Who is Millbank's Secret Republican?

[BurtWorm]

It shouldn't be too hard to figure out. The clues are distilled by Tim Grieve at Salon.com in the piece below the link. (Could it be Chafee? It sounds too intelligent.):

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/07/25/republican/index.html?source=rss


The scarlet R

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank and eight other reporters sat down for lunch Monday with a for the U.S. Senate. We can tell you that the candidate is in the midst of one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. We can tell you that the candidate comes from a blue state where the president's approval ratings are low. We can tell you that the candidate wears French cuffs and cuff links that coordinate with his tie. And we can tell you the Sen. Bill Frist stopped by the table where the candidate and the reporters were dining Monday and declared -- about the candidate, not Milbank -- "He's the best."

We just can't tell you who the candidate was. The lunch -- with nine reporters, at a steakhouse in Washington at lunchtime, in full view of the Senate majority leader -- was off the record, and Milbank is keeping the identity of the candidate a secret.

And really, we wouldn't particularly care, except that the candidate, whoever he is, does such a nice job of explaining the predicament in which he and his party find themselves as the November elections draw near.

Some highlights:

Iraq: The war "didn't work" because "we didn't prepare for the peace."

Katrina: "A monumental failure of government."

Republicans in Congress: "We've lost our way, we've gone to the well and we drank the water, and we shouldn't have. You don't go to Congress to become the party that you've been fighting for 40 years."

The president: "In 2001, we were attacked and the president is on the ground, on a mound with his arm around the fireman, symbol of America. In Katrina, the president is at 30,000 feet in an airplane looking down at people dying, living on a bridge. And that disconnect, I think, sums up, for me at least, the frustration that Americans feel."

The president's refusal to admit failure in Iraq: "I don't know why the people around him don't see that. It is a frustration, to say the least. I think it is a lost opportunity to bring the American people along on a mission that is incredibly important."

The outlook: Being a Republican now is "an impediment ... a hurdle I have to overcome. I've got an 'R' here, a scarlet letter ... If this race is about Republicans and Democrats, I lose."

We wouldn't dream of asking Milbank to reveal the identity of his source. But we wonder if someone at the Capitol will ask Frist today whom he saw at lunch Monday -- and whether he still thinks he's "the best."

[elehhhhna]

1. "In 2001, we were attacked and the president is on the ground..."

YEAH on September 14.

[BurtWorm]

3. After days of crying about how misunderstood he is.

:puke:

[Demit]

5. Really. He was in the air then, too, flying around for hours in AF One. nt

[EST]

37. Yeah, that sucker "turned tail" and ran.

Reminded me of a rabbit with something mean and hungry on his trail. He ran this way then that way, flip-flopping as he went.
I was going through a medical crisis at that time, so ended up staring at the TV a lot, remarkable in itself since, at that time, we had only one channel-PAX-ugh! Shiver...

It was a disgrace, a big one since the tv talkers hadn't learned to shut up about him yet.
What a disgusting, twisted little excuse for a human being.

[Cha]

58. You poor thing..

A captive of pax!

[EST]

63. It was pretty bad.

My wife, being of religious conservative bent, has no problem with such an arrangement, so now she gets to watch any pax she want - in the other room.

On this tv, we now have link, fstv, cspin 1 and 2 and that other execrable swill, plus some neat science and other educational benefits.

[elehhhhna]

40. The ONLY reason I haven't gone from lihop to mihop is the fact

that Butch wasn't there lookin' all Savior-y before 9/14. That's the one and only reason.

[librechik]

2. LIEberman

turning tail and running for cover inside his incumbency.

No, wait--it's a Republican...

[AlinPA]

4. Could be Chafee. Certainly it is not Slimetorum. n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. First question is how many blue states are having Senatorial

elections with an incumbent (R)? That should narrow it down quite a bit.

[BurtWorm]

9. RI, ME, PA, MN...

Can't be ME because the candidate is a "him."

Are there others?

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. Let's see...RI is Chaffee (R) and Reed (D)

ME is Snowe (R)(female) and Collins (R)(female)
PA is Specter and Santorum
MN is Dayton (D-leaving office) and Norm Coleman (R) hmmmm.....


