RNC Chair: Party Will Win On Security

Political Players: Mike Duncan Says Republicans Are Better Able to Protect America

(CBS)  Political Players is a weekly conversation with the leaders, consultants, and activists who shape American politics. This week, CBS News' Brian Goldsmith talked with Mike Duncan, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, about President Bush, John McCain and how he plans to defeat the Democrats.

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CBSNews.com: Obviously, Senator McCain is your party’s presumptive nominee. It doesn't seem like there's any real way for Governor Huckabee to catch up. Is it bad for the party, in your view, for him to continue to stay in this race?

Mike Duncan: Well, I certainly would much rather be in our position, than to be in the position of Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democrats. Because our process will come to a conclusion before our convention, and their process won't. And they're having a lot of problems with that right now.

CBSNews.com: Do you think Governor Huckabee staying in hurts your ability to unify and galvanize your supporters for the general election?

Mike Duncan: I've been around this for a long time. I started working in politics in 1972. And I've heard that argument time after time. Given the stark contrast, I don't think, in my lifetime, there has been a wider line of division between the two parties. And that's why, given the chance, our voters will come home.

Because they see that the alternative is a candidate who believes in higher taxes, more government--someone who believes in creating government bureaucracies to take choice out of healthcare, someone who believes in appointing people who legislate from the bench.

CBSNews.com: But isn't that exactly the charge a lot of conservatives have leveled against Senator McCain? That he's not as strong on conservative judges, that he's not as strong on taxes, that he's not as strong in support of the social issues. So are you sure the difference is stark enough to attract those Laura Ingrahams and Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters back into the fold?

Mike Duncan: Well, I am. Because, let's talk about the Democratic candidates just for a second. We've got a real interesting pick on the Democratic side, and it's certainly up to the voters to determine.

Barack Obama has an experience issue. And the question that the American people will ultimately decide is, is he ready to be commander-in-chief of the United States?

On the other hand, you've got Senator Clinton. And the issue there is trust. Can the American people trust Senator Clinton? And, currently, two-thirds of the people say that she would say or do anything to be elected president. More than half the people don't trust her. She has very high negatives. Maybe the highest for a candidate at this point, since we've been tracking it in a primary.

CBSNews.com: Is your argument more against the Democrats than for your Republican nominee?

Mike Duncan: No, I don't think that's the case. I was answering your specific question. It's very positive. On the Republican side, both of our remaining candidates have been talking about the values that we consider the core of our party. The core of our party is about the American dream.

And the values there have to do with smaller government--government that protects you certainly, but also a government that lets you go and lets you develop over a period of time, and lowers taxes. Because we know that lower taxes puts more money into the economy, which helps with that American dream.

CBSNews.com: But what about the charge-as one Republican said to me-that one of the reasons you're having trouble motivating your base is that Bill Clinton didn't grow the government as much as George W. Bush has?

Mike Duncan: Well, on the motivation thing, I hear that too. Let me go back and say that in 2006 we were disappointed with the results. And we learned some lessons. Look what we did in 2007. Look how successful the Republican Congress was in stopping the Democrats’ spending.

Now we need to do more on the tax issue. We've got to make sure that these tax decreases become permanent over a period of time. But our base is motivated by that. We had over 800,000 individual donors at the RNC last year. We raised $83 million. We out raised the DNC by over $30 million.

While the Democrats are having a good turnout in their primaries, we are, too. In some states we're having record turnouts in our primaries. And I feel very good about the motivational base and our ability to come together this fall.

CBSNews.com: And you think those very loud voices, those radio talk show hosts, will come onboard?

Mike Duncan: Well, I have a historic perspective. We didn't have as much talk radio twenty years ago. But there were always leaders of the different factions of the party. And they always strenuously presented their case. But, at the end of the day, they looked at the choices they had.

This is a leadership contest between two people to be the leader of the free world. And they filter it down and they look at it through issues, and they come down and they ask questions. Can I trust this person to be the commander-in-chief? Is this person ready to be the commander-in-chief of the United States? And I believe that, given the opportunity, our conservative voters will be with us this fall.

