Meet Terry Nelson

September 11, 2006

The WaPo ran a fascinating front-page item yesterday about the Republican Party’s midterm plans, which basically amounts to a massive GOP attack machine. Apparently, the National Republican Congressional Committee has already dispatched “a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.”

Obviously, any hopes that the incumbent majority party, which has enjoyed six years of dominance in Washington, would run on its record of accomplishments were misplaced. With their backs against the wall, the GOP will do what it always does — it will lash out wildly, devoting nearly all of its resources to digging up dirt and attacking Democrats. There’s certainly a reasonable case to be made that this strategy, while hardly honorable, may very well be effective.

But there’s another element of the story that shouldn’t go overlooked.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has enlisted veteran party strategist Terry Nelson to run a campaign that will coordinate with Senate Republicans on ads that similarly will rely on the best of the worst that researchers have dug up on Democrats.

And who is Terry Nelson? I’m glad you asked.

You may recall that Nelson was the political director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign and then signed on as a senior adviser to John McCain’s political action committee in March. More importantly, as Josh Marshall noted, Nelson “has the unique distinction of being tied to two of the biggest cases of Republican campaign corruption in the Bush era.”

Nelson was implicated in the infamous New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal and he was an unindicted coconspirator in the political money-laundering case which ended Tom DeLay’s career.

If you’d like to do some of your own research at home, here’s the government’s witness list for the trial of arch-phone-jammer James Tobin. Nelson figures prominently on the list. (To the best of my knowledge, Nelson has steadfastly refused to answer questions regarding his role in the caper.) And here’s the indictment in the DeLay case where Nelson’s role in that case is explained at some length.

With this background in mind, it’s only natural that National Republican Congressional Committee would turn immediately to Nelson to execute an attack strategy that’s bound to get very ugly, very fast.

Josh recommended that we be “prepared for literally anything over the next sixty days.” Sounds like good advice to me.

Josh recommended that we be “prepared for literally anything over the next sixty days.”

I’m prepared for Democrats to respond in kind.

  • Eyes on the prize, folks.

    The Republicans won, remarkably, in 2004 because they first defined the challenger, and then turned the election into a referendum on the character of the challenger rather than the record of the incumbent. This was an unprecedented trick, but now the Dems have to bear in mind that old Texas/Tennessee truism: “fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, won’t be fooled again.”

    Bush imbecility allusions aside, it should be harder for the bastards to do this in 468 races than in 1. But the Democrats have to be repetitive and relentless in keeping the focus where it belongs: the Republican record of comprehensive failure.

  • Luckily the Democrats’ research should be a little easier. The tentacles of the Repbublicans’ corruption cases probably ensnare every relevant Repub candidate.

    Unfortunately, the Republicans will accuse first and then let the truth get sorted out after the election.

  • Politics ain’t twiddly-winks. I know that Chairman Howard Dean has got the spine to stand up to these bastards, but do the rest of the Democrats have the required fortitude?

  • The key to defeating—to instrumentally demolishing, even—the Republikanner carnivore-machine is cleverly simple, if only the Democratic hierarchy would adopt the strategy.

    We know, beyond any measure of doubt, that the GOP cannot take the high road. It has been bred out of them by the quasi-Mendele-like philosophy of Karl Rove.

    But, the Democratic Party is still stuck in its gaudy, mental-misfit game of playing absolutes, believing that they can only take the high road “OR” the low road.

    The truth is, Dems can actually operate on BOTH roads simultaneously—by presenting the message of (1) this is what America and her People need, and (2) this is what the Republikanner has given America and her People instead.

    BOTH roads, people. Get of the absolutism of “one-or-the-other,” and give the filthy little uberschweinen their just rewards. We’re talking about a group of brutish bullies who literally want to snuff out the Spirit of the Republic itself—and sometimes, the only way to deal with a bully is to wade into him. Remorselessly—Maliciously—Intentionally.

    Think “Blitzkreig….”

