Martinez: Right-wing bloggers react

Some aren't happy about the reported appointment of Florida Sen. Mel Martinez as chairman of the RNC.

Published November 13, 2006 11:24PM (EST)

On the right side of the blogosphere today, reaction to reports that Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., will be named chairman of the Republican National Committee has been swift -- and severe.

At Red State, in a post titled "Oh, Joyous Day," one blogger terms the senator "Bonehead Martinez" and laments:

"Bonehead, who with a five-point Bush win in trending-Red Florida at his back, barely managed to beat one of the more anodyne, bland Democrats to run for the Senate outside of Massachusetts; Bonehead, who managed to take a dicey political situation in the Terri Schiavo affair and make himself into a Google search result; Bonehead, who if asked to eat eggs over easy and shave at the same time, would end up with shiny whites and yolk smeared in fork-tine streaks across his face; Bonehead is going to be the RNC Chair."

Immigration hard-liner Michelle Malkin is similarly upset; she calls Martinez "a squish on border security" and asks, "Has the GOP learned anything?"

At Townhall, Mary Katharine Ham writes, "A [Michael] Steele chairmanship and a Pence/Shadegg House leadership takeover would really have helped me warm back up the Republican Party in this cold, cold time, but the first is a bust and the second ain't looking great. Guess I'll remain chilly, as will much of the base. Feel the love ... I really want a reason to be excited about these guys and they refuse to give me one."

And over at the Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez says, "The reaction I've heard most often today" is "'I don't get it.'"


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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