January 30, 2009

Blackwell Acolyte Distraught at Steele Endorsement, Victory

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At a critical juncture in the voting for the new RNC Chair, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, one of the most conservative figures in the race, realized he was behind and endorsed eventual winner Michael Steele, who was the most moderate. The move left one Blackwell devotee, a conservative Ohio-based blogger named Matthew Naugle, stunned and angry. I have emailed with Naugle before about the GOP’s push to modernize it’s approach to technology. Here are his thoughts on Blackwell’s endorsement and Steele’s victory:

…all the technology in the world is meaningless without the right conservative message.

I run Ken Blackwell’s Facebook page and Twitter page. I was also Ken Blackwell’s campaign blogger and web guy in 2006. Ken Blackwell is my hero- my idol- my Goldwater…… but I couldn’t be more disappointed in his endorsement today. No candidate was more un-Blackwell than Michael Steele.

Steele is new to the language of conservatism, and he was certainly the most liberal candidate running. He expressed his view that the Supreme Court should follow what stare decisis is on Roe V. Wade, has run GOPAC into the ground, and was actively involved with Christine Todd Whitman’s Republican Leadership Council.

The Republican Party, with a John McCain candidacy, tried to win on a “big tent” platform and in the process lost its soul. Now, with the election of Steele, they have lost their mind.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

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Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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