CBSNews.com: Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona announced this week that he's retiring. [His spokesman has since said that he may reconsider.] He's the 29th Republican House member to say he won’t seek re-election. Do you think that's a vote of no confidence in your ability to take back the Congress?

Mike Duncan: I think these are individual decisions that people make on whether they run for reelection to Congress or not. I mean you can go through the list. There are some who are running for higher office. There are some who have family considerations. Some feel that it's important that they want to do other things and go on. These are very individual decisions.

CBSNews.com: And let me ask you about what some commentators have called a broader enthusiasm gap between the two parties. 14.6 million Democrats voted on Super Tuesday. Only about 9 million Republicans voted. The Democratic presidential candidates, taken as a whole, have significantly outraised the Republican presidential candidates. Are you worried about that?

Mike Duncan: Well, they're also broke. One of the good things about this, is that we can look at all of the money that they've spent on each other. And money has some direct correlation with the turnout in politics. So again, I would much rather be in my position than Chairman Dean's position.

Let me talk to you about the number of people that turn out in primaries. I've gone back and looked at this historically. In the last nine primaries, there is not a correlation between the number of people who vote in the primaries and which party is elected in the fall. If so, Ronald Reagan would not have been elected. Or George Bush, 41, would not have been elected. So while all of this is very interesting, typically, the party out of power has more turnout in their primaries in presidential years than the party in power.

CBSNews.com: What is the big Republican vision for 2008? A number of commentators--David Brooks comes to my mind--have said that, lower taxes, smaller government and strong defense, has been the Republican message for 20 years. And it's very important, obviously, but that you need something more to offer voters for 2008. What do you think that is?

Mike Duncan: Well, our vision is--and it's a simple message. It's this whole vision of personal security. And are we better, personally secure today, more than we were on 9-11. And I think the answer to that is, yes. And why? It's because of the policies of the Republican Party. And we've got to make sure that those policies are in place. And that's the basic reason for government, and that's where we have to start.

The other is are we better off by having the 200 and some odd federal judges that have been appointed by the president. And the answer there is, yes. I mean, John Roberts and Sam Alito have made a significant difference on the court and the direction of people's lives in this country.

And finally, are we better off having lower taxes and less government. The tax cuts that a Republican Congress and President Bush put into place after 9-11 have led us to 54 consecutive months of growth.

We're having a downturn at the current time. The stimulus package was just passed. The president took the lead on that. These are basic issues. And these are basic issues that people filter through this idea of who they trust to be the leader of the free world.

CBSNews.com: But the president has an approval rating that's been stuck in the 20s or 30s for over a year.

Mike Duncan: The Congressional approval rating is lower than the president's approval rating.

CBSNews.com: But Americans don't feel better off economically than they did eight years ago. How do you turn that around?

Mike Duncan: It's getting our message out to the American people. And our presidential candidate will be the one who will be crafting that message. So that person can give you more of the specifics. But the basics are there that unite the party.

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Mike Duncan is serving his third term as Republican National Committeeman from Kentucky and was appointed the party's chairman by President Bush in 2007. He had served, since 2001, as Treasurer and then General Counsel of the RNC. He is the principal owner of two community banking companies in Eastern Kentucky. Duncan also has extensive experience working in state university systems and not-for-profit student mentoring and rural development programs. Duncan is married with one son.

[pakaal]

Security? The Democrats are winning on this issue, according to a number of polls. I mean how seriously can you take a comment like that when we have two terms of Bush making our country more vulnerable to attack as proof to the contrary?

Unfortunately, like the "Illegal Immigration Problem" story the Republicans have been trying to make a core issue of the past few months, the people of America aren''t buying it any more.

Duncan''s also wrong in a much larger sense. The Republican party won''t "win on security" because they''re not going to win at all.

[skymountain3]

The RNC chair has it wrong. The only thing the Republican party will win on is allowing the quieted voice of Mike Huckabee to prevail and at least gain back some more respect.

[flreason]

"And are we better, personally secure today, more than we were on 9-11. And I think the answer to that is, yes."

Maybe YOU guys are. But you''ve sold the rest of us down the river.

