Conservatives Tossing Michael "Gimpy" Steele Under the Bus

[jefferson_dem]

:popcorn:

STEELE: Losing Control Of His Image?

Steele is taking a lot of heat from conservative bloggers following his dust-up with Limbaugh:

Power Line's John Hinderaker: "It's probably too early to give up on Steele, but I hope he understands that if he doesn't start sticking up for his fellow Republicans when he has the opportunity, his tenure at the RNC will be brief."

AmSpec Blog's W. James Antle: "It's still very early in Steele's tenure, but the Limbaugh brouhaha doesn't bode well for his chairmanship. Steele's biggest asset was that he was an effective television spokesman for the Republican Party, not any turnaround at the Maryland Republican Party or GOPAC while he was running those party institutions. This was the area where he was really supposed to shine. I still maintain that Steele is more conservative than his critics allege, but he definitely has the apologetic blue-state Republican mentality. If this means a few years of vacillating between sucking up to D.L. Hughey and apologizing to Rush Limbaugh, it will be more of the same for the GOP."

Hot Air's Allahpundit: "The RNC chair ideally needs to be good on TV and good at ingratiating himself with grassroots conservatives and their pocketbooks, and so far he's been terrible at both. <...> The party's not going to scramble to oust its first black chairman, but if Steele goes on embarrassing himself he'll become very easy to ignore, which will destroy his 'change' mandate."

RedState's E Pluribus Unum: "Monday Michael Steele got taken behind the woodshed by Limbaugh, de-trousered and birched but good. To put it mildly, he had it coming, and I personally enjoyed it. However, if you heard Steele's 'apology' it's clear he didn't learn his lesson, and if he does not figure it out very quickly, he will set new records for 'Least Noticed Person In America'."

Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "Just in case you're wondering -- yes, I do still support . However, his recent performance has been worrisome for a number of reasons. Any Republican politico should know that you don't trash Rush Limbaugh. He's very popular with conservatives, he's a tremendous ally of the Republican Party, and in Steele's case, he has been one of his supporters. <...> Personally, I think Steele's biggest problem so far is that he seems to have caught that 'whipped dog syndrome' that so many Republicans in D.C. have been infected with. His first impulse always seems to be to apologize for things."

Meanwhile, The Washington Examiner's Byron York reports that "a number of Republican politicos around Washington...are worried that key jobs at the RNC are unfilled and the party's mission is unfocused, while Steele makes appearance after appearance on television, with sometimes controversial results."

http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com/archives/2009/03/34_melting_stee.html

[tularetom]

1. Steele is an asshole but just what Republicans did he not stick up for?

Rush Limpballs? Not an office holder. He's a fucking disk jockey, a radio huckster. Steele doesn't owe him dick.

I'm beginning to wonder if all the shit that's being dumped on Steele has anything to do with his color.

[kirby]

2. Steele is correct...

If his job is to 'broaden' the Republican party, he needs to move in a different direction and marginalize the Limbaughs and Evangelicals that currently dominate the party. My guess is that they will get rid of him because they dont want to change.

[Cha]

7. Steele was wrong

to apologize to rush limpbaugh..he only told the truth about limpbaugh on Hughley's show.

[firedupdem]

3. Goes to show you they are a bunch of idiots. I thought they were

trying to "grow the base". You can't do that and cater to a loud mouthed bigot at the same time. Steele is dumb as glue. He would have impressed a lot of people had he stuck to his guns. I guess it's actually good for us that he didn't!

[Cha]

8. Steele tried to have it both

ways and as one of the wingerbloggers wrote..he got "birched".

[CanonRay]

4. Methinks he's toast

in a very short time. He wants to do what they supposedly elected him to do e.g. broaden the party, but the real powers that be don't want that at all, and he'll pay the price.

[4lbs]

5. I guess they didn't like his attempt to put some "hip hop" into the RNC.

see I am Wonder Mike and I like to say hello
to the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow
but first I gotta bang bang the boogie to the boogie
say up jump the boogie to the bang bang boogie
let's rock, you dont stop
rock the riddle that will make your body rock
well so far youve heard my voice but I brought two friends along


(lyrics from Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight")

:D

[jenmito]

6. I think the word "riddle" should be "rhythm"...

or else I'VE been saying it wrong for years! :)

[4lbs]

9. Could be. I just yanked the lyrics off of one of those lyrics sites.

I long ago lost the original 45 rpm single and lyric booklet it came with. :)

[Hamlette]

10. Yeah, but most are criticizing him for saying bad things about Rush

That's what got them into this problem in the first place: loyalty to a person over principles. They should have said something when Bush went nation building in Iraq (they used to be against that, or they were when Clinton did it) or took their precious personal liberates away with the patriot act and wire taping or spent the country into debt. And exactly who would Jesus torture Rush? Where were you all when all that was going on? At least they make such fools of themselves they are easy fodder for even the likes of Scarborough.

We all excuse "our" leaders but you need to know it comes at a cost. And the cost is, the GOP is in bed with a blow hard with enough horrible quotes out there to sink their ship.

They should at least say, as I do, "I agree with him/her on lots of issues but not everything." If Steele needs to add "baby" to the end of that sentence, so be it. Sheesh, don't these ppl know how to do a political interview?