Frum: Attacks On Steele Make Me "Sick"

Conservative David Frum said he was sickened by the attacks on Michael Steele for saying abortion was an 'individual' choice.

During an appearance on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Frum, who served as an adviser to President Bush, was asked whether Steele's view on abortion -- as exhibited during a GQ interview published this week -- was acceptable under the tent of the GOP.

"It should represent a view within the Republican Party," he replied. "It should be permissible to say such a thing. I speak as a Republican: we need Michael Steele. He's exciting. He's warm. He has a marvelous TV presence. That's the face that our party should be presenting to the country and we need to support him. And the very fact that he is opening up, talking to constituencies that need to be reached -- these are valuable and fresh things. And I'm sick about the kind of level of attack he's taking. Because we need him."

Later in the program, Frum argued that Steele's appeal was far more than just racial or political superficiality.

"He's not a black face, he's just a different face," he said. "We need different kinds of people. It isn't 'you put a black face on the party and you get black voters.' You put a different face there ... His knocking down the walls is saying we can have a wider discussion within the Republican Party than we've allowed ourselves.

Frum's remarks come as Steele finds himself on politically shaky ground, under siege from social conservatives and without much support from major players in the Republican Party. And while Frum provides an important defense for the embattled RNC chair, his position is certainly the minority. Many pro-life Republicans are livid. Even pro-choice Republicans are disappointed in Steele, both for his decision to walk back the comments to GQ and for his general lack of clarity and honesty in his beliefs on abortion.

Comments

[SgtLazarus]

12:45 PM on 03/16/2009

Frum Canada ! Frum Christ sake ! What does he know about Republican attack politics?

[nicole44]

11:25 AM on 03/16/2009

I don't understand, I hear the dems talking about how the repubs need new ideas and fresh personalities and ways of thinking to get back on track, but all the comments I am seeing on here is attacking that very idea Steele is representing. I could have read wrong but i thought this article was pointing out the fact the Frum was trying to defend Steele's right to choice stance. Could it be (and no sarcasim here-honestly) that no matter if there was a repub candidate that really was fresh and new and one that a moderate dem could get behind came out, they would still be the butt of all the jokes and made fun of to no end?

[jsgaetano]

11:35 AM on 03/16/2009

Putting a fresh coat of paint on the steaming tu.rd that is the GOP is not "new ideas". It's the same failed and Anerica-hating cr.ap in a shiny new box.

[nicole44]

12:02 PM on 03/16/2009

Thank you for answering my question. Obviously intelligent conversation is not your forte`. So I guess that no matter what, if it comes out of the mouth of a republican, it will never be ok or right. That is sad because I am a republican but I like to think that by coming on a left blog and not just typing things like dems suck or I don' t like the Prez I can actually get someone to answer a question without this blind party h@tred and get another's point of view.

[howdidoodi]

02:23 PM on 03/16/2009

Its not 'fresh and new' if every time Steele make a comment that goes against the GOP party line he then immediately walks it back. By doing this Steele makes himself the butt of the joke, no one else needs to do that for him.

And come on! Hip hop? Seriously?

[FreelanceMinion]

10:52 AM on 03/16/2009

I really think these two guys are thinking of a DIFFERENT Republican party than the one actually operating and sponsoring candidates in the current USA. I have this feeling if we were to got introduce these guys to the people currently serving in office as Republicans and leading local party groups they'd resign and spend some time trying to find what party they actually support. Might not be the Dems but it CERTAINLY isn;t the current Repubs.

[Hank10303]

10:51 AM on 03/16/2009

In other words Mr. Frum is saying - we have a sacraphicial lamb and we ain't done using him.

[longnow]

10:46 AM on 03/16/2009

Anyone with a memory knows that David Frum does exactly what he's doing now
every 6 yrs or so. He starts asking the big questions along with a book like
"what do we mean when we call ourselves conservatives?" or "where is our
conservative soul & what do we do if & when we find it?" kind of thing.
I don't know if there's a book coming or what but this is the game he/ they
play every so often. He can be a liar for hire and he can be "a voice of reason"
kind of player. He can go on TV and lie into the camera along with the best of them.
The compulsive lie is intrinsic to his philosophy when it comes to shoveling the
tired line to the public. Without it they would lose every freaking election except
Alabama.