This administration got us into a war using false or misinterpreted information, has suffered more leaks than New Orleans'' levees, has "lost" millions of veterans'' ID info, deliberately revenge-outted an active CIA operative, let bin Laden escape, was prepared to outsource U.S. port security to a foreign country, sold a 3 trillion dollar debt to our enemies, etc., etc.

More secure? You''re delusional! If the Republicans are going to pin their White House hopes on the security issue, they''d better have an escape clause in their contract with the movers. The closest they''ll get to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the public tour.

[sgtrds]

RNC Chair: Party Will Win On Security

Political Players: Mike Duncan Says Republicans Are Better Able to Protect America

CORRECTION:

RNC Chair: Party Will Win On Fear

Political Players: Mike Duncan Says Republicans Are Better Able to Scare America

[sgtrds]

RNC Plan; Scare enough gutless cowards into thinking the boogieman is going to get them and they''ll vote republican while pis*sing themselves under their beds............

[ioweign]

Same old same old- people wanting something for nothing- then they are disappointed when they have to pay-ah

Posted by Jack3213 at 02:01 PM : Feb 16, 2008

No bid contracts.

Halliburton to a tee...

[taotxzen]

A Check on Abuse of Power
by Ben Wizner

Of the myriad tactics the Bush administratio uses to prevent oversight of its controversial anti-terror policies, none has been more successful, or more far-reaching, than the state secrets privilege. On Wednesday, the Senate considered, at long last, bipartisan legislation that would place reasonable limits on the executive branch%u2019s use of the privilege to terminate lawsuits on dubious grounds. But for some %u2014 like my client, Khaled El-Masri, who was mistakenly kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA %u2014 Congress%u2019 interest, though welcome, comes too late.

The state secrets privilege, first recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court half a century ago, permits the government to block the release during litigation of information or evidence that poses a national security risk. No one seriously disputes the validity of the underlying doctrine: Litigants should not be permitted to use the discovery process to expose the identity of the next Valerie Plame.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

But in recent years, the state secrets privilege has mutated from a rule of evidence into a virtual grant of immunity. This administration has invoked the privilege not to protect sensitive information but to torpedo entire lawsuits alleging grave executive misconduct %u2014 before any requests for evidence have been made.

Khaled El-Masri%u2019s case is illustrative. El-Masri, a German citizen, was forcibly abducted while on holiday in Macedonia, detained incommunicado, handed over to the CIA, then beaten, drugged and transported to a secret prison in Afghanistan for harsh interrogation. Five months after his abduction %u2014 long after the CIA realized its mistake %u2014 El-Masri was deposited at night on a hill in Albania.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

El-Masri%u2019s ordeal received front-page media coverage throughout the world and has been the subject of criminal and intergovernmental investigations in Europe. Nonetheless, when we brought suit against former CIA Director George Tenet and others seeking compensation for the brutal treatment of El-Masri, the administration insisted the case be dismissed because any litigation of the claims would reveal state secrets. The government%u2019s argument prevailed, and the Supreme Court declined to intervene.

So as the law stands, the U.S. can engage in torture, declare it a state secret and, by virtue of that designation alone, avoid any accountability for conduct that violates the Constitution and universal human rights guarantees. A broad range of executive misconduct has been shielded from judicial review under this doctrine.

The State Secrets Protection Act would prohibit the dismissal of cases prior to discovery. The legislation would require courts to examine the actual classified evidence instead of dismissing suits on the sole basis of affidavits submitted by the perpetrators themselves. It would also allow courts to compel the government to produce unclassified substitutes for privileged evidence and, if the government refuses, to resolve the issue in favor of the plaintiff.

These overdue amendments can ensure that other pending cases are not unjustly terminated.

[taotxzen]

MCCAIN MAY NEED BUSH MORE THAN HE THINKS

p m carpenter''s commentary

"We love ya big guy, but for heaven''s sake don''t call us. We''ll call you."

That''s the official word from McCain''s High Command to the occupying regime of George W. Bush, as reported this morning by the New York Times after a weekend what-to-do-about-George strategy session in Arizona.

"Senator John McCain''s campaign advisers will ask the White House to deploy President Bush for major Republican fund-raising, but they do not want the president to appear too often at his side," reveals the Times, as revealed to it by the behind-the-eight-ball boys.

(cont)