I'm guessing it's Coleman. I was pretty stunned when I heard him described as a "moderate Republican Senator" who is "respected". :freak:

[BurtWorm]

15. If Dayton's term is up, Coleman's can't be.

Only one Senator at a time from each state is up. I forgot Coleman isn't up until 2008.

It's looking more like Chafee after all.

[Norquist Nemesis]

24. You're correct!

On both counts. :thumbsup:

[Emit]

25. Oops, wrong place. n/t

Lincoln Chafee is often "the only Republican," or one of very few. He was the only Senate Republican to vote against the Iraq war resolution, and one of three to oppose a ban on partial-birth abortion. He was one of two Senate Republicans to vote against both of President Bush's principal tax cuts, in May 2001 and May 2003 (the other was John McCain). Just last week, he was the only Republican ...

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Check.asp?idArticle=6682&r=zsqjn

[BurtWorm]

27. And yet, this secret R says it's "an important mission."

Which makes me think he's in favor of continuing the war. Weird.

[MessiahRp]

48. They have Kennedy running in MN

And he's a Bush rubber stamper to the best of my knowledge. Bush has already been out there stumping for him.

Rp

[jackstraw45]

7. Republican candidate: "The sky is blue" - Corporate Media wags tail

Love these probing insights that pass for "background" to a group of reporters.

Republican actually admits the obvious! What news!

:sarcasm:


GOP Senators up for re-election:

Allen, George - (R - VA)
Burns, Conrad - (R - MT)
Chafee, Lincoln - (R - RI)
DeWine, Mike - (R - OH)
Ensign, John - (R - NV)
Frist, Bill - (R - TN)
Hatch, Orrin - (R - UT)
8Hutchison, Kay - (R - TX)
Kyl, Jon - (R - AZ)
Lott, Trent - (R - MS)
Lugar, Richard - (R - IN)
Santorum, Rick - (R - PA)
Snowe, Olympia - (R - ME)
Talent, James - (R - MO)
Thomas, Craig - (R - WY)

[mtnester]

34. It AIN'T DeWine

take it from a Native Ohioan...plus, Ohio has not been blue since Clinton (officially)

Is Ohio really blue after the 2004 election fiasco? Yeppers.

It STILL ain't DeWine

[PATRICK]

8. Someone elsewhere said Hagel and

that seems to fit. the boldness but carefulness of a schmoozing press ingratiating presidential hopeful. Against the war strategy. Pandering still to the "base". Yep, sounds like him. I don't know about his dietary proclivities though. Wants to be a cross party candidate. Oh yes, of course. And someone with enough of a stature not to be bothered really who knows "privately" who he is, Mr. "ES&S" landslide Hagel.

[BurtWorm]

10. But he's not from a blue state, is he?

[jackstraw45]

11. Ensign is the only person who makes sense....

Frist wouldn't be drooling over Chafee or Snowe.

[BurtWorm]

16. Is Ensign "moderate?"

I don't know any of his positions. I only know some are saying he's vulnerable to Carter. (I also don't think of NV as a blue state.)

[jackstraw45]

18. True...

Voted Dem 8 times since 1950 - slightly over half.

[Emit]

19. I don't think its Ensign

He's not a moderate, and they're (Ensign's team) sailing by here in NV thinking they've got the race won against Carter. I know Ensign has more money than Carter; I have no idea what the polls say about the race. Ensign is part of 'The Family', that strange religious group that was written about in a Harper's article a while back -- he rents an apartment in VA from the cooks. Also, NV is a reddish-purple state, not blue, sadly.

[BurtWorm]

22. That settles it. It's Chafee.

(Ensign and Brownback room together? :scared: )

[Emit]

28. That IS scary!

Edited to add, Chaffee opposed the Iraq War and there are some other things it seems he's gone against with Bush & Co. Touts himself as a traditional, conservative Republican and independent, too. And wasn't he strong-armed over the Bolton confirmation by Cheney et al?

[Cha]

59. I took it to me he was

just shootin' his mouth off as usual.

[warrens]

42. Hagel is not running this year

AND he has made no secret of despising Bush and the neocons.