  • We need to bring Carville out of semi-retirement and put him in charge of coordinating the response, to being our “Nelson.” You’d think after the Carville/Begala mantra — hit back twice as hard in the same news cycle — resulted in the only Dem. president of the past quarter century that more Dems would have taken it to heart. That has been one of the most disappointing aspects of our past two campaigns. Team Clinton would never have let the Swiftboating go on uncontested. Carville, for all of his many faults, appears to be one of the few experienced campaigners in teh party who understands the real world of how negative campaigning works — and what to do about it.

  • Now, more than ever the Dems need leaders with media communication skills and on camera charisma in our media crazy political arena. Sometimes I cringe to hear Senator Minority Leader Reed make a forceful point with his squeaky Mr. Peepers voice. Reality of the times is that those who are politically successful, must pull off many roles before the camera (part wise statesman, part professional wrestler). Media consulting and dramatic coaching are critical in shaping a public persona that is effective in reaching the heartland of America.
    The t.v. viewing voter is moved by punchy images and cartoons more than ideas. Republicans know this and Democrats don’t want to believe it, so advantage Rove.

  • I read this yesterday and realized this is how bad things have gotten for the RNC. They aren’t even going to bother to lie, as in “We pledge to do XYZ.” But is it really any surprise? In addition to all the other blatant lies that are being exposed on a daily basis and such pesky issues as the economy, I always thought the Republicans blew it when they made banning gay marriage almost as important as the war on terrorism. They whipped the religious far-right into a frenzy and then…didn’t deliver. I also read today that members of the rf-r have become concerned about the environment. (Whoo, go Bible Thumpers!) There is a push to make this an issue for this election. And the Republican voting record on the environment? Not so good.

    So, the RNC knows no one trusts them, no one really even likes them. They are saddled with leaders whom I suspect many Republicans would find more useful as martyrs of a terrorist attack. Their base is shrinking to include only the incredibly wealthy (not enough of the population to swing an election) and a few whack jobs who wouldn’t know reality if it bit them on the knee. As a result, they are finally reduced to this childish nonsense: When mommy and daddy ask about the window you broke, rat out your little brother. Bring up something he did three years ago that you’ve been saving up for a time like this. If you’re lucky they’ll give him a whuppin’ instead.

  • If Democrats have the guts to actually tell the American people the truth about what the Republicans have done to this country and what that means about the Republican’s patriotism and character, and our country’s future, then the GOP is toast.

    IMHO, there are NO political risks to this strategy, although there may be some physical ones. Authoritarians, their minions, and their fringe do not take kindly to being exposed to the harsh light of truth.

    If the Democrats dont have the fortitude to seek more than a nominal return to power, then they are wasting our time. It is not enough just to not be Bush. Offering a New Vision IS politically dangerous, but if they don’t have one, they will just be filling seats until the next wave of authoritarianism sweeps over the seawall that is our constitution and it may not take many more hits.

  • Zeitgeist, don’t you know? Carville’s retired from Democratic political campaigning. These days he enjoys writing books and being a “talking head.” How do I know that he’s out of Democratic politics? Well, he trying to move into “sports talk” using his colorful personality, and you can’t ignore all of the work his wife does for VP Dick Cheney and the Republican party. He’s done–just ask his wife!

  • yeah, well, Mary “I speak nonsense when Dick isn’t around to do it himself” was one of those Carville “faults” I was alluding to. . .

  • I think Carville is on, or is about to start, a book tour for his new tome that he co-wrote with Paul Begala.

  • Now all the Democratic leaders can act REALLY indignant when the swiftboat attacks are just so UNFAIR.

    Not sure which disgusts me more, the Dem refusal to accept that negative campaigning works or their refusal to understand that the Republicans will always play hardball.

    We need Howard Dean to get out his bat and start cracking skulls (metaphorically).

  • “… distinction of being tied to two of the biggest cases of Republican campaign corruption in the Bush era.”

    Just a normal day for the Bush Crime Family.

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