The Day After: The Hobbsian Husseining Of Obama And The Future Of The Tennessee Republican Party
Bill Hobbs certainly had himself a day yesterday. Tom Humphrey expertly roundups the story at the Knoxville News Sentinel that he, along with Ken Whitehouse, set off less than twenty four hours ago.
The press release, one of many potentially dispatched from the prolific Tennessee communications czar, did not go unnoticed by the Tennessee blogosphere when it was released Monday but it was not until the tag team of Humphrey and Whitehouse contrasted it with the comments of a radio talker who John McCain roundly condemned that the Tennessee Republican Party became ground zero in a national controversy.
Not only did the McCain campaign condemn the release but so to did the senior senator from Tennessee, the party’s titular head. The Republican National Committee has weighed in rebuking the tactics and national reporters from Marc Ambinder to the Politico have carried the story to a national audience.
Today, the name of Bill Hobbs and Tennessee Republican Party ring out in the pages of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Fox News, the San Francisco Chronicle, Wonkette and has even reached the shores of foreign countries.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Republican officials defended a press release issued Monday that said Mr. Obama was anti-Israel and was supported by anti-Semites like Louis Farrakhan, founder of the Nation of Islam. The release uses Mr. Obama’s middle name, Hussein, and includes the widely distributed photo of Mr. Obama in native Somali garb on a trip to Africa in 2006.
Mr. Obama, responding to a question at Tuesday’s debate, rejected Mr. Farrakhan’s support and proclaimed his support for Israel.
Bill Hobbs, spokesman for the Tennessee Republican Party, said the party issued the release because “Barack Obama has surrounded himself with people who do not have the best interests of Israel at heart.” He said the party had gotten complaints from Democrats and some Republicans, but had not heard from the McCain campaign.
Mr. McCain said he could not control the activities of such groups until he was the nominee.
Many Tennesseans feel the attention Hobbs’ release has brought to Tennessee is unwelcome and reflects badly on the state. Bill Hobbs himself notes the attention by revealing that his personal blog received a deluge of unsavory comments all of which he deleted.
Mark Mays, a man of considerable political acumen, says the light rebukes we are seeing of the Tennessee Republican Party from great white fathers of the GOP ultimately won’t amount to much in the end because the Republican base loves the kind of red meat that Hobbs is an expert at slinging.
The RNC, John McCain and Lamar Alexander may not like what the Tennessee Republican Party has done here but in end, Mays asserts, they cannot sanction them too much for fear of alienating the people who put them in power. Lamar Alexander and John McCain may be men of moderate politics and temperament but without the great unwashed who listen to talk radio and read blogs their army of loyal foot soldiers starts to sit on their hands.
No one embodies that red meat conservative foot soldier more than Terry Frank who defends Bill Hobbs and Robin Smith today to an extensive posting on the controversy:
And at some point, good Republicans like Tennessee’s GOP Chair Robin Smith need to wake up and realize that spineless Republicans like Senator Lamar Alexander are interested in their own personal legacies, not electing Republicans, and sure as heck not interested in helping elect conservative Republicans. You think a bunch of these Democrats are endorsing Lamar because he’s so very GOP? You think Tennessee is still run by Democrats because Lamar has worked his plaid little rear off? Hardly.
Robin, you should have stuck to your guns.
And there’s the rub. Right there. This controversy is about tactics, but it is also about ideology. Terry Frank, Robin Smith and Bill Hobbs represent a very different Republican Party than does Lamar Alexander. Alexander is a Baker Republican. He mouths the conservative rhetoric when he needs to but, at root, the red meat and the politics that TNGOP practices is not something he embraces. It is something he actively chooses to eschew.
As Senate Republican conference chair, the number three position in the Senate Republican Caucus, Lamar is attempting to forge a new Republican politics of bipartisanship. So while Alexander is in Washington is building bridges the party which he leads back home is back here in the Volunteer state burning them down.
There is a fundamental cleavage here. This is a battle and Lamar Alexander is at the center of it just like he was in 2002 when his primary with conservative Ed Bryant brought to a head the division between the two factions. This controversy, for Tennessee, is bigger than some smacked ass press release rhetoric, a racy photo and the use of a middle name. It strikes at the heart of identity of Tennessee Republican Party.
On the surface, this story is about the polemical flourishes of an ambitious and innovative communications director. But there is substance beneath the style, Bill Hobbs is right about that. What happened yesterday was a circus but it reveals two rather than three rings.
