The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Will Republicans Let SPLC Run RNC?

Posted on | November 20, 2010 | 6 Comments

During the Nov. 9 American Spectator gala in Washington, I had a chance to talk briefly to my friend RNC Chairman Michael Steele. There is, of course, a movement afoot to replace Steele, and Michigan’s Saul Anuzis has already declared himself a candidate for the chairmanship. Liberals are doing everything they can to demonize Anuzis:

[T]his week, the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed that Anuzis has defended and endorsed a vocal right-wing extremist named Kyle Bristow, who was the head of the Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (MSU-YAF). “This is exactly the type of young kid we want out there,” Anuzis said on a radio program in May 2007. “I’ve known Kyle for years and I can tell you I have never heard him say a racist or bigoted or sexist thing, ever.” . . .
Thanks to Bristow’s leadership, the SPLC — which tracks extremist groups — designated the MSU-YAF as a hate group in 2006. . . .
It should be noted that Anuzis’ defense of Bristow came almost a full year after MSU-YAF’s exploits were made public, and after the SPLC designated him as the leader of a hate group.

Kyle Bristow is a big, rowdy kid who is now in law school in Ohio. Anuzis’s defense of Bristow in 2007 — more than three years ago, when Bristow was still an MSU undergrad — cannot be plucked out context as evidence that Anuzis endorses everything Bristow has said or done.

Let’s hope that RNC delegates are smart enough to ignore such a cheap guilt-by-association trick.

Whether or not Steele is replaced — by Anuzis or anyone else — Republicans have got to stop letting their enemies exercise a veto. What the RNC needs as chairman is someone who speaks for the party and can raise a lot of money. Without prejudice toward either Steele or Anuzis, I nominate Ann Coulter.

Just to see the SPLC go completely batshit insane.

UPDATEDan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress informs us that Steele has reportedly hired his former personal assistant as “liaison” to the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa. For $15,000 a month.

UPDATE II: Brian Bolduc of National Review interviews Anuzis:

“There are literally thousands of major donors who have left the party and haven’t given to us in some time . . . I think we need a nuts-and-bolts person.”

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