Posted on 03/02/2009 8:16:52 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I can’t really find too much to argue with what Michelle Malkin said here regarding RNC Chair Michael Steele’s recent comments (audio and video here of Steele’s comments and Rush’s response) about Rush Limbaugh and how Steele fed right into the mainstream media/lefty (but I repeat myself) playbook in agreeing with their over-simplistic characterizations of Rush Limbaugh - and of the convention goers at the GOP National Convention. For the last comment, where he didn’t speak up and protest when the interviewer (CNN’s D.L. Hughley) said that the GOP convention looked like “Nazi Germany,” Steele owes every single conservative an apology. You’ve got to stand up for your party, Michael!
As far as his comments on Rush Limbaugh, the gang at Hot Air make some good points here that also speak to what this “issue” is about and how Steele is someone in a position to have to try and play things “down the middle” now, and most of the commentary there seems to be at odds somewhat with Malkin’s analysis. No way would Steele outright say he wants “Obama to fail” because he would fall into the media’s trap of trying to pigeonhole conservatives. But he could have easily said that it’s more of a thing of wanting to see America prosper and succeed, but not as a result of the socialistic policies taking root but instead because of the strong spirit and determination of the American business owner and worker.
It’s certainly not up to Steele to explain and rationalize for Rush, but anyone who watched Rush’s speech this weekend knows what was at the heart of what he was saying, and it was that conservative ideals aren’t just good for conservatives; they’re much better for America than the socialism disguised as “compassionate liberalism” this country is being force fed thanks to Barack Obama and his administration, and the Democrats in Congress. There was a way Steele could have argued that point without coming across as a Rush devotee - AND without throwing Rush under the bus. As I’ve said a thousand times before, it’s not so much what you say, but how you say it.
With Barack Obama already setting the tone in DC in terms of trying to paint everyone Republican as a mindless “RushBot,” it’s important for Steele, Cantor and other prominent Republicans to make it clear that they speak for themselves and, oh yeah, that there are many conservatives and conservative pundits - including Rush - who think similarly because they too are … gasp! … conservatives. What Steele did here, again, was to feed into every media stereotype there is as it relates to Rush and the conservatives who listen to him. This will, unfortunately, set the standard for arguments from him along these same lines for months to come, where he will do everything he can while on liberal news networks to try and “appeal” to lefties who wouldn’t touch the Republican party with a ten foot pole, and he’ll do so by being “agreeable” to certain liberal myths about conservatives in order to “fit in.”
I’m not sure what else to add to this. I know I rambled on a bit but my thoughts on this were all over the place. I guess I should have just written one sentence and said: “Michael Steele, I am disappointed in you.” I’m one of many conservatives who have talked him up over the last several years as being a rising star in the party, as one who could help rebuild it and get it back on the map. But if he’s going to continue to treat conservatives with this kind of contempt and not stand up for them when they’re compared to one of the most vicious regimes in the history of the world, then I will no longer considermyself as a part of his support network.
Update: Steele has revised/clarified/whatever his remarks on Rush and has apologized for saying things that don’t bring the party together. Whatevs.
TARNISHED SILVER...is still silver. It’s worth polishing.
But cowardly lions are going to be trampled by the focused, ‘bitter clingers’ if they hesitate or run the wrong direction.
Steele better hurry to find his people so he can lead them
s-a-r-c
A party chairman who characterises his own party as looking like Nazis has no business even showing up for work the next day.
If Steele had one ounce of self-respect, he would apologise to the entire party and resign.
And, unfortunately, either move will seriously take a lot of time and a lot of money to successfully accomplish for the long-term.
Steele will be gone in 3 months to spend time with his family.
He's as effective as McPain as the RNC chairman.
The RNC is trying to use COLOR to make its RHINO plea. He's another Colin Powell. He's another J.C. Watts. It's all about COLOR and not principle.
If they want COLOR, get Alan Keyes. Alan Keyes is a GENUINE CONSERVATIVE that I ADORE and would be PROUD to have him REPRESNT ME. Get ALAN KEYES or WARD CONNERLY. Both are top notch CONSRVATIVES that happen to be black.
We don't need another disastrous RHINO.
Agreed.
What an idiot!
I think most of us were willing to give Steele a chance, but he just mimicked McCain and attacked the core of the party.
Helloooooo! Earth to GOP...RINOs are worthless. Knock this sh!t off!
Right on the money, sir.
If Steele is dumb enough to think that the RNC doens’t need the financial support of Rush Limbaugh fans, then he deserves to be fired.
If Steele thinks the RNC has any kind of viability by just ignoring the conservative element, then he won’t have to worry about getting fired because there will be no Republican party left to run.
It’s time to either reform the RNC or leave it and start a true Conservative party. THAT is the message the CPAC attendees should have taken away, rather than dinking around with straw polls.
Dam, spend the weekend in the woods with no connection to the outside world and come back to this jackass dissin rush, what a moron. I know rush has said he’d never run for office, sure looks like its headed that way.
I thought Rush’s response today was spot on. Steele was not only offbase on his comments about Rush, he was ungrateful given Rush’s support of him during his 2006 Senate campaign. The latter is more hurtful than the former. Steele lacks judgment, which is the worse sin of all given his position.
Correct answer in purple.
“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.” -
The Outlaw Josey Wales
I wonder if maybe it's a press intimidation factor at work? The knowledge that the press are totally out to screw him and every other GOP'er to the wall?
Of course, it's also possible that the Brotherhood of the Bell or whoever they are running this RiNO cabal at the center of the party, are giving Steele orders: do this, do this, don't support Limbaugh or The Crazies (i.e., us).
Blinking the second possibility, Steele certainly needs to confer and powwow with Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, and Maggie Thatcher, among others, on how to deal with psycho-assassin left-wing journopolemicists like Katie "Watch My Eyes Glow" Couric.
Ok and how do you do that?.These people are entrenched and have been tweeking the nose of conservatives at every turn for years.I say screw’em and start a new party.We shut off the money to them and it has not straightened them out.They are getting it from somewheres else and it sure as hell aint conservatives.
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