[Sammy Pepys]

12. C'mon guys.....

...it's not THAT hard ;)

[BurtWorm]

17. Looking at the map, it's looking like it has to be Chafee (or Ensign?)

Can't be ME, because ME's R incumbent is a female.
Can't be PA, because no one would mistake Santorum for a moderate.
The rest of the states where R's are running can't be mistaken for blue states.
Except maybe Nevada. But that is stretching it.

By process of elimination, it is Chafee. (He sounds smarter than he looks.)

[BurtWorm]

33. Mike McGavick? Running against Cantwell?

Now it appears that the Republican nominee will be Mike McGavick, the CEO of Safeco; McGavick also has political experience, having once worked for Senator Gorton. McGavick appears to be a moderate conservative, and he is obviously a self-funder.

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/2006/senate/?state=WA

[Sammy Pepys]

46. Does the article ever say...

...that the mystery person is currently a Senator? ;)

[peacetalksforall]

13. Is this the candidate who calls certain Dems "anti's" with every

hint that he wants to say "anti-Semites"?

Who were the other eight? Mixed religions or not?

Evidently, this candidate knows the value of the press and is caressed by these particular nine?

[Shrek]

20. Self-delete

Reply to wrong post

[Shrek]

21. According to Limbaugh

Who supposedly has a secret source, the White House thinks it's Michael Steel, the Lt. Governor of Maryland and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

[BurtWorm]

23. How does Frist know him?

I was assuming that Frist gave away he was an incumbent.

[Shrek]

30. I didn't see that in Milbank's column

It doesn't mention incumbency at all (every reference is to "the candidate") and Frist doesn't seem to indicate one way or the other:

He's the best!" cheered Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) when he stopped in to shake the candidate's hand during the lunch yesterday.

Could be Frist is just cheerleading because the guy has an (R) after his name.

[BurtWorm]

31. You're right. It could be a former lobbyist, or a well known Congressman

running for the Senate.

[Shrek]

36. FWIW, Limbaugh isn't the only one

National Review has this.

But a smart guy told me to look hard at a certain quote from the candidate, and I noticed something.

From today's Milbank column:

The candidate looked the part of the contender, wearing a monogrammed shirt, his French cuffs sprouting cuff links coordinated with his necktie. He ate carefully, removing the gelatinous yolk from the four-minute egg in his salad. But he spoke with little caution as he ladled a heaping portion of criticism on his own party.

"In 2001, we were attacked and the president is on the ground, on a mound with his arm around the fireman, symbol of America," he said, between bites of hanger steak and risotto. "In Katrina, the president is at 30,000 feet in an airplane looking down at people dying, living on a bridge. And that disconnect, I think, sums up, for me at least, the frustration that Americans feel."

From a Robert Novak column, back on May 29:

But at Prince George's Community College with Principal Myrick at his side, Steele whacked President Bush's educational policies (especially defunding support for low-income college students). In his brief remarks, he could not find anything favorable to say about the president.

He was even tougher on Bush in talking to me: "In the eyes of blacks, Katrina was a 9/11 event. You didn't fly over 9/11. You got on the ground in the rubble. You should have been on the ground for Katrina." Republican regulars don't mind this sort of talk. They know Steele, their former Republican state chairman, from fish fries all over the Free State. He can say whatever he wants to score a historic victory of national proportions.

[BurtWorm]

38. Kind of hard to see that and think it isn't Steele.

All the evidence points his way. Does he wear French cuffs?

[Sammy Pepys]

47. there you go....

;)

1) Steele is in Maryland, so he's local. It wouldn't be a big deal for him to have lunch in Washington.

2) He's arguably one of the most visible Republican candidates for Senate, and someone the Reps would definitely trip over themselves to throw a lot of public support behind.

[blm]

35. Steele dependably pushes RW talking points, so I doubt it's him.

.

[Emit]

51. I think he's been supportive of the Iraq war, too, no? n/t

[Emit]

26. I think it's Chaffee. Here's why

Lincoln Chafee is often "the only Republican," or one of very few. He was the only Senate Republican to vote against the Iraq war resolution, and one of three to oppose a ban on partial-birth abortion. He was one of two Senate Republicans to vote against both of President Bush's principal tax cuts, in May 2001 and May 2003 (the other was John McCain). Just last week, he was the only Republican ...

