the solicitors fired at the May 24 meeting reported declining contributions and a donor backlash against the immigration proposals now being pushed by Mr. Bush and Senate Republicans.The raw numbers behind this story are undeniable. Meanwhile, bloggers are having a field day.
"Every donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99 percent of them immigration is the No. 1 issue," said a fired phone bank employee who said the severance pay the RNC agreed to pay him was contingent on his not criticizing the national committee. ...
Previous Republican donors have given RNC solicitors an earful about the proposed immigration measure.
"We have not heard anyone in our donor calls who supported the president on immigration," said a fired phone solicitor, who described himself as a Republican activist.
Michelle Malkin: "Brilliant, Karl Rove! Keep insulting your base and maybe donations will drop by half by the end of the weekend."
Jammie Wearing Fool: "Maybe some illegal aliens can do the donating Republicans refuse to."
Sensible Mom is apparently one of those angry RNC donors: "I've been telling the RNC every time they call that they won't get any money from me until the border is walled off completely. It's good to know others are doing the same. "
Ace of Spades: "The trouble is, people vote their wallets, and their wallets presage their votes. If they're not giving money, they're not going to be giving votes, either."
Blue Crab Boulevard: "The real base of the Republican party is angry about this deal the Senate cooked up. And, according to polls, so are a lot of the Democratic base and a lot of independents."
Tammy Bruce ... well, let's just say Miss Bruce has some interesting suggestions for Senate Republicans.
Robert Bluey: "The combination of President Bush's amnesty bill with a pro-amnesty chairman of the Republican National Committee, Sen. Mel Martinez, is a major turnoff to many conservative donors."
At Hot Air, Bryan Preston sees a Jedi mind trick: "The RNC spokesman denied that there has been a falloff at all. .... Nothing to see here, move along."
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
Comments (1)
Folks, I said last week that regards immigration, I smelled a rat.
The Republicans dived into shallow water without looking and the Democrats led them to the cliffs.
Seems the base, the great unwashed out here, have decided that, since Republican senators, the president, and most of the Republican leadership won't listen, they'd make a collective statement.
Money talks, doesn't it? That's the way our system works, and more power to it — and those who vote with their wallets.
Now, let's see just how long it takes for our tin-ear Republicans to get our message.
Vote "nay" on this loopy immigration deal, and vote "yes" to fixing our borders with laws already on the books.
Eating crow may be unpleasant, but the alternative will taste far worse.
Posted by Bill Flynn | June 1, 2007 6:27 AM