This is a total outrage! Michael Steele criticizes the best voice for conservatism in the country. Time to kick him out NOW, before he can do more damage to the Republican Party!
Limbaugh’s latest attacker: RNC’s Steele
I hope Mark rips Steele apart tonight!
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I was really pissed off about this as well. I’ve greatly admired Steele & thought his winning the RNC chair was terrific. I was totally broadsided when he made the comments he did.
But it does sound like he’s making a legitimate clarification now, and did not intend for his comments to mean what we all interpreted. I sincerely hope this is the case.
Sounds like Mark is giving him the benefit of the doubt at this point & time as well.
BTW, was Rush terrific at CPAC or WHAT?! I was cheering out loud.
Steele did the right thing.
Michael Steele on Rush Limbaugh, “his whole thing is entertainment.” “Yes it’s incendiary, yes, it’s ugly.”
Is this how the head of the Republican National Committee answers challenges from liberals about Conservatives wanting Obama’s socialist takeover of America to fail? First, Steele emphatically denied that Rush Limbaugh was the “defacto leader of the Republican Party” then, he stated that HE was the defacto leader of the Republican Party.
If Steele embraced the same values of Rush Limbaugh and conservatism, he would have been more conciliatory towards Rush. He could have said “Rush is a sounding board for millions of Conservatives in this country and I admire him and share his beliefs but, I’m the head of the RNC.”
His words reflect a man whose goal is just to go through the motions of running the Republican party. Keep Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlin Specter in the party, tone down the conservative rhetoric so as to not scare off the “Moderates” and “Independents”, and craft a “democratic-like” message. Pick up a few seats with the “be nice to Obama” philosophy and ignore the fact that Obama is taking us down a path to socialism and free-market collapse.
Apology or not, Steele does not have the conservative philosophy in his heart. Nor does he have the ability to articulate it effectively. He is only apologizing to Rush because he thought about the loss of 25 million conservative Republican contributors. Why then should we dismiss his negative comments as just misspeaking? How do you misspeak using the words, “incendiary” and “ugly”? It is because he wanted to find common ground with the other liberals on the show and agree with them that Rush’s show was “ugly”. If he can’t stand up to CNN Liberals and agree with Rush and articulate Rush’s message, we have no need of him or his ilk.
Slickwillyman,
I very well understand where you are coming from and I respect your opinion.
Steele may be exactly what you say or he may truly believe in conservative values and in Rush Limbaugh and yet failed to give a correct retort. His response was weak, apologetic, conciliatory and just plain wrong. He clearly was rattled. Not exactly what you would expect from someone who should be championing conservative ideas by using the moment to gain scrimmage. He extinguished the disagreement by using their water instead of using his own.
I am not happy with what was said but the quickness with which he took the blame signaled he comprehended how wrong he was and the importance for an immediate repair. Personally I am still pondering this issue and have concluded that a) you are correct regarding the alienation of the base or b) he legitimately and honestly recognized that he misspoke in no small way. Either way his response is symptomatic of a problem. I believe that the correct diagnosis was b) but cannot yet 100% rule out a) which is terminal.
A conservative would have defended Limbaugh by pointing out how impossible it was to misinterpret what he said regarding socialism and that to think otherwise means that maybe you are a socialist, don’t understand what collectivism is about, never listened to the speech in full context, or perhaps are deliberately trying to misrepresent what he said. Had it not been televised I would have added an additional alternative, something akin to what ML might have said, such as “maybe you are just a complete idiotâ€Â.
If Steele honestly misspoke it signals he has some debating skills yet to learn or needs to get up to speed in understanding the product (conservatism) that he is selling. Maybe he was just so overcautious he mangled the response. Obviously a solid, confident and sure-footed conservative would have used the opportunity of the moment to spring into action.
We are all on edge considering that mediocrity is what landed us into a distant second place and when we perceive any hint of it we are alarmed. Antennas are up. Once bitten twice shy. This is the last role of the dice, we have no money left and the stakes are huge. You can bet that Steele feels the same way and maybe he just tried too hard and it came out wrong. Can’t say that I haven’t done the same thing in my own life. We will soon see because you can bet that everything he says hereafter will be closely scrutinized, more by us than the other side.
