Hotline After Dark -- Steele Yourselves
"World News," "Evening News" and "Nightly News" each led with the severe weather and flooding in the Northeast.
RNC Vice Chairman Ken Blackwell played "Hardball" 3/30 p.m.
Blackwell, on repeated scandals in the RNC being Michael Steele's fault: "It's happening on his watch. In January of 2009, the 168-member Republican National Committee chose Michael Steele to be its chairman for a two-year term. I don't think that anything is going to change in terms of the chairmanship until next January, if it changes at all. As you know, he has some wins under his belt, and there is a real issue of whether or not this is another distraction from what the RNC is in business to do."
More Blackwell: "We have a historic opportunity to win over 50 seats this time around, and we can't blow it because ... our leadership is explaining this sort of nonsense."
Blackwell, on being a replacement for Steele: "No. I am the co-chairman of the RNC's redistricting committee. My job is to work with John Ryder, the chairman, to make sure that we're in a position of keeping the pens that will draw the maps of the congressional district in our party's hands for competitive advantage. Pure and simple. That is a full plate."
After the jump, more on Steele and the RNC.
Blackwell, on Steele being a distraction for the party: "I can tell you what is a distraction -- having to explain these weird expenditures, having to explain that we are not high rollers and high flyers and duplicitous leaders. That is a distraction, and it is Michael's responsibility to make sure that we do away with those distractions, and we do away with incompetence, and we do away with those who would spend money unwisely" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 3/30).
INDEFENSIBLE, I SAY!
Pundits also discussed Steele's troubles on TV last night.
Ex-RNC exec. dir. Scott Reed, on whether Steele is a "distraction" or "benefit" to the GOP: "Well, he's a challenge, to say the least. And this experience this week has really been quite eye-opening. It is indefensible. ... There's no question what happened this week is embarrassing and inexcusable. The fact is, they won a couple of elections last year in Virginia and New Jersey, they won the special election in Massachusetts and that's really what matters at the end of the day. It's a distraction. It gives a lot of people something to talk about but the truth is at end of the day it really doesn't matter" ("John King, USA," CNN, 3/30).
RNC member Dr. Ada Fisher, on whether Steele is a "liability" for the RNC: "I think my record is very clear that I did not support his election to the RNC and I have been concerned all along about his performance. ... I think that we have a disservice being done because the job of the RNC is to both raise money, but to support our candidates. And we need to ask the question, how much of the money raised is going to the candidates? I have been very open, very forthright in making sure that those issues are addressed at the RNC, and I'm still waiting for my answers" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 3/30).
TEA PARTY IN THE USA
MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) went "On the Record" 3/30 p.m.
Pawlenty, on his upcoming Facebook townhall: "It's going to be interactive. It's going to be grass roots, and we hope a lot of people participate. Rather than a few people in a conference room deciding who to support for our PAC, we're going to let people weigh in and help us decide."
Pawlenty, on using new media to reach voters: "I think it's fantastic. It brings the convenience to the communication to the customer, to the consumer. People can participate from their living room, from the beach, from their study, from a library and rather than having to get in the car and go through the inconvenience of doing it the old-fashioned way, which is good, too. Just opens up the doors, a whole new way to communicate."
Pawlenty, on the Tea Party movement: "I think it's a great addition to the conservative coalition and the coalition for change in this country. They are part of the energy, the passion, the call for change that is now ... up on the doorstep of the United States Congress, and they need it" (FNC, 3/30).