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Check.asp?idArticle=6682&r=zsqjn

[BurtWorm]

29. One strange point: Chafee is against the war, and this guy says

he thinks it's an "important mission," which makes you think he's in favor of it.

[Emit]

41. Don't know what he means by that either...

The entire quote: "The president's refusal to admit failure in Iraq: "I don't know why the people around him don't see that. It is a frustration, to say the least. I think it is a lost opportunity to bring the American people along on a mission that is incredibly important." "

Maybe he's just referring to the entire ME situation, or terrorism as a whole?



Apparently, though, Frist is stumping for Chaffee in this race. Here's an article from June:

Majority Leader Hosts Washington D.C. Fundraiser as Part of Republican Effort to Re-Elect Chafee and Retain GOP Control
Majority Leader Bill Frist will headline a Washington, D.C. fundraiser today for Lincoln Chafee’s embattled campaign, in yet another sign that Washington Republicans are prepared to do all they can to re-elect Chafee and maintain their stranglehold on power in Congress. Democrats today asked Chafee what Frist’s “divisive,” “mean-spirited” agenda has accomplished for his state – and whether Rhode Island can afford a Republican majority in the Senate any longer.

“Bill Frist’s fundraiser today is another sign of what we all know to be true: George Bush, Karl Rove and Bill Frist are desperate to keep Linc Chafee in the Senate, because he helps keep them in power and keep their destructive agenda alive,” said DSCC spokesman Karl Frisch. “Chafee should cancel today’s fundraiser and tell Bill Frist that his divisive agenda has no place in Rhode Island.”

Frist Headlines Fundraiser for Chafee, Adding to the Nearly $100,000 He’s Already Raised for Chafee. Today, Bill Frist will headline an NRSC fundraiser for Chafee in Washington, DC. Since October 2004, Lincoln Chafee has received nearly $100,000 in campaign cash from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Frist’s VOLPAC has donated the maximum $10,000 to Chafee's re-election campaign. Additionally, Chafee's FEC reports show that VOLPAC bundled at least $78,000 in campaign contributions for Chafee. (National Journal’s CongressDaily, 6/5/06; www.tray.com; Chafee 2005 July Quarterly FEC Report)

Chafee Cozies Up as Frist Pushes “Divisive,” “Mean-Spirited” Agenda. At the same time he is raising money for Chafee, Frist is pushing a divisive Senate agenda with the sole purpose of pandering to his GOP base. Frist is attempting, one paper wrote, “to distract public attention from the serial blunders and omissions that have brought approval ratings, and the president's, to record low levels.” Other papers from around the country say Frist should be “ashamed” of his “scandalous,” “desperate,” “bitter,” “divisive,” “unnecessary,” and “mean-spirited” “pandering.” (Trenton Times, editorial, 6/4/06; USA Today, editorial, 5/31/06; New York Times, editorial 6/1/06; Los Angeles Times, Brownstein column, 6/4/06; CNN, “The Situation Room,” 6/2/06)

More:http://www.dscc.org/news/roundup/20060608_Chafee/index.htm

[Emit]

43. I read Milbank's WaPo article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/24/AR2006072400953.html

Reading that makes me think he might not be an incumbent, afterall.

Hhmm, why all the secrecy? Why can't they just reveal this guy's name?

Who wears French cuffs and cuff links that coordinate with his tie, other than Giuliani?

[BurtWorm]

44. I'm thinking it's Steele of Maryland

See post 36 above.

[MessiahRp]

49. Is Chafee in the middle of a tight race for his seat?

I don't know who is running against him.

Rp

[Norquist Nemesis]

32. Why were EIGHT reporters sitting down with a (R) candidate

for the U.S. Senate? Anyone else find this ...inappropriate?

[BurtWorm]

39. Why would the Republican hold an R-trashing party anonymously?

I'm thinking it's Steele now, and I'm thinking he's counting on being ID'd, having this talked about in MD so Dems (and African-American Dems in particular) might start to think he's just a regular guy who hates R's as much as the next guy. Or else he just likes the sound of his own voice but doesn't have the guts to say it out loud so everyone knows it's coming from him.

