http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/ en Copyright 2009 2009-12-19T22:04:59+00:00 http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/comments/moment_of_truth/ http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/comments/moment_of_truth/#When:23:04:59Z Harry Reid finally thinks he has his caucus in order. He’s cut backroom deals and received verbal commitments from the Senators he needs, including Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson. Now he’s scrambling to hold a vote on his job-killing “health care” bill before anyone has a chance to change his or her mind. This is a bill that will raise your taxes, not cut them. It will increase the deficit, not decrease it. It will cut Medicare, not preserve it. This bill will cost more than a trillion dollars in taxpayer money if everything goes exactly as planned. And worst of all, it will increase the cost of your health care premiums – the exact opposite of what meaningful health care reform was supposed to accomplish. This is the bill that Harry Reid and his allies are celebrating. But don’t let the bluster fool you. Reid’s scared, he’s weak, and he knows that he’s just one defection away from losing this fight. If you can convince just one Democratic Senator to vote against Harry Reid and with the American people, you will have killed this bill. You are one vote away from victory. Contact your Senators today and let them know that their jobs are on the line. Tell them to vote with the American people, not against them. Call them today or email them through the GOP action center. Tell them to kill Harry Reid’s bill. This is the moment of truth. Do not let Harry Reid destroy our economy. Do not let him demolish our health care system. Contact your Senators and stop this bill! The time is now for you to make this happen! Stop Harry Reid – TODAY! 2009-12-19T23:04:59+00:00 http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/comments/update_from_techland/ http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/comments/update_from_techland/#When:18:42:59Z On Tuesday morning at 1:00 AM EDT, we took the website portion of our web platform into live Beta. Our traffic grew by 440%, sign-ups to OurGOP: The Republican Action Network took off. We thank you for that. As I noted in my blog and a video you can see on Rebuilding the Party, Beta releases often come with technical issues. That’s why technology people label things “Beta.” We did not escape the Beta Flu. As some bloggers have noted, there were problems accessing the site. Our Beta experience put us in the very good company of some of the biggest technology companies. We experienced something the big tech companies did not. What they didn’t experience was vicious liberal bloggers and some confused people in big media—taking time out of reporting on yet another radical presidential appointee to report that, by golly, a Beta release of a web platform had an issue.  It appears that the media and the leftosphere thought we were building the new GOP.com for them. As they are about many things, they were wrong. We built it for you: our supporters and activists. You are the only people who matter in this as it’s your platform. We Beta launched something else early Tuesday morning: Chairman Steele’s vision for a newly open GOP.com as a meeting place for grassroots Republicans—the people who paid for this platform—and the people who work back here in DC on your behalf. The reaction we have seen from our grassroots to this aspect of what we launched has been nothing short of exhilarating. Lydia DePillis at The New Republic noted about  OurGOP: The Republican Action Network: [The GOP] finally provided a framework for people to connect independently of party organization. My.barackobama.com was so successful because it helped organizers find each other, acting as a huge magnifier for any staff time the campaign could invest. The social networking bit--"ourGOP"--looks to be an impressively flexible and interactive conservative Facebook, much more inviting than the old site's transparent attempt to bank your contact info. In the first day, groups are forming and events being posted, a step towards the thousands upon thousands of such entities that have been building over at Democrats.org since the election. Beta Flu aside, we are beyond excited for what we will see when we take this site, and the entire platform, out of Beta. I am most excited to say: thanks for being part of the Beta team and I will see you on OurGOP. 2009-10-15T18:42:59+00:00 http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/comments/my_first_meeting_with_chairman_steele/ http://www.gop.com/index.php/media/comments/my_first_meeting_with_chairman_steele/#When:05:06:14Z Within fifteen minutes of meeting him, Chairman Michael Steele convinced me he was sincere about making new media a centerpiece of Republican politics. I had explained to the Chairman my point of view that, unless we are willing to embrace being open and social in social media, we would have no success. We discussed the inherent risk of a political party leaving itself open to the online pranks of our opponents and the instant amplification of that pettiness by the likes of former Sportscasters with niche, liberal cable programs aimed at a zip code 94720-2284. “I guess we better stop having Town Hall meeting and listening to folks! Someone might be rude to us.” The Chairman said. Not familiar with his style—when he says he’s not your “Great Grandpa’s Chairman”, he’s being humble—I was stunned. He laughed, grabbed my hand and said, “Todd … Facebook and social media are the best chance we have to visit with the greatest number of supporters, to know more of them---to learn from them.” It’s an odd thing to make a life-changing decision in 18-seconds. The Republican Party is lucky to have a man so unafraid, so committed to a real connection with what some people call the “grassroots” of the party (I simply think of them as “us.”).  The RNC is lucky to have a man who recognizes the need to be in and of the culture that brought us to D.C. in the first place and, in ever increasing numbers, new media is part of our common cultural interaction. We have the Beta release of our new platform that, as it grows, will help the Party achieve the Chairman’s goal. It’s far from perfect, but—again, due to the fearlessness of my Boss, and his decision to embrace openness—it has the greatest possible chance to become a great platform; unlike Speaker Pelosi, the elitist who imagines that you have no right to read a Bill that will take away your very right to choose your own health care—Chairman Steele firmly believe that, as the people who support our party, you deserve the ability to partner with us in its growth. We are building this platform for you: Go to OurGOP: The Republican Action Network: go start a Blog, join a group. My colleagues and I will be in there with you, as will Chairman Steele, just as often as time allows. Here is something else you might enjoy, if you work in technology: go join Code for America and code a little for the Site---yes, it’s that open. If you have feedback for me, join my OurGOP Group, Wired Republicans, I look forward to meeting you there. -Todd Herman New Media 2009-10-13T05:06:14+00:00