RNC members vote to grill candidates behind closed doors
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A much-anticipated special meeting between Republican National Committee members and the men seeking to lead the party will now take place behind closed doors after the members voted to prohibit non-party members from attending.
The meeting was originally scheduled to be open to reporters and other Republicans not on the committee, but after a roll call vote, it was determined there were not enough RNC members present for a quorum. Since the meeting would then only be an unofficial gathering, the members present were allowed to vote on how to proceed, and chose to bar the media from the session.
Now, the six contenders for RNC chair will present their cases and face more than an hour of tough questions from committee members without television cameras and reporters looking over their shoulders.
One candidate, former Mike Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman, said he would have been fine with the media in the room, but also said he welcomed the chance to speak candidly with members without the presence of reporters.
“Every candidate has got a different idea of where they want to take the party, and I think its important for us to get together, talk about it, and obviously let the membership decide where they want to take it,” he said, “because I see the members as the board of directors of this company.”
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Will there be torture involved?
FreeNLovit, I only like Huckabee. He's too honest for the GOP. That are a dry folks, not that Democrats aren't, but GOP is dishonest, and uses racism to get the uneducated vote.
Is waterboarding involved?
For all those who like Huckabee, the guy is a religious extremist. He preaches intolerance. He is anti-science, he would try to rewrite the Constitution to turn it into a "Christian Document".
On the surface he seems like a pleasant person, and maybe he is, now. He likely would be a good neighbor and friend, but power corrupts, and no one corrupts so much as a religious extremist, particularly a fundamentalist christian one.
No Huckabee, no way.
please, it's not a Q&A session, it's a bible meeting...
I love the mentality, "I can be honest with you, but only if no one else knows what I'm saying." It can only mean you intend to lie to the listener, or you intend to lie to everyone else. Transparency is only for honest people and suckers!
I can only hope that the Republican Party will disappear soon, to be replaced by a responsible party that will actually try to solve the nation's problems, not prevent them from being solved.
I would not hire any of those guys to run a shoe store nor trust any of them with a red-hot stove.
How much damage can Conservatism do to our nation before we say, "Enough!"
CLOSED DOORS!!!! IT'S ALL ABOUT TRASH. THIS IS A RACIAL NATIONAL CONGRESS.
Pathetic. RNC haven't yet figured out where they want to take their party after their lost to the democrats. If they haven't figured it out by now, then they never will.
Behind closed doors. Kind of says a lot about the mentality of the Republican party. Transparency isnt in their vocabulary and some of the reason they lost in the 2008 elections.
When "stupidity" suffices, why search for any other reason?
FOLKS, I HAVE THE LIST OF QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE RNC LEADER.
1) IQ OF LESS THAN 90
2) LOTS & LOTS & LOTS OF HATE, HATE TO THE BONE.
3) AN EXPERT AT LOOTING THE AMERICAN TAX $$$$$$
4) KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE TO START THE NEXT WAR.
5) HIGH SCHOOL GRAD OK BUT GED PREFERRED.
6) HAS NO PROBLEM WITH INTERPRETING THE CONSTITUTION
** TO SUIT THE ABOVE.
What is with the republican party? why are they in such a state of chaos? sure they lost every election since 2006 but seriously.....
Despite the defeat in 2000 and 2004 the democrats didn't scramble like roaches in utter chaos, they stayed pretty much on message
This meeting should be private. Nothing worse than politicians mugging it up for the media, and the Republican leadership has some real image and direction problems to address without a circus to contend with. Also, they should make sure that Democrats are not voting in the state primaries for who will be the Republican candidate in the future. John McCain would not have been the presidential candidate if this rule was in place. More than likely Romney would have prevailed. Romney-Palin would have been awesome!
Saltsman, don't run. You ruined yourself by sending out that racially tainted video. I know it is tempting to lower our party to that level of the democrats, but let's keep our morality and dignity no matter what! The country will soon enough see through all the bling of "hope" "change".
Okay, after reading some of these comments, I can truly say that Democrats are totally obnoxious. If you are a corrupt Democrat, so what? If you are a corrupt Republican, they want to hang you in the town square. Hippocrites all. I will be glad when we take America back from the brink of third-world-dom. Barack the Messiah is going to crash and burn.
Working gal January 7th, 2009 12:56 pm ET
Gee, I see all the out of work Democrats blogging still (not again). You guys need a life, a job and a shrink!
Well apparently if you have time to see all of this, you aren't doing too much with your time either, perhaps you're in the same boat as them, so you obviously need a life, job, etc. also.
Contrary to other opinions, I believe that the initial meetings need to be close doors so they can be free to express their opinions.
On the other hand, the interviewing process does not seem democratic. Why only six? Are they only interviewing the former primary presidential or VP candidates?
I believe that the Republican party, unfortunately is in disarray. The capable people within its ranks are not leading, the current leaders have done a terrible job of distancing themselves from their true constituents by feing inflexible in their opinions, not fiscally conservative, unwilling to be held accountable for their mistakes, and plainly lying to the american public in many instances.
Why am I not surprised that a bigot like Saltsman wants to run the Rethuglican party? It just proves how ugly the Gross Old Party has become!
As long as they continue with the same people at the top the Republican party is lost. Need new blood now. Get ride of once and for all the religious/antiabortion/gay hating leaders.