The fundamental question this controversy asks Republicans is this: Is the Tennessee Republican Party the party of Lamar Alexander or is it the party of Robin Smith?
Some say it can be both, as it has been. But this morning, one assumes, more people are questioning that assertion than were doing so at this time yesterday.
UPDATE: See an “anatomy of a controversy” timeline here.
MORE COVERAGE AND REACTION:
The Associated Press
The Memphis Flyer
Roger Abramson
Enclave
The City Paper
Andy Sher
Left Wing Cracker
John Brown
Brendan Loy
Russ McBee
Sarcastro
Home State Pride
Talking Points Memo
CNN.com
Firedog Lake
Blue Crab Blvd
White Hoodies for Tennessee Republicans?
Carpetbagger Report
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Are you really that stupid, hACK? Or, is this diatribe just more of your usual projection? Lamar Alexander and Robin Smith have two very different roles. One is charged with being a senior statesman and governing, while the other’s responsibility is to raise money and rally the troops. One is elected by 6,000,000 ordinary citizens, the other appointed by 66 committee members. Both did their jobs yesterday. And both hit home runs.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Here’s an interesting point: B-Ho and Robin say they are energizing the Republican base by using a bigoted smear, which means they believe the Republican base is bigoted. After all, who would be energized by such a tactic other than bigots?
If I’m reading this post correctly, Kleinheider agrees with that assumption. Is it in fact the case that the base of the Tennessee Republican Party is bigoted? That’s a question that I don’t think has been asked yet in this controversy . . . although, I feel certain that this is going to continue long enough for many more questions to be asked.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:18 am
FreddieMac, how is using someone’s middle name a “bigoted smear?” It’s his name, nothing more and nothing less. If you think it is insulting, that is only because YOU have some bias against Muslims. Frankly, I’m not surprised by your bigoted tendencies. One, most Arab-Americans do vote Republican and, two, the Democrat Party has a long history of mollycoddling race baiters. Your feigned outrage reminds me of truism I learned in kindergarten; ye who smelt, dealt.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Is it in fact the case that the base of the Tennessee Republican Party is bigoted?
No, that press release wasn’t designed to appeal to the base of the Republican party. The Republican base wasn’t going to vore for BHO anyway, he’s ranked the MOST LIBERAL member of the U.S. Senate by nonpartisan National Journal and has the same amount of foreign policy experience as a Wal-Mart greeter.
You better believe there are lots of Tennessee Democrats who won’t vote for Obama though. Look no further than the primary results on Feb. 5. It’s Tennessee Democrats, regular mainstream Democrats, not the Sean Braisted’s and FreddieMac’s of the state, who need to ask themselves, am I willing to cast a vote for a man who’s been endorsed by Louis Farrakhan? A man who seeks to legitimize the most brutal dictator’s of the world by allowing them to sit down for a face to face meeting with the President of the United states!?!? A man who would precipitously pull U.S. troops out of Iraq and then send them right back in when the country inevitably becomes an Al Qaida safe haven?? Forget that his middle name is Hussein, is this the man Tennessee Democrats, the Ned Ray McWherter’s and Jimmy Naifeh’s of the state want leading their party????
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Zack, no one’s buying this weak feigning of innocence - What’s wrong with using a middle name? The intent of the TNGOP press release is obvious.
I’m asking a legitimate question. It seems that everyone agrees this is an effective tactic for energizing the Tennessee Republican base. Is it? Kleinheider says this highlights an ongoing battle within the TNGOP between moderates and bigots. Those are the accepted definitions at this point.
It’s also pointless for you to try a childish “Yeah-well-so-are-you” rebuttal. If the TN Democratic Party had put out this release, I’d feel the same way, and I would ask the same question about the Democratic base.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Let’s see…
The Associated Press
The Memphis Flyer
Roger Abramson
Enclave
The City Paper
Andy Sher
Left Wing Cracker
John Brown
Brendan Loy
Russ McBee
Sarcastro
Home State Pride
Talking Points Memo
Firedog Lake
Blue Crab Blvd
White Hoodies for Tennessee Republicans?
Carpetbagger Report
Does we any more liberals he can link to tell us what Republicans think?
I love it when ACK and other libnuts try to explain Republicans to Republicans.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am
JB, then why did Robin Smith, TNGOP chairwoman, says that the release was intended for the Republican base?
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Ohh bad typo.
