And this is a party that we expect will endorse fiscally responsible candidates???!?
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Posted on 04/06/2010 6:32:37 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
How to put this politely? Michael Steele is a man of considerable talents — it’s just that he conspicuously lacks those required for his present position. He’s energetic, personable, and articulate. But those are not the qualities most required of a party chairman. The job demands an administrator, a behind-the-scenes schmoozer, and a tactician. Showboating is a hindrance. It’s a job that requires the talents of a stage manager, whereas Steele likes to be the star.
At a time when the Republican party is the indispensable vehicle for thwarting the disastrous policies of the Obamaites, Steele is a costly distraction in more ways than one.
Let’s stipulate that the chairman was not in attendance when Republican National Committee staffers accompanied prospective young donors to the “lesbian bondage” nightclub called “Voyeur” in Los Angeles, and that he only recently learned, along with the rest of us, that the RNC picked up the tab of nearly $2,000. Fine. But that establishes only that Steele is not a total fool. It hardly absolves him of managerial responsibility. Instead of accepting that responsibility, Steele has allowed the axe to fall on RNC chief of staff Ken McKay, who has now resigned.
This was not a first offense for Steele. Since his election as RNC chairman, he has indulged an appetite for luxury hotels, chartered airplanes, expensive restaurants, and a lavish redecoration of his offices. Roll Call reported that Steele spent $18,500 to redecorate his dark-paneled office. “This is going to sound weird,” he explained, but “it’s too male for me.” Actually, more than anything, it sounds vain and self-indulgent. Among the new accoutrements — a Bowflex machine.
The Daily Caller (which broke the story of the Voyeur outing) also reported that the RNC spent $17,514 in the month of February alone for chartered airplanes, and that Steele had looked into the possibility of buying a private plane for the chairman’s use. When he travels, Steele stays at luxury hotels like the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Four Seasons. While raising decent amounts of cash, the Republican party under Steele has also burned through it quickly. Between July 2009 and February 2010, the GOP raised $63 million but spent $78 million, leaving the party without a solid cushion heading into the 2010 contests — and behaving all too much like the federal government.
A party chairman does need to get around. But until now, it has usually been in the service of the GOP. Though he may not have charged donors for expenses on speaking gigs, Steele has been delivering speeches for his own enrichment, reportedly charging fees of up to $20,000. In a year when Americans, particularly Republicans and independents, are apoplectic about Washington’s promiscuous spending, this doesn’t exactly send the right signal.
Well, if management isn’t his strong suit, he must compensate with inspiring leadership — right? Not quite. His debut was an utterly gratuitous swipe at Rush Limbaugh as “incendiary” and “ugly,” and he followed that with an unhelpful reference to abortion as an “individual choice” (though Steele is personally pro-life). Asked in January whether the Republicans would win the House of Representatives in 2010, Steele said, “Not this year.” Not helpful — and possibly not even true.
Now, with Voyeur making all the comedians’ monologues, Michael Steele is suggesting that he, like President Obama, is held to higher standards because he is black. It’s possible that some people are more judgmental about him because he’s black, but it’s undeniable that many people are inhibited from voicing their dissatisfaction with him for the same reason.
Political parties are not college seminars, and leaders needn’t be saints. But the Republican party is just clawing back to respectability after the irresponsible spending of the Republican congressional majorities, the Foley scandal, and the perceived weaknesses of the Bush presidency. More importantly, the country is faced with a profound challenge from the Left. If the (Social) Democrats under Obama/Pelosi/Reid are not stopped, and if the Republican party is unable to attract the energy and passion of the tea-party movement, the country will be irreversibly changed for the worse.
At this moment, the Republican party needs more than ever to present a sober, serious, and ethical face to the public. Voyeur was the last straw. It would be an unselfish gesture for Steele to step aside.
— Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist.
I think the lesson is the left will frantically attack republicans. The question is what we want them focused on.
He will not go quietly.
Lil’ Mikey Tinsel is also a talented mole and sabateur.
Don’t see him stepping aside.
Won’t make that mistake again, having already assumed back in ‘98 that Clinton would resign over the Monica incident.
Never underestimate the tenacity of the narcissists.
A variety of forces are what is responsible for boosting Michael Steele into his position, and creating, what for me, sorry, was a particularly craven example of the old corporate bugaboo, “the token Black”. While there are increasing numbers of blacks joining or coming into sympathy with the vast new and growing constituency of
“tea partiers”, our detractors are still able to get away with their claim that our movement is “lily-white”. Michael Steele’s presence and profile only confirms that, because he’s perceived by Libs as one of their own, a useful idiot RINO who is still clueless enough to think if he makes the right moves and courts the right ‘groups’, he, like McCain, can eventually earn their approval. It doesn’t work that way for the Left, and anyone with the proverbial half a brain should be able to see that. Steele has done so many CONSISTENTLY stupid and half-assed things, that there’s no argument left to make a case for keeping him. What makes the Voyeur thing so bad is that a “Party leader” should know better than to provide ‘the other side’ with this kind of ammunition to use against you and your Party.
In the case of Steele, the crushing final questions we’re left with has to be “ Is he, for all practical purposes,in fact, ON the other side?” Does he, symbolically and actually, EMBODY all those qualities we love to see in the Left, but that ALWAYS show up on ‘our’ side also? Looks like Steele, like so many ohers, is still in the middle of his own ‘profitable march through the institutions’ that people like Ralph Reed and Jack Abramoff were so good at.
This is the OLD Republican Party, and Steele hasn’t shown he understands ANYTHING about our new constituency to deserve a tip of the hat from us.
Returning to the Voyeur thing,they ALL continue to think somehow that they can get away with these kinds of gaffes embedded in hypocrises, and that NO ONE IS WATCHING.
THe fact is EVERYONE IS WATCHING ALL DAY,EVERY DAY.
A new Republican Party is going to have to be headed by people who are not necessarily more “careful”, (careful enough not to get caught) but simply moral at their core,
and not easily seduced. I can think of a few.
http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2009/03/-the-reconstructionist-michael-steele.html
The above says it all-he hasn’t seen the ball since the kickoff. Worthless and egotistical at the same time.
Look...this is about what the left is doing more than anything and the fact that the Clinton warroom is fully at work. Ths airing of family issues is disgusting and will only damage the RNC as a whole and damage the election cycle...THIS MATTERS TOO MUCH...stop the infighting, stop giving the left fodder...FOCUS ON THE OPPOSITION...that is not the RNC..that is not a pass for mistakes, that is not a pass for blunders, it is remembering who we need to be nimble and focused on our issues...I think the internal leaks at the RNC are disgusting and Tucker’s running tacky and gross...
I don’t care about the soap opera, I care about Nov 2010...
Like host of his own show, “You Are Wearing That?”.
No, moron. You are held to a higher standard because you are a Republican. No one cares if you are black or not.
Fred Thompson for RNC Chair...
See what kind of storm this brews...
The man is very nice, but also very incompetent. He should go.
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