Posted on 03/05/2009 9:23:17 AM PST by SolidWood
Michael Steele should resign as Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman, according to a committee member from North Carolina.
In an e-mail to fellow RNC members obtained by The Hill, Dr. Ada Fisher, North Carolina's national committeewoman, said Steele is "eroding confidence" in the GOP and that members of his transition team should encourage him to step aside. Fisher added Steele's personal e-mail address to the e-mail.
"I don't want to hear anymore [sic] language trying to be cool about the bling in the stimulus package or appealing to D.L. Hughley and blacks in a way that isn't going to win us any votes and makes us frankly appear to many blacks as quite foolish," Fisher wrote.
Fisher, who is one of three black members of the national committee, backed South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, whom Steele edged out in the final round of voting to win the chairmanship in late January. She has voiced repeated opposition to Steele, sending dozens of e-mails to committee members even after Steele won election slamming him for any number of chips that have fallen awry.
Fisher’s call for Steele’s resignation comes amid growing frustration in the GOP that the new chairman’s repeated gaffes are hurting the party.
It remains unclear just how much trouble Steele may be in with his own membership. While several RNC members have told The Hill that Steele remains popular with their bases, Washington-based strategists are grumbling, an attitude that is slowly filtering down to the states.
Steele appeared over the weekend on Hughley's CNN show, where he fought back against the assertion that radio host Rush Limbaugh was the "de facto leader" of the Republican Party. Steele said he himself was the de facto leader and called Limbaugh an entertainer whose program's content was "incendiary" and "ugly."
On Monday, Limbaugh shot back, saying on his show that Steele was not the leader of the party and that many conservatives would "hang up" when Steele's RNC came calling for contributions.
"Limbaugh has already promised that 'His Conservatives' won't be giving to the RNC. I would suggest to you that that is a real bet," Fisher wrote. "If we can't raise money and continue to allow the alienation of the few varifiable [sic] red states remaining, we are foolish."
Steele later said he had reached out to Limbaugh to clarify his remarks, insisting he meant no offense. But the incident elicited crowing from Democrats, who for weeks have pursued a strategy seemingly designed to elevate Limbaugh to the front of the GOP line. Democrats would enjoy contrasting themselves with Limbaugh's assertion that he wants to see President Obama's economic policies fail.
Calling the Limbaugh-Steele clash a "Republican Horror Show," Fisher expressed what some other GOP strategists have until now only said privately: "I have never seen such ineptness in our GOP leadership," Fisher wrote. "And I though we handled the 2008 elections very poorly."
Fisher could not be reached for comment Thursday morning, while the RNC did not immediately have comment on her letter.
I for one hope Rush and Steele call for a truce, and agree to instead talk about how the market has dropped because Obama’s policies are wrong.
Rush and Steele no more copmments about the other, at all. Not until the market is up 2,000 or 3,000.
Let’s see if either or both are good enough to do THAT?
Steele stabbed Rush in the back and then twisted it.
That’s kind of hard to overlook, and a huge warning re future behavior and comments from Steele.
Amen brother! McNuts needs to go away.
“Steele stabbed Rush in the back and then twisted it.
That’s kind of hard to overlook, and a huge warning re future behavior and comments from Steele.”
I’ll stick with what I said.
Ummm.. and what good thing would earn the GOP good media coverage?
Fall guy.
If Steele is pro AWB then there’s no way I can support him or the RNC.
It’s okay, Limpy...you can say “bitch”. The rest of your blathering was indecipherable.
(BONG) Sorry. The proper lemming response is...”He didn’t go far enough.”
>> Just what Obama and the Democrats want:
I disagree with the implication that we cannot call out members of our party for the mistakes they make. The freedom and right to fight amongst ourselves is paramount to the concern of being played by our opponents, especially when the reasons behind the contention are legitimate and reflect the values we live for.
Your not alone in your concern; I’ve seen similar warnings by others. It’s something to think about.
My first thought was, Average White Band?
Long week; my brain is tired.. :p
Yes, absolutely. Not that the Dems are much alive either. There are two possibilities. One, a true leader emerges; it is not unreasonable to say that at the moment Rush appears to be such leader. Note that unlike Newt Gingrich in 1994, Rush is not going to suffer an identity crisis upon discovering that the press and the Left are mean to him. But it could be someone we haven't noticed yet. Such leader is likely to repeat the upset of 1994; let's hope the second time around the opportunity is not going to get squandered.
The alternative is that as the Democrats discredit themselves by being unable to stop the emerging depression, there is no unified force coming from the right. In which case we have some form of a totalitarian regime emerging.
"Nodding" at a comment is now a firing offense?
What's wrong with saying you want our principles to be put in different settings?
Do ALL Republicans have to have country club membership? (I sure don't.)
Oil and water.Rush is a conservative and steel is not.The republican leadership will sell conservatives down the road as usual.You cant trust them.
The Democrats are already running as Progressives (the old code word for Marxist). It is time to do some serious re-thinking in the face of a serious Marxist challenge.
I was initially hopeful, but that was only because I didn’t know much about him. His stance on RKBA and Affirmative Action is the same as Obama.
I thought his stance on the 2nd Amendment was due to ignorance and just because he is unfamiliar with gun ownership, but recent quotes do not bear that out.
I left the Republican Party three days ago, when it dawned on me what the appointment of Steele really meant.
It means that instead of an organization based on conservative principles that would attempt to find suitable candidates for elective office, they are going to promote an organization based on pandering to various groups they think are important.
They are going to try to out-liberal the liberals, and it is never, ever going to work.
I had so much hope for Michael Steele. I’m disappointed beyond belief. Since he agreed with a comedian when he went after a private citzen, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele must resign.
WE NEED A STRONG CONSERVATIVE.
Boot Steele out now, early, while there is still time to raise money and turn things around for the 2010 elections. If he stays in, 2010 could be as bad as 2008.
We need a clear conservative voice, not some guy who wants to be viewed as “cool” by everyone.
In my opinion, it is not the “reaching out to young blacks in the hip-hop culture” that is the problem, it is that the leadership of the Republican Party SEES that as the solution.
Instead of being principles based, he is demographic and focus group based. Conservatives cannot do that better than liberals. Conservatism is the ideology of ideas, and trying to adjust your “message” and “appearance” to grab a segment of the electorate isn’t going to work. It is what liberals, do, and they do it better and without any reservation.
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