Daily Political Wire 4-5-2010

George Wenschhof

Batter up! Get your peanuts and ice cold beer here! - Baseball season is underway - last night baseball junkies were finally able to watch a major league game after what always seems like a long off season. The NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox faced each other in Boston's Fenway Park to open the season and did not disappoint the fans. The Red Sox won a slug fest with a score of 9-7.

Today, the Washington Nationals play their opening game facing the Phillies and President Obama will be on hand to toss out the ceremonial first pitch a little before 1:00 PM ET. Holiday is starting for Philadelphia so this will be a tough one for the Nat's to win.

Tomorrow night, my Baltimore Orioles start their season in Tampa Bay. Baltimore continues to rebuild and my hopes are for a .500 season without the August/September nosedive they have experienced the last two years. They are still lacking a big bopper and a mature pitching staff to compete in the strong Al East with the Yanks, Boston, Toronto and Rays. However, their outfield is arguably the best in baseball and their young pitchers; especially Brian Matusz , are good reasons to be optimistic. Newly signed free agent Kevin Millwood will pitch for the O's tomorrow night. This will be the third year of rebuilding under General Manager Andy MacPhail so he is also under the gun for the team to see improvement from the paltry 64 wins of last year.

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Embattled RNC Chair Michael Steele defends himself on ABC "Good Morning America" - He talks about the recent scandal surrounding the nearly $2,000 spent at a "bondage theme nightclub" and reimbursed by the Republican National Committee. He says "We dealt with it" and says he will ultimately be judged by if I raise money and win elections. Politico.com has more here.

What he does not address is why the GOP paid consultant who was reimbursed the $2,000 is still on the Republican Party payroll. The only casualty was a low level staffer who ok'd the reimbursement submitted by the GOP consultant. In addition, there were no explanations for the extravagant spending by Michael Steele himself on private planes, limos and stays at posh resorts.

Steele also said during the GMA interview that he has a slimmer margin of error because he is black. To which, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs replied "Michael Steele's problem is not the race care, it's the credit card." TPM.com has more here.

This type of expense and failure to address the out of control spending by the RNC will not play well with the voters when they go to the polls this Fall. The working men and women in America want a political party who is working on their behalf and not just acting as obstructionists in Congress only to get their attention and not to help move the country forward.

It's past time for Steele to go or maybe the Republican Party just does not get it.

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