[anelder]

10:27 AM on 03/16/2009

Thing is Mr. Frum I can think of tons of stuff that makes me sick, but dissing on a politician is not among them. A sad world when you do not rail against all the really bad things. Suggest we work on minimizing what politicians and pundits get sick about.

[escobar]

10:20 AM on 03/16/2009

How can anyone take Frum seroiusly with the cheap dye job and wig he is hiding under?

[jsgaetano]

11:36 AM on 03/16/2009

Kind of a metaphore for the GOP, isn't it?

[Shirley Fisk]

09:59 AM on 03/16/2009

3/16/09
10am
Indianapolis Central Library

Tavis Smiley was about to make a point about poverty issues when he was interrupted by David Frum--that made me sick. How about if I mske a few points on the homeless issue:

1. There is no room at the shelters. People are turned away and are forced to sleep outside in America every single day of the year.

2. Payments to homeless people will not be put into savings. And an increase in the Earned Income Credit will not help people who have been unemployed.

3. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' report issued December 12, 2008, homelessness rose an average of 12% from 2007 to 2008 among the cities surveyed and that was BEFORE the crisis. How much do you think it will rise from 2009 to 2010?

4. Homeless people often claim to be mentally ill so that they can receive SSI benefits--a monthly income. How soon before the Social Security system is overloaded? Isn't it already? The Clinton Administration cut welfare benefits so...

5. Building affordable housing would stimulate the economy.

And by the way, becoming homeless might actually CAUSE a person to become mentally unstable. See how you do if you are sleep-deprived from sleeping outside (especially women!!) or sleeping at a homeless shelter which will ask you to leave after a few weeks whether you have obtained other accomodations or not. This causes all sorts of social problems and medical costs.

[freethinking moderate]

09:51 AM on 03/16/2009

Forget Michael Steele. The GOP needs Remington Steele!

[warsaw]

09:49 AM on 03/16/2009

So the Republican Party is now the Borg Collective? Nobody can have an individual thought? The SNL Steele skit was more accurate than we think.

[Exit]

09:39 AM on 03/16/2009

Steele will soon know the true face of the Republican party. He will find out that they do not like a Black guy being in charge when they stop donating to them. Steele's days are numbered. There is no way Republicans want Blacks in their party of racists.

[raymondjiii]

09:21 AM on 03/16/2009

David Frum makes me sick.

[DBtv]

09:41 AM on 03/16/2009

This.

[stepintothelight]

10:02 AM on 03/16/2009

Violently!!!

[wmfor]

09:11 AM on 03/16/2009

I would quibble a bit with your use of the tag "pro-life". Although that is the face these people would like to present, presumably to make everyone else appear to be "anti-life", it is certainly not accurate, unless it encompasses oposition to capital punishment and a strong position against war in almost any form. Why not just contrast "pro-choice" (the position Steele appeared to be taking until he was pushed into "clarifying") with "anti-abortion"? And further note that no one is seriously "pro-abortion".

[biglover]

10:54 AM on 03/16/2009

Excellent point winfor - the hippocrisy of it all is laughable. They are also not pro life when it comes to black and latino children. This is the same party that was in favor of sterlizing black women in the 30s, 40s, 50s

[Tugar]

08:46 AM on 03/16/2009

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS FROM THE "Old Gunsmoke, Miss Kitty era." They are finding it hard to relate, or even look at the many issues facing the world today.

I watched David Frum as he spoke yesterday, and I tell you, he faces a hard sell getting his Republican colleagues to open their minds to anything other than their old standard ways of thinking and doing things. "A woman should not have a right to decide."

But I bet if you gave the voting members of the Republican party, the children being born to women who cannot take care of them financially as their own dependents, they would sing another tune.

David Frum is right about the party having a need for Michael Steele though. But its going to take a long, long time for those folks to get in gear with the rest of the world, Steele or no Steele.

[NoahVale]

07:54 AM on 03/16/2009

These dopes think they can eat their cake and have it, too. They want a relevant, current face to show the younger voters, yet they think they can do so and still cling to outmoded and unpopular tenets like being anti-abortion and anit-gay. It ain't gonna happen.