Steele: Put GOP On A "12-Step Program"

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele pledged on Wednesday to place his party on a "12-step program of recovery," while also backpedaling from his recent critiques of conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh.

Speaking to the Maryland radio station WBAL, Steele said that "no one individual" was head of the party and described his comments downplaying Limbaugh's show and influence as inartful. He added that if Republicans wanted to ascend back to the heights of political power, they had to stop trying to be "cool and hip in a Democrat way," and admit their past mistakes.

"I am putting the party on a 12-step program of recovery," said the RNC chair. "This is going to take some time, it is going to take some effort. But we are prepared to move forward and to state the case, make the case to the American people that we have something to offer. We are not here to be the party that is just here to say no. We are not the party to be in opposition just for the sake of opposition."

The remark -- playfully equating the GOP with alcoholics -- is another in a litany of colorful statements Steele has made since taking over the reigns of the RNC. Some of his other statements -- from giving Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal some "slum love" to offering a shout-out to "one-armed midgets" -- have engendered fear and unhappiness within the party. Others chalked up the statements to a new and provocative approach to GOP politics.

Steele has copped to suffering from poorly thought-out rhetorical flourishes. The RNC chair was forced to apologize after calling Limbaugh's show "ugly" and "incendiary" over the weekend, and for claiming for himself the mantle of Republican Party leader.

"[There is] no one individual [leader]," he told WBAL, when asked about the episode. "There are many voices within our party. That was something that I tried, inartfully, to express. There are a lot of voices. I am a chairman of the Republican National Committee. I am a leader of the party at the national level. We have many leaders at the local state levels. We have leaders in the Congress and leaders among our governors. So there is a wide swath of folks out there who are the voice of this party and reflect different views and aspects of this party."

Later in the program, Steele leveled what has become the de facto GOP pushback against attacks that the party is beholden to Limbaugh's whims: blaming Democrats for focusing on the trivial at the cost of the substantive.

"The Dow has dropped below 7,000, let's talk about Rush Limbaugh," he said. "People are losing their jobs and their homes and Congress has done nothing to address that problem, let's talk about Rush Limbaugh. We have raised the spending level in this nation that will be close to an additional $1 trillion added to the national debt just this year, let's talk about Rush. I get it. It is a level of cynicism that I haven't seen before. But I understand it now and will be prepared for it in the future."

Comments

[karenbe111]

01:21 PM on 03/07/2009

I'll believe it when I see it...the Republican Party on a 12 step program...­that would mean they would actually have to take their own inventory instead of blaming Democrats for their own mistakes, admittintg those mistakes, and then not making them anymore, AND MAKING AMENDS FOR THOSE MISTAKES! What a wonderful world it would be...but I'm not holding my breath!

[Wide Stance]

07:31 PM on 03/05/2009

"a 12-step program to recovery"

Sounds like a passive aggressive swipe at non-other than RUSH Limbaugh.

Nice shot Mr. Steele.

Keep that up and you'll win my unequivoca­l and heartfelt support.

[oregonideas]

06:15 PM on 03/05/2009

I just love the GOP spinmeiste­rs. The Bushies spend eight years completely trashing the economy and now let's blame Obama as he tries to clean up their mess. President Obama is faced with a huge dilemma: the economy is in the dumper, huge financial institutio­ns are virtually bankrupt, the entire auto industry (generally acknowledg­ed as the "backbone" of American industry) is defunct, millions of Americans are out of work, millions are facing foreclosur­e and bankruptcy and, at the same time, we're burdened with our nation's largest deficit and national debt (created by Bush tax cuts combined with a trillion dollar war). Obama has been in office six weeks and, guess what, it's his fault! Please, we're facing a mess which took eight years to create and it will take at least that long to, to any extent, "fix" it. So, my friends in the GOP, you can join the rest of America and work to make things better, or you can join Rush, and work hard to insure failure...­......in the somewhat ironic words of George W. Bush, "either you're with us or your against us."

[voter42]

06:04 PM on 03/05/2009

Someone else wants an apology now. On DL's show Steele disparaged Frederick Douglass High in Baltimore City. The local Fox affiliate says Steele visited the school in 2006 pledging to help,(I'm guessing while he was campaignin­g for Senate), but never came back. Gov O'Malley said Douglass's graduation rate improved by 14% in the last year.

[rabiddog6708]

05:23 PM on 03/05/2009

12 steps is way too complicate­d for your aveerage Repub to follow. They can only keep a few things in their noggins at one time and with 1) Lower Taxes 2) Outlaw Abortion 3) Love guns......­they pretty much don't have any room left for following a program to keep themselves from going extinct.

[JMBrodie]

04:17 PM on 03/05/2009

Steele said that if Republican­s wanted to ascend back to the heights of political power, they had to stop trying to be "cool and hip in a Democrat way," and admit their past mistakes.

So no more off the hook, bling bling, slum luv, blah blah blah? Finally figured out who you work for, eh Mikey?

[dax49]

03:18 PM on 03/05/2009

this guy's appearance on hannity last night was both sad and humiliatin­g to watch- he has lost the gruding respect of even the pepublican­s who voted for him for whatever reason that was

[endeavor]

03:46 PM on 03/05/2009

We must do our best to make sure Steele stays awhile. I had to many laughs over this Diplshitz.

[GoogleMaster]

03:15 PM on 03/05/2009

I hope cleared all this with Rush first. I thought Steele learned his lesson the first time, getting off with only a "r"arnig.

[RobertHenryEller]

02:54 PM on 03/05/2009

I like this 12-step program for the Republican­s.

Let's see:

Just point the Republican­s at the edge of a cliff, 11 steps away . . .

And just start steppin'!

[freethinkergirl]

04:51 PM on 03/05/2009

LMAO!!!!

[truenortherner]

02:36 PM on 03/05/2009

I kind of feel sorry for this guy. He seems to be flounderin­g around in a vacuum, incompeten­tly shouting out contradict­ory slogans with the hope that one of them will stick.

[trunk65]

02:08 PM on 03/05/2009

From Hip Hop Nation to Celebrity Rehab in less than a week. MTV will call you about the details.

[denholt]

02:05 PM on 03/05/2009

You have to give him some credit: a 12-step program is EXACTLY what the GOP needs, because so many of them appear to have pickled/ad­dled brains from too much drink. It's really a brilliant analogy.

See John B oner, for just one example.

[rdavies85]

02:05 PM on 03/05/2009

Step 7: if you don't want to draw attention to a particular­ly abrasive and obnoxious member of your brethren, you probably shouldn't make him the keynote speaker at your largest national gathering.

[icemilkcoffee]

01:59 PM on 03/05/2009

12 steps? All it takes is one step. Take the GOP, and drown it in the bath tub. Done.

[Belisarius]

01:47 PM on 03/05/2009

5. Recognize that it may take ten years to recover your credibilit­y.