[MrBenchley]

60. How dumb do you have to be to hold it in a crowded restaurant?

I wonder how many diners knew both Milbank and Steele by sight?

[BurtWorm]

65. Apparently it wasn't at all difficult for insiders to figure out this was

Steele from the clues Millbank gave. He was ID'd within a day. Was it because Millbank purposely gave easy clues to spite Steele, or because Millbank knew he was supposed to give easy clues, because Steele wanted to be ID'd?

[hootinholler]

66. That makes sense...

After all the Post is a 'local' paper in large parts of Md. Steele wanted to be known to help him get the moderate/swing vote with an I don't know what you're talking about to the R base.

My guess is he wants to run against anyone but Cardin.

-Hoot

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

45. Shrubco won't admit Iraq is a failure because it would, in essence, admit

that their whole presidency is a miserable failure. Iraq, and Katrina, define the shrubco presidency.

[MessiahRp]

50. This can't be an incumbent...

Why would Frist say this about someone already there?

And we can tell you the Sen. Bill Frist stopped by the table where the candidate and the reporters were dining Monday and declared -- about the candidate, not Milbank -- "He's the best."

That sounds like he is excited about a possible NEW member of the Senate. Those comments aren't reserved for the people already there...

Rp

[Shrek]

52. ABC News confirms it's Steele

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics

MARYLAND'S MICHAEL STEELE: MR. ANONYMOUS

ABC News has learned that the GOP Senate candidate who anonymously described his Republican affiliation as a "scarlet letter" to the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and others on Monday is none other than Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele.

[BurtWorm]

53. He wouldn't have done this if he didn't think it would help, right?

But it seems he has just as much chance of doing himself harm as he does doing himself good. He can get the Republican National Committee angry with him, but even worse, he can make voters think he's an idiot and weinie for remaining a Republican if he feels that being one is such a liabilty.

Or this is just another sick, twisted Republican ratfuck I don't see the point of that will have the desired effect I can't foresee it having. :shrug:

[Emit]

54. Here's what odd

When you noted above that you thought it might be Steel, I was looking at some info on him, and came across this article excerpted here:

Why Is Michael Steele a Republican Candidate?

By MICHAEL SOKOLOVE

It was last spring when Karl Rove called Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor of Maryland, to sell him on running for the Senate, and to close the deal, Rove paused to put President Bush on the phone. As Steele recalls it, the president's adviser said, "Here, the boss wants to talk to you." Steele froze, then demurred. "I went, 'No, no thank you.' I was so stunned that he was going to hand the phone to the president. I said, 'That's all right, we'll have that call later.' I couldn't believe it." Other top Republicans called. Senator Elizabeth Dole. Ken Mehlman, the party chairman. One day Steele's cellphone rang, and Vice President Dick Cheney was on the other end.

Steele is the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland, which is usually one of the most reliably Democratic states in the nation. The counties bordering Washington are relentlessly liberal, as is its largest city, Baltimore. Steele lives in Prince George's County, which used to be tobacco plantations and is now the wealthiest majority-black county in the United States and normally a huge trove of Democratic votes. But to a Republican Party intent on securing its ascendancy by building a new base among America's minorities, Maryland looks like a land of opportunity. And a place where Democrats might be caught sleeping.

http://catholicsforsteele.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-is-michael-steele-republican.html

Looks like they courted him heavily. You would think they would be very involved in how he's running his campaign.

[BurtWorm]

55. Including what he says to the press and when.

Did Karl Rove know he was having this meeting?

Rove has been known to make some deprecating remarks about Bush to journalists (like Jim Hatfield, if you can believe him) just before he tightens the noose around their necks. Hatfield claimed Rove took him out in the middle of Lake Eufala in Oklahoma one foggy day and let loose a diatribe about what a lucky son of a bitch Bush is and how he always gets his ass saved from the draft, drug busts and other things normal people can't get saved from, not because he deserves to be saved but because of who his father is. But then he said there's no use trying to make anything out of it because that's just the way the world works. And Hatfield said in the next moment of silence, he got the sense that "the man from Eufala" (as he called Rove in "Fortunate Son") could very easily have just put an end to him right there and drop his body over the side of the boat and no one would ever know what happened to him. It's a very eerie part of the book.