Do we have, that is.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I dunno, if that’s the case, the TN GOP should be targeting indies and conservative Dems — not the GOP base. I don’t see there being too many Republicans for Obama house parties in Tenn.
on February 28th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I’m impressed, ACK, that’s one massively link-filled roundup.
on February 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am
You are very good at your job, Adam.
on February 28th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Well, JB, I think the answer is obvious. Everyone knows that the Republican base can’t stand John McCain. B-Ho and Robin are trying to “energize” them to vote against Obama this fall (if he’s the nominee) even if they can’t vote for McCain.
on February 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I would consider myself part of the Republican base, and while I have some policy disagreements with McCain, I don’t have any problem casting a vote for him. In fact, most Republicans I talk to feel like McCain was the most electable candidate the GOP had to offer. First choice, no, but I don’t see any TN Republicans willing to sit this one out because they don’t like the nominee. However, I do see the potential for TN Dems voting McCain en masse. I live in West TN and know plenty of Dems who can’t stand the idea of Obama being their party’s nominee. I don’t know if it’s because he’s black, has a Muslim name or is just way too liberal and inexperienced, but he’s got a big problem with white Democrats in TN.
on February 28th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Republicans crossed over and voted for Jr. over Corker in the genral. Democrats did not vote for Obama in the primary. I think it is clear what party accepts people of race.
on February 28th, 2008 at 11:30 am
‘people of race’
Classic.
on February 28th, 2008 at 11:32 am
>it is clear what party accepts people of race.
Right. Because you know for a fact that the Clinton voters were necessarily anti-Obama, and that the only reason anyone voted for her was that she was white.
on February 28th, 2008 at 11:43 am
“Jesse Jackson won South Carolina too.”
on February 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
But a white republican wouldn’t let an african american democrat sign on the her bill.
on February 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
That cnn.com link buried in the list of others says the RNC has formally denounced the actions of the Tennessee GOP….wow.
on February 28th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
White rural Democrats everywhere else voted for Obama. One only needs to look at the results fo the Midwest primaries to figure that out. Tennessee’s primary is beginning to look more and more like an anomaly than anything else.
on February 28th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Zack, et al.
There are a few things I know about ol’ Lamar based on researching his history for opp. research and from when my father worked in the UT administration. He is indeed a moderate, a very old school Lincoln Republican, a jerk maybe, but a moderate all the same. He’s not simply being a statesman. I don’t doubt that, especially considering he’s not best buds with McCain, that he wouldn’t mind flicking the switch for Obama. I can say that with a straight face. But in the end, he’s a party loyalist with ambition still and he’s going to play this in the way he sees in the party’s best interest.
Smith should have done the same. Her job is the chair of the ENTIRE state party. It isn’t as if Zach and “reality” are representative of the entire party. She isn’t just queen of the base voters. If she’s making a play for the base, there were a hundred other ways of doing it besides something that would obviously cause problems for her team. How can someone claim she hit one out of the park when she’s brining down heat on her own head?
on February 28th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Bill Hobbs himself notes the attention by revealing that his personal blog received a deluge of unsavory comments all of which he deleted.
I submit Hobbs is yella.
on February 28th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
“Democrats did not vote for Obama in the primary. I think it is clear what party accepts people of race.”
That is perhaps the dumbest thing I’ve read at VV, and that says a lot given William Howard Hobbs is a regular contributor here.
I’d love to see you explain away Willie Herenton’s and AC Wharton’s support for Hillary over Obama. Are they racist or did they just think she’d be a better President? Were Corker voters racists or did they think that he would be a better Senator?
on February 28th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Well done.
on February 28th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Even the national party disagrees with the TNGOP tactics…
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/28/rnc-denounces-use-of-hussein-in-obamas-name/
Shows that the Tennessee party is willing to sink to lows even the GOP isn’t willing to go… sad…
on February 28th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Even the national party disagrees with the TNGOP tactics…
Eh, not so much. The GOP - indirectly - uses these sorts of tactics all the time. It’s electoral lifeblood for them.
They just aren’t issued on official party letterhead.
This is what 527’s are for. The Swift Boaters and other ratf*ckers through the ages (Atwater, Rove, Segretti, Haldeman, Mitchell, e.g.) weren’t lazy - they might have been GOP faithful, but they weren’t using the color of the party office to do their work. They went to some trouble to at least maintain some appearance of distance from the dirty work.