Well I read the article linked and I must say it is so convoluted as to be incomprehensible.
But I have some thoughts on the matter, as is my wont.
The Daily Caller is a site operated by Tucker Carlson, hardly any left-winger. I’ll allow as Tucker is sort of a moderate but he’s no Huffington. He’s not much of a dancer, by the way.
Which makes me wonder out loud how he got this information about Steele and why he repeated it. There’s something to this story...as if somebody repeated the story “off the record” but the Daily Caller reported it “on the record”.
This means that someone violated a confidence but doesn’t mean the facts aren’t true.
About that nightclub thing....this is really confusing. The RNC FEC filing shows almost 2 grand paid to a topless nightclub specializing in imitating lesbian sex. Then the article says that right above is a reimbursement to some guy, Joe Blow, who is a direct mail consultant for the RNC.
So what? We assume Joe Blow paid out the money for a “business luncheon” at this x-rated club and the RNC is thereby reimbursing him?
Then it goes on to say that everything the Sun reported earlier is lies, that Steele did not refuse an interview, that the expenditure for this Voyeur night club was illegitimate and the RNC should be have the money returned.
Well why did they file it in an FEC report? Nobody questioned it before? This is weird.
This article is evidently a follow-up to the original Sun article that repeated all this stuff from the Daily Caller, only it is a refutation of the original article.
Very unclear but someone did spend money at this x-rated club I deduce, not necessarily Steele but could be.
I’m thinking that Steele did suggest purchasing an airplane for RNC use...just a hunch. Somebody said it off the record and Carlson’s group printed it on the record. The notion of buying an airplane for the RNC isn’t that bizarre. I imagine the Chairman does do a lot of traveling. I must wonder if the DNC has an airplane of some kind.
Maybe it’s not warranted but it’s not like the RNC is the devil incarnate for considering it.
In summary, this seems to be a bunch of gossip stuff, probably started by a close perusal of the FEC filing, something anybody can see and the pubs could get out of the tanning booths and look over those Dem FEC filings, I bet they’re a real hoot.
Tempest in a teapot.
The complaints from the RNC about this morning’s Daily Caller article, “High Flyer: RNC Chairman Steele suggested buying private jet with RNC funds,” while loud, lack substance. Despite claims to the contrary, no one from the committee has ever explained the specific circumstances of any of the expenses listed in its most recent disclosure filings.Our questions remain: Why did the committee spend more than $17,000 on private jets in the month of February? How and why was RNC business conducted in a bondage-themed nightclub, and how and why were the nearly $2,000 in charges that resulted approved by RNC staff?
To be clear: We did not claim that Michael Steele personally visited Voyeur West Hollywood. In fact, and unfortunately, we still know almost nothing about that trip, including its purpose. If the RNC provides details, we’ll put them on the site immediately.
The Daily Caller requested interviews with Michael Steele on Jan. 14, Jan. 15, Jan. 18, Feb. 10, Feb. 23 and again on March 23. All were denied.
The story we ran today is accurate, as the RNC knows.