Posted on 09/18/2009 7:26:33 PM PDT by cpforlife.org
What's next, is Steele going to welcome gun control candidates into the party? Candidates advocating for higher taxes and spending?
In a September 3rd interview, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told a surprised Columbus Dispatch reporter that he would lead the charge of pro-abortion GOP candidates if abortion is a value in their community. Columbus Dispatch Senior Editor Joe Hallett asked Steele "if there is room in the party for a pro-abortion rights candidate "
Hallett quoted Steele's reply:
"There absolutely is, there absolutely is The key thing right now-and I think this is true for Republicans across the country-is to have leadership that reflects the communities I live in, where we're from. As we get ready for the battles that lie ahead from this district to all the districts surrounding the state, that you're going to find those candidates emerge and rise up who reflect those values in those communities, and that's a very important step for the party to take, I think, and I'm looking forward to help lead that charge in the future."
There are two glaring problems with his statement. First, the official Republican Party Platform states: "We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it." Steele has thus flagrantly violated his own Party Platform by agreeing to fund the campaigns of GOP candidates who advocate abortion.
Second, the Platform touts itself as "The party of ideas, rather than a mere coalition of interests." But Steele's comments encourage candidates to be influenced by special interests in their communities rather than Republican principles of life, lower taxes, and smaller government.
It appears that Steele has forgotten that America elects representatives, not merely agents of puppeteer constituents. The words of the father of conservatism Edmund Burke in his 1774 speech at Bristol are more important now than ever: "Your Representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."
This time, Steele is "lead[ing] that charge" of GOP candidates who refuse to protect preborn babies. What kind of pastel-colored GOP candidate will he welcome next? What if a candidate's community wants to give citizenship to illegal aliens , higher taxes, universal healthcare, and more government programs?
During the Jan. 4, 2009 RNC debate for the Chairmanship sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform, Steele revealed that he did not own a single firearm. Could this mean Chairman Steele will use RNC donations to welcome advocates of gun control next?
Are we to abandon principle for the sake of political victory? I believe this is what has gotten us to the point that we are at. Lessor of two evils and all that. Is power all that matters?
Do not you, that would support someone that does not have morals or uphold the very foundations of Liberty just to have political power, not see that we are in the beginnings of the 2nd American Revolution? Good Lord, we are truly lost, even before the first real battles have been fought.
Principles, my friends, principles. Political power is no the only way. There are others. The power of numbers and convitions is a good start .
Steele told a surprised Columbus Dispatch reporter that he would lead the charge of pro-abortion GOP candidates if abortion is a value in their community. Columbus Dispatch Senior Editor Joe Hallett asked Steele "if there is room in the party for a pro-abortion rights candidate..."IOW, all politics is local.
I had hoped that with the 2006 elections, the actions of Bush, McCain, Jeffords, Specter & Snowe and the migration of conservative voters from the GOP that they would have realized that they had reached rock bottom. I guess not.
You would think that they would notice the enthusiasm thrown to people like Palin, Paul, Keyes & even the newcomer Joe Wilson, but I guess not.
I suppose the leadership is too corrupt or too stupid to learn. Perhaps they have taken too much tainted money. They have put the GOP on the fastpath to being a regional party. It going the way of the Whigs. It is time to either toss them or let the GOP fade away.
“You would think that they would notice the enthusiasm thrown to people like Palin, Paul, Keyes & even the newcomer Joe Wilson, but I guess not.”
You’re an idiot. Obama crushed Keyes in Illinois by a 70-27% margin.
If we can even get someone who is fiscally conservative but socially liberal in the People’s Republic of Illinois, take it. That’s a LOT better than corrupt ACORN-supporting communists like Durbin and Burris.
We have a publication titled “Intellectual Conservative” _quoting_ from the “Columbus Dispatch” and you're wanting me to question the veracity of the original reporter (_quoting_ steele), when the author in the “Intellectual Conservative” does not?
... and shouldn't steele be raising cain that he's been misquoted or that the reporter is flat lying?
In any case, my statement is as much an indictment of _anyone_ who supports infanticide as steele in particular.
and no, in general, I don't believe _anyone_ who is in the news and entertainment (propaganda) ‘industry’, unless there's something pointing to acceptable credentials. Writing for a pub with a title that paints a target on your back like having ‘conservative’ in the name is a reasonably good initial indication to me.
** “if there is room in the party for a pro-abortion rights candidate ” **
No, there isn’t enough room in the pro-life GOP for baby-killers.
Go elsewhere.
As a last minute sacrificial carpetbagger candidate with zero GOP leadership support running in Illinois of all places, I think he did pretty darn good.
Did the RINO McCain do any better against Obama? Lets talk about that. I do not know anyone who was whatsoever enthusiastic about him. Most were disgusted and the conservative voter turnout showed it. Just imagine how bad would it have been had he not made Palin his running mate?
“I think he did pretty darn good.”
I don’t. Keyes is a nutcase; I voted for Obama.
“I voted for Obama”
Probably in this past election too.
OK, I remember how conservatives were cheering Steele just nine months ago. Is the bloom off the rose? It’s MD — they don’t get it and never will.
People in IL can’t seem to do the right thing. Their politicians are as awful as those in 45 other states!
“Probably in this past election too.”
Nope. Not in the last election.
I’m not the only Republican who defected in ‘04, as the numbers show. And those who did vote for Keyes, if you talk to people on the ground, did so out of party loyalty and feel embarrassed about it.
Not many people like Christian Supremacists in the industrial states. Their presence at the national level is killing the GOP in states where we could be winning. Hell, the GOP had the governorship for 28 consecutive years here in Illinois, so it is not a lost cause.
Split the party and lose the war. Again.
Why not try to find common ground?
If we don’t we’ll get Obama and all his buffoon’s again.
First, I do agree with many of the points made in the original article.
Life long conservative here and if the Republican Party doesn’t reach out and embrace some changes in our world, we’re sunk.
I don’t know about you but I’d rather win than lose and lose we will if everyone adhere’s to their personal agenda.
There’s room for growth and it will take everyone to grow for the Party to come together.
I, for one, don’t want to get stuck on stupid, consequently ending up right back where we are.
P.S. Go Poland !
Yahright.
You went after the center last time. How'd that work out for ya?
What they need to WIN is the VAST RIGHT WING. The Republicans haven't been more than half-vast in a long, long time.
You don’t win anything worth winning if you win by sacrificing your principles.
The difference between you adn meis that I don’t care whether teh Republican Party ever wins another election. I care that CONSERVATIVES win.
I just don't know about her for 2012. I think if she had a full two terms as governor and would spend time mastering foreign affairs, she would be on par with Reagan and Thatcher. That takes time.
I know she's already way more experienced than obozo will ever be in true governing, but she will be held to a much higher standard.
Who else is there that is as genuine and solidly conservative as Sarah but with deeper experience?
She doesn’t have to run for President to help set up a shadow faction inside the GOP to help us take over.
Sorry, I don’t believe that.
Life is a journey and we learn something new most everyday and incorporate that into our lives. If we don’t, we’re just stuck living in yesteryear. We’ve been given plenty of room in our hearts and minds to come up with an alternative to conquer this but it won’t happen as long as our world merely revolves around us.
When it comes to the current political climate, if we don’t find a way to bring the party together, rather than split off, we will lose. There’s a plethora of Conservatives with multiple agenda’s. To win, we need everyone of them plus their cousins.
Stay stuck and we lose the war, again. I don’t want to lose this war.
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