ScottT & Task,
I don’t buy it. Back when he was in the running for the RNC Chief position, I was warned by people from Steele’s home state of Maryland that he had Lib tendencies. I did my homework and analyzed some of his speeches and debates. I did detect liberalism in his wording of things. I am good at judging people politically, so I knew after he won the position that he would become a disappointment.
His quick apology was slick. I think he’s smart and is truly sorry that he slipped and spoke his mind. If you value my judgment, you will believe me that Steele was being honest when he criticized Rush and was disingenuous when he apologized. I do NOT give him the benefit of the doubt.
Not only do I value your judgement but I know you are right on this account. I previously supported the guy and found out the same and became discouraged. For the sake of this discussion I did not want to bring this up because it really muddies the water. I had the same problem with Giuliani because I knew so much more about him than most people did. These people come from liberal states and there are no hard conservatives in such liberal environments. They do not win elections that way; or so they think they won’t. If anything bothered me about Romney it was his background as a Governor from MA. My cousin, an MA resident, hated him, but then again as a gay, lib, presbyterian minister that is half-jewish I figured that translated to be a good recommendation.
Personally Steele is in national politics at the moment and I suspect he is like a deer caught in the headlights, and like many of his ilk, they have serendipitously been taken by surprise at how much true conservatism is re-gluing the party. Steele cannot publicly admit that he is only now learning what Limbaugh is about and what conservatism is about. Mark needs to immediately send him a copy of his new book. We do have a problem here. Should Steele study hard and understand (and I mean understand intellectually) that everything moderation attempts is nothing more than appeasement on issues where compromise can never exist, he wil succeed. Liberalism is a stolen word. If anything we are the liberals because we espouse freedom and choice.
If Steele cannot get a grip on what I suspect is a grass roots mass effect because of the Obama devastating liberal economic effect then he will soon be ousted. He doesn’t even have to try. He only needs to grab the wave, that once trounced Bush, and let it take him in the direction it is naturally flowing. In other words, go with the flow. This tide is changing fast and liberalism and its mediocre sister, moderation, are losers, not only intellectually, but by the facts of the moment and which are certain to continue.
Both Steele and conservatives have a problem here and so he needs to fix his fast because we will certainly fix ours if he doesn’t.
The Republican Party has tolerated moderates for years, incorporating the “Big Tent” philosophy. However, at some point, the moderates took over the organization and began promoting more moderates. That is what put us in the position we are in now. THAT is why we have 3 Republican Senators that vote with the Democrats. People may say that we should not “Eat our own”. I say that is BS. If we want to rebound, we must weed out the moderate cancer now and strengthen our party again. So, when I see a moderate, I point it out. Steele is a moderate and should NOT be the RNC Chief. He needs to resign!
Actually moderates are not our own. That is way they are called RINO’s. I despise them more than almost any liberal. I appreciate your passion and have no loyalties to Steele or any other republican except on the basis of conservative ideology. We both know that conservatives have a house within the republican party and there is no similar arrangement with democrats. I suspect that the way things are going republicans will have a house within both parties (conservative and democrat) as conservatives become more nationally recognized, thanks in part, to Obama. If Steele should resign I will not defend him. It could possibly be the most conservative thing that he ever does. You are not alone on this account and I cannot discount your familiarity with the situation as I am aware that you are a resident of his State.
We also know that he will not likely resign. Should that slim possibility become a reality, beware of the replacement. Rush Limbaugh once stated that we needed to drag McCain over the finish line. There are far, far many more than just McCain that we have to insist perform properly. Your recommendations are clearly on my mind and if he is replaced I will thank you, in part, for eliminating any reservations that I may have otherwise had.
Actually, I am from Delaware. As much as I despise McCain, once he won the nomination, I had no choice but support him. Unfortunately, support for McCain was not enough to stop Obama. I pray we nominate a conservative next time!
I find this discussion seminal to the “rebirth of the GOP”. Or at least its attempt to relocate their respective “gonads”. When I heard that Steele had proclaimed he would withhold national funds for the three stooges who voted FOR the “stimulus” bill, I was ecstatic and called the RNC. On the other end was a 20 something young man who had interned for both Santorum and Specter. I wanted him to know that I was finally going to pay attention now that the RNC MIGHT be finding its backbone and I was encouraging him to withhold ANY funds from Specter, (I live in PA). There was no energy or itensity from this young man, and I can only guess what he passed on to Steele. Given that experience and Steele’s missteps in public, I am certainly NOT impressed. Where is Ann Coulter or Sarah Palin…at least they had some energy!!
