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Liz Cheney joins calls for Steele to step down as leader of the RNC
The Hill ^

Posted on 07/03/2010 9:09:36 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

Liz Cheney joins calls for Steele to step down as leader of the RNC By Walter Alarkon - 07/03/10 10:33 AM ET

Liz Cheney joined conservative calls for Michael Steele to resign his post as Republican National Committee chairman because his remarks about the Afghanistan war.

Steele's comments "were deeply disappointing and wrong," said Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a statement Saturday.

"The chairman of the Republican Party must be unwavering in his support for American victory in the war on terror — a victory that cannot be accomplished if we do not prevail in Afghanistan," said Liz Cheney, who serves as chairwoman of Keep America Safe, a conservative foreign policy group.

Cheney said she fully endorsed a letter by Bill Kristol, another Keeping America Safe board member, that called on Steele to resign.

"It is time for Chairman Steele to step down,” she said.

Steele was caught on camera this week questioning the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, calling it "a war of [President] Obama's choosing" and saying that it was "not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in."

“If he's such a student of history,” Steele said at a fundraiser in Connecticut, “has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”

While Obama has taken heat from the right over his war strategy, it has largely been because he didn't immediately accept the recommendations of top generals last year to further increase the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan. Obama later announced a troop buildup, and conservatives more recently have supported the president's decisions, particularly his move to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal with Gen. David Petraeus.

In addition to Kristol and Cheney, RedState founder Erick Erickson has called for Steele's resignation.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: lizcheney; steele
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To: DefeatCorruption
Who would replace Steele? Sarah?

I'd support Ken Blackwell. He'd do a far better job than Steele has.

41 posted on 07/03/2010 10:30:20 AM PDT by JoeFromSidney ( New book, RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY. More @ www.book-resistancetotyranny.com)
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To: skeeter
Afghanistan is not Iraq - its a wild country. I've thought from the beginning we needed to avoid a prolonged engagement there, kick ass and then promise to come back & kick ass again if they misbehaved.

That's a hollow threat and both the Afghanis and the Pakistanis know it - they understand the US political situation and the power of US doves as well as anyone else. And Pakistan will not leave Afghanistan alone. The Islamists and the Pakistani military will begin restoring the Taliban to power the second we leave, and Afghanistan will again turn into a safe haven for Islamic terrorist outfits.

As for Steele, the man is a publicity-hungry buffoon. The RNC's response to Obama's election was the intelligence-insulting token appointment of Steele, and they've gotten burned very badly.
42 posted on 07/03/2010 11:00:13 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: skeeter

The foreign policy establishment as represented by the Kristol’s and the Cheney’s pursue limited wars just like Obama does.

Our bipartisan post-World War II United Nations era foreign policy is rooted in fighting conflicts where there is no victory.

My prime question to leaders is simple. Why do we tolerate a Taliban safe haven in Pakistan?

Its like not bombing and destroying Haiphong harbor which would have won the Vietnam War. Fear of Soviet sailors dying and starting a nuke war was the excuse.

Now I guess its fear of Pakistani nukes that limits our options to win this war in Afghanistan.


43 posted on 07/03/2010 11:34:14 AM PDT by Nextrush (Slocialist Republicans and Socialist Democrats need to go)
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To: Sub-Driver

I doubt he does resign. He is too busy living first class on GOP money. The Black VS Black theory that led to his elevation was the worst sort of cynical BS that never had any chance of working.


44 posted on 07/03/2010 12:27:12 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Psalm 144
It is not Obama’s war, it is Bush’s war.

Bush has been out of office for nearly two years. Like it or not, Zero is the commander in chief. Obama appointed the general in the field and choose to double down on the war to an extent not even supported by Bush. Obama now "owns" it just as much as he owns Obama care. Those conservatives who backed Obama's escalation are shilling for the Democrats.

45 posted on 07/03/2010 1:04:30 PM PDT by Captain Kirk
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To: Ev Reeman

The Soviets didn’t have ROE and they lost. That gimmick won’t perform a miracle.


46 posted on 07/03/2010 1:06:38 PM PDT by Captain Kirk
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To: PA-RIVER

No, Obama is not nation building. Obama is anti-war and he simply demagogued the war in Afghanistan as a campaign issue to hide his anti-war beliefs. Then, when he became the Commander in Chief, there was no way out. That’s when Obama appointed all the “clowns” in the state department to represent his anti-war views and placed the abhorrent rules of engagement on the military. This is totally Obama’s war and now he is going to have to fight his war with Bush’s general, a man who fights to win, not aim for mediocrity.


47 posted on 07/03/2010 1:14:37 PM PDT by Eva (Aand)
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To: Ev Reeman
The problem is there are no "Afghan people". Only disparate and primative tribes.

It may be possible to 'nation build' where there has never been a singular nation. Or it may not.

But do you really want to spend more US lives & treasure building another unified muslim nation?

48 posted on 07/03/2010 2:49:53 PM PDT by skeeter
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