Mel: Republican Favorite Mistake

Upon his election, Senator Mel Martinez pledged “What I am going to do over the next two years is assist our Party in a renewal of the principles that have made us great: lower taxes, limited government, individual responsibility, freedom here and abroad, and the power of faith.”

A lapdog Bush appointee, Martinez will serve as occasional Republican National Committee chairman. He will espouse support for No Child Left Behind, extending the tax cuts, and the President’s war strategy. Three areas which keyed Republican defeat. Was no one better available?

This is not 1988, when another President Bush appointed confidant Lee Atwater as chairman. Atwater knew how to win elections. He knew how to acquire support. He was a strategic genius. Martinez is a joke. Appointing Martinez was an admission that we eyed the room, no one volunteered, so we randomly chose him. His appointment is an insult to the institution.

Following Ken Mehlman’s apathetic leadership, Republicans needed to appoint a winner. They needed to appoint someone who will modernize and expand their party. Instead, they chose a face from the Bush friend album.