I understand from watching Sean Hannity last night that Michael Steele had humbled himself before Rush and that the two of them had talked and worked everything out. I hope that’s the case. These guys have got to realize that you are going to be hated for standing for the truth regardless of how you serve it up. Yes, I think we ought to try our best to be civil and with sincerity, seek to make our case for conservatism. But in the end, a lot of these nutcases will never accept what we have to say. We simply can’t waste our time trying to convince them. They are blind fools, self-absorbed and incapable of understanding between right and wrong.
When you are talking to Liberals like the rapper on CNN with Steele, you have to put totalitarian tyranny in terms that they can understand. Ask the rapper if he wants to give up his pimped-up ride to save the Earth from Global Warming. Ask him if he wants the government to be able to cut off his air conditioning in the middle of 100 degree heat or cut off his heating when it’s cold. What all is he willing to give up? Does he want to pay 70% Income tax for the amount over $250K/year? Ask him if it seems like a good idea to tax cattle ranchers $175/head to penalize them for cattle farts. Does this make sense to you, Mr. Rapper? Is it OK to let illegal Mexican drug gangs and para-military groups run wild in the United States or do we need to control our borders?
Instead of joining in with the rappers making derogatory jabs at Rush, Steele should have been explaining how tyranny can affect even a high-rolling rapper. The problem is that Steele doesn’t see the creeping tyranny approaching. Neither does McCain or McConnell.
Good points. Always try and make the issues personal. As I stated, at the least, if Steele truly believes in what he defends then he needs to improve his debating skills.
jmanders2008, I believe you are a fine conservative, but Steele was playing to his audience when on Hannity, just as he was when he was criticizing Rush. Somebody help me out. What is it called when your message changes depending on who you are speaking to at that moment?
MLF,
Of course I value your political judgement. Anybody who puts in the effort to run a site like this deserves nothing BUT such respect. And I’m sure you’ve dug deeper into Steele’s overall political background than I have.
Right now, I’ll still hesitate before deciding to throw him under the bus. Two things can be equally true: You can certainly have legitimate reasons to be suspicious of how legitimately conservative Steele really is…….and he may in fact have misspoke.
I’m not making excuses for him. As task mentioned, if Steele is going to chair the party, it’s his responsibility to keep his damn wits about him, especially when he knows full well that these jackals on the left will do everything on earth to rattle him with obfuscation, dishonesty & propoganda.
BUT……
It sounds as though he may have (and again, I said MAY have) been mostly guilty of using some really clumsy language in his response. Based on what he’s now saying, I can’t dismiss the possibility that when he said Rush was “incindiary” and “ugly”…..he may have basically been trying to say something along the lines of, “Okay, he’s ‘insindiary’, he’s ‘ugly’, that’s how YOUR side interprets him. However…..”
Maybe that’s not the case. Perhaps he DID mean what he said, and now he’s just backtracking. I really don’t know.
All I’m saying is, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt at least once. I know he was on Hannity’s show today discussing it, and we’ll see if his word is legitimate.
Some of the greatest minds in the conservative movement sometimes have differences between themselves. I remember when Mark opposed the Dubai Ports fiasco, and Rush supported it. Either way, I doubt anybody here wanted to throw either of them off the boat. Leaving the reservation is a whole other story (see Peggy Noonan).
Anyway, I’m praying that Steele only hiccupped. Nonetheless, I understand your concern, MLF.
Yes, the Dubai Ports deal was the only time I can remember that Rush was wrong.
What I couldnt respect with this Michael Steele thing is he showed he has no spine. He can say he mispoke or his words were taken out of context or the dog ate his homework. I really dont care and I really dont believe him. He went on a liberal network and sat down with a home boy. There was no way in hell he was going to paint Rush in a good light. It just wasnt going to happen. I think Steele is of the ilk that wants to bring the Conservative movement to the center in order to placate the libs. If you are a conservative and believe it with all of your heart, then speak up about it and defend it. But to throw the one person under the bus, who has talked the talk and walked the walk for the conservative movement just because it will make you look good on TV is B.S.
Looks as thought Michael Steele is going to have to use the “I didnt mean it” crap again
Yeah… an individual choice, but not by the aborted. Whose rights are these anyway?