WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- DNC Chairman Tim Kaine released the following statement in response to the ouster of Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/DNCLOGO )

"Today's right-wing led coup of Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer is a telling and unsettling sign about the extreme direction of the Republican Party -- a direction that is narrowing the Party ideologically, demographically and, ultimately, electorally.

"We're not even a full week into 2010 and the extreme right wing of the Republican Party has claimed another trophy for its wall -- adding Greer to Senator Specter and Dede Scozzafava in its quest to purify the Republican Party, eliminate moderate voices and enact an extreme right-wing agenda.

"By deposing the top party official in a state that is virtually unmatched in electoral importance, and that has perhaps the most contested GOP Senate primary race of 2010, the tea party movement has landed a powerful blow squarely on the chin of the Republican Party.

"As we saw in 2009, the right-wing's unrelenting drive towards a smaller, narrower Republican Party cost the GOP dearly -- most notably it cost Republicans millions of dollars and a seat in Congress when the extreme right wing forced moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava from the race in New York's 23rd Congressional District.

"Anyone who was wondering if Republican leaders possessed the power to curb the extremism of the far right and channel it into a productive force has their answer today in the silence and lack of support from national Republicans as Jim Greer departs in the midst of this GOP civil war. Greer's departure confirms that the GOP's biggest liability this year will be its right-wing that sees November's elections as an opportunity to purify the Party - at any cost."

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

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