Conservative Campaign Against Steele Growing

When Michael Steele won the RNC Chairman election, he got 91 votes out of the 168 voting members of the RNC. It was a competitive race, and he was the odds-on favorite, but the elephant in the room was whether he was a true conservative. His detractors included Ken Blackwell of the Eagle Forum and the man he beat, Michael Duncan. RNC members for Duncan wanted to continue party leadership as it had been going. RNC members voting for Steele wanted change.

The change they believed in was not envisioned to be a leadership experiment in primetime. This is Michael Steele's Sarah Palin moment, and conservatives are questioning his suitability as RNC top dog.

As one voting member of the RNC tells me, "I don't know if this is the tipping point or not. I don't know if there will be movement for him to go. The next meeting is in May. It only takes a certain number of people to create a meeting sooner if that were to happen."

An email campaign against Steele is growing in conservative circles, with his comments about the abortion issue and taking on Rush Limbaugh providing grist for his detractors; especially those who doubted he was a true conservative in the first place.

As one operative tells me, "The conservative base of our party is the base of our party. He has a long priority list to get things running effectively. He has to focus on the RNC structure, the nuts and bolts and grassroots work. He has to focus on rebuilding."

Comments

[magicwanz]

Perhaps the whole forest must burn down to bare earth for there to be new growth. Let's hope, for the sake of the opposition party, some seeds survive.

[maxfax]

This goes right along with Coleman's desire to claim this positon doesn't it? I love sitting on the sidelines watching the RNC self-destruct in my lifetime!! Thank you thank you thank you.

[pons1595]

Steele be gone.

Norm is in: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/16/norm-coleman-floated-as-r_n_175224.html

The hip hop era of the GOP is over; no one won. The big band era is about to commence. Go Norm!

[Wilbur]

Steele must focus on the "nuts and bolts" of the GOP? Well, there certainly are a great many NUTS on which he can focus!

Wilbur

[MrWampler]

..and dolts...

[MajorKong]

It's nice that the Republicans are the ones forming the circular firing squad these days.

[CaptainStormfield]

I actually feel a bit sorry for Steele. The Party of the Southern Strategy is just not ready for him.

[WorkingClass]

I suppose its not polite to point this out but Steele is ummm - well - a black guy. Republican voters hate black folks. How was this supposed to work?

[roshni]

Not polite but true. RL rants explicitly against blacks.

[SteveDenver]

Republicans are like a bad dye job: Their roots are showing, and they're white white white.

[ProfessorDuh]

Republicans are like pythons who have swallowed a cow of right-wing propaganda. They remain intellectually immobilized, just trying to digest it.

[ShinjiIkari]

The really sad thing is, we could have seen this coming. Remember Colin Powell? The pro-choice, pro-affirm­ative-acti­on black Republican? One of the few Republicans I could see myself voting for as President? His views were considered more than anathema to the GOP, so he was co-opted: when he was in Bush's cabinet, it was in one of the posts where his views on abortion (or any other issue in domestic politics) wouldn't make a bit of difference: Secretary of State.

Same song, second verse. The GOP finally got it through the collective skull that they had to do something to redress getting trounced in 06 and 08; but, being conservative in nature, they wanted to conserve the power and privilege of those who have historically run the party. So the plan was, once again, to throw a pliable black guy into the front office. Powell was considered pliable because Bush was Commander in Chief and Powell was a product of the Green Machine. Steele was elected to his GOP leadership post by a scant simple majority; ironically, it'll take a supermajority of 2/3 to unseat him the honest way now. Hence, the rumblings of mutiny on the far right.

[roshni]

Right on! I would have voted for Colin Powell as well because I respect him. He is far too moderate to be a viable candidate for the rethugs the way they are now.

[gurukalehuru]

I do hope that Michael Steele takes inspiration from Governor Rod "never give up" Blagojevich.
Hang in there, Michael! You're funny!

[LMPE]

After the country elected an African-American president, the GOP probably figured that they should have an African-American as their head. Michael Steele says that he's trying to make the GOP "hip". Of course, a party dominated by rich white men - the Macaca party, let's call it - isn't going to start singing "Gold Digger". Long story short, they painted themselves into a corner.

[stell]

The problem I have with this is that this will be the only chance that a black person will have a crack at chairing the party or anything else for that matter. They will now say, "see what happens when you let an N be in charge of something?" If the economy doesn't improve, the same will be said about the Pres.

[JGatsby]

The time has passed to worry about how many blacks or women or hispanics or disabled pacific island albinos are in this position or that. JUDGE ON MERIT. I voted for Obama because he was clearly the best person for the job not because he was black. The kind of thinking that "we want an X person" for the job is the kind of thinking that gave us the most incompetent supreme court justice of modern times (Page), the most incompetent secretary of state in modern times (Rice), and the most incompetent AG in modern times (Gonzalez). You are right there are some racists who will use Steele as an example but you are never going to win those people over anyway.

[roshni]

I agree with you. This is especially true for the younger generation. When I talk to them, they think Obama is a really qualified person who happens to be black. I too voted Obama because he was the most qualified person, much to the chagrin of some of my "feminist" friends who were supporting HRC and felt I should have gone with the female candidate in the primary.
It is important to look at the entire candidate in choosing what is best for the country.

[WorkingClass]

Disabled pacific island albinos cannot be trusted.

[roshni]

For the rethugs.
The dems are doing just fine and our beloved President Obama is very popular. Dems respect diversity, not rethugs.

[lovable]

even FOX is going after him. and i know the reason. for 8 years we had a conservative white man lie to us about war and even when the wmds were not found he continued to lie. 4000 servicemen died. FOX said nothing . now a black man is head of the party and the network is all over him!!!!!!!!! hmmmmmm i wonder why . could it be because he is black. of couse not racist FOX would never do that . ha ha ha limbaugh has already given the word and it will be done.

[JGatsby]

One more point: the first republican to raise the idea that Steele should go was a black woman. Forget her name but she was on Rachel Maddow's show a few days ago.

[JGatsby]

My original comment seems to have disapeared. I'll try again: Even though there is racism in the US it is also possible for an african american to do a terrible job which is clearly the case with Steele.

[roshni]

I agree with you. Steele happens to be a black man who is also a terrible candidate. He was being used for his color and he was using the RNC in turn. A lose-lose situation.

[roshni]

FOX never accepted him from the get go.

[Cesaria]

A big comedy act. And the Dems better work it on both fronts. One hand Obama/Biden and cabinet handling what needs to be handled and the other the Dems helping out the Repubs with the circular fire. Steele is just the right man for the Repugs - that party picking him just another sign they haven't a clue.

[TRYKER]

Reading about Steele's acceptance of reality in the abortion is a private matter between a woman and her Dr. was encouraging. The RNC needs to get out of "lets pretend" and enter the real world if it expects to grow into anything resembling a viable option in elections.
They elected a more progressive leader and then they trash him instead of following where he could lead. This idea that their ideology is first and foremost, while the entire country is telling them they are full of beans, is dragging them into neverland.
Did they even ask what Steele's views were on issues? Have they given a moment of thought to the fact that he is (was) right about several issues that they have their heads in the sand on?
Steele ought to stand up and "be da man" and push them into the 21st century. They should be glad they have him, IF he stands up and tells them about the real world.

[roshni]

But who knows what Steele's position is on a given day? He waffles when Rush threatens to spank him.