But I don't see what good this does Rove, Steele or Republicans, let alone Bush, if it was planned. (Which doesn't mean it wasn't.)

[Emit]

61. Maybe its a ploy -- just a got a call related to this

Well, related in a way.

Got a call from this guy I met at a Democratic house party. He's a registered non-partisan and has taken to calling me when he feels that the Dems who are running in my state are 'losing' his support because he knows I'm a District Coord for the party. As much as I hate this, I kinda' like the guy -- a real straight talker. He's not in the least supportive of Bush & Co., and is very anti-war, pro labor, etc.

Anyway, a month or so ago, his big thing was immigration -- 'If the Dems don't come out strong against it', he wasn't gonna vote Dem, blah, blah... Well, I actually got him to understand that we need a Dem majority in congress in order to have some oversight.

Well, tonight, he calls to tell me that he ran into Dawn Gibbons, one of the Republican candidate for Congress -- she's the wife of Jim Gibbons who is our current Rep in Congress and who is not running again because he's running for Governor. Anyway, this guy tells me he flat out told her that he could never vote for a politician who could support this war in Iraq. He said she told him that she's had it with the war, too, and that she favors and end to it. He said she was very critical of Bush and the way he's handled the war. She must have been very convincing because he said she impressed him a lot with her candidness and how against Bush she was on a number of issues.

So, in a nutshell, maybe this is their way of pandering to the voters this time around. Bush has nothing to lose by it, really. And, in cases like this, the Repug has everything to gain from pandering to an undecided voter like this guy.

[BurtWorm]

64. Your friend is a sucker if he falls for that.

Party means something these days, when the (Republican) party in power is so nakedly greedy to hold onto and expand power. The bottom line for everyone who is not a Republican is that the Republicans must go.

[Emit]

67. Yup, and I'm back at square one with him

Next week we meet for lunch -- his request, which is a good sign. Yet again, I will be going over all the reasons not to vote Republican. Yet again, another history lesson will be taught. And yet again, a little lesson in US government.

[BurtWorm]

68. A lot of work for such a wishy-wash.

I pity you!

:evilfrown:

[Emit]

69. True, but, he's pretty influential in certain circles here in my town

Sometimes we have to pick and choose our battles. Going door to door with strangers, I fight the fight, but at times, I give up on certain folks knowing that I'm swimming up stream. If I can get this guy to understand what I thought he understood when he was so caught up on the immigration ploy, then I'm killing several birds with one stone, IMO. Well, at least that's my plan. One vote at a time at this early stage is how our grassroots is managing our efforts. As we get closer to November, I won't have the time or patience to deal with this kinda' thinker.

At a minimum, when we meet next week, he wants info on how he can donate $$ to the Dem Party for advertising. That, in and of itself, is worth my time.

Tx for listening, BurtWorm.

[BurtWorm]

70. I'm not criticizing you, Emit.

But people who can't get how really bad the GOP is for the country after all the shit they've done to it really bug me.

:hi:

[blm]

56. Bush so desperate to prevent a turnover he doesn't care if some candidates

in blue states make a show of distancing themselves? Bush has been a political strategist for over 30 years - he doesn't care about principles, only winning.

[Cha]

57. Did you EVER think we

would hear those words coming from a recon at election time? Albeit, obviously one of the more sane ones.

That bullhorn photo op didn't impress me, mr anonymous pub..how about the goat story photo op when he wouldn't get off his butt?

[DeepModem Mom]

62. HERE'S THE ANSWER, FOLKS!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1731221

ON EDIT: I see some in this thread also guessed the identity.

[Emit]

71. They're discussing this on NPR right now.

And the 'unorthodox' campaign Steele is running.

[Emit]

72. Here's that NPR link from today

Just in case anyone is interested:

Talk of the Nation, July 26, 2006 · In this week's Political Junkie segment, political guru Fred Grandy talks about the Iraq prime minister's address to Congress and the new interstate abortion bill. He also he reveals the identity of a remarkably candid, but anonymous, Republican candidate for Senate.




http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5584100