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With his rise in popularity Donald Trump has now started to have to defend himself against Republicans who think that his focus on the birther issue is going to hurt the party. This includes Karl Rove, who recently called Trump a "joke candidate." Now you can add former RNC chairman Michael Steele, who appeared on Hardball last night and dismissed the birther issue as "silly," to that list. "Rank and file Republicans don't give a rat's giblet let about the birther issue."

The Republican National Committee is entering the fall election season with dire financial problems and, to an unprecedented degree, will be forced to rely on outside groups to fund activities traditionally paid for by the national party. While embattled RNC Chairman Michael Steele and a top aide sought to use the party’s summer meeting here to publicly put the best face on the cash shortage, senior Republicans expressed grave concern behind the scenes that their fundraising deficiencies may be the difference between a good election year and a great one. With $11 million on hand at the end of June...

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is once again puzzling journalists and fellow party members. What happened this time? An RNC intern sent emails to the offices of foreign diplomats offering them a private meeting with Steele in advance of the November congressional elections. For what possible purpose, everyone is wondering, would Steele reach out to foreign ambassadors? Here's the email and, below, what observers are saying, with a fair share of the mockery that usually comes with Steele coverage. "As you know, the November election is just 103 days away and the chairman would like to extend to you...

Intraparty rift intensifies over treasurer's disclosures The vicious infighting at the Republican National Committee escalated over the weekend, with an ally of RNC Chairman Michael S. Steele warning the party's treasurer of legal consequences if he did not stop making a fuss over erroneous financial disclosures to the Federal Election Commission. New Mexico RNC member Patrick J. Rogers told Treasurer Randy Pullen on committee letterhead that his disclosures about millions of dollars in unreported debt "are covered by attorney-client privilege or the fiduciary requirements of corporate officers." At one point in his letter, Mr. Rogers, who is Mr. Steele's appointee...

<p>The Republican National Committee has cancelled a fundraiser with conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who is under fire for promoting an edited video that falsely portrays former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod as having boasted about discriminating against a white farmer looking for her assistance.</p>

The Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele looks to have fallen victim to predatory lending. From The Daily Caller: "According to public documents obtained by Americans for Limited Government (ALG), Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), is as fiscally irresponsible in his personal life as he has been in the management of the RNC. A rough estimate indicates that Steele is obligated to pay 117% of his take-home pay in mortgages and taxes on his $1.7 million home in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. This is no ordinary home, but is a 6,440 square foot mansion with...

The Republican National Committee failed to report more than $7 million in debt to the Federal Election Commission in recent months - a move that made its bottom line appear healthier than it is heading into the midterm elections and that also raises the prospect of a hefty fine. In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer - a charge RNC officials deny. Mr. Pullen...

The Republican Party has not given African Americans a good reason to vote for the party, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said Tuesday night. "You really don't have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven't done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True," Steele said at DePaul University, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Steele, the first African-American chairman for the RNC, said the GOP has lost its historical link to African Americans. "This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass," he said. "The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP,...

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, in hot water for an embarrassing spending scandal involving a Hollywood gay sex club, is responding in a tried, true and tiresome way. Asked on "Good Morning America" if he thought he was being criticized unfairly because he's African-American, Steele bit. "The honest answer is, 'Yes,' " he said, adding that "Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do. It's a different role for me to play and others to play and that's just the reality of it." Bad move, Mike. Fact is, any party chairman whose national committee reimbursed a contributor...

GOP watch: Steele courts Tea Party Posted: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 8:53 AM by Domenico Montanaro Politico and the Washington Post report that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele will meet with 50 Tea Party activists today on Capitol Hill. Politico's Vogel writes that "Tuesday will mark the first large-scale get-together between the national party and grass-roots activists from a wide array of regional tea party groups." But some "tea partiers have pushed back against Republican groups wrapping themselves in the movement’s flag. Jenny Beth Martin, a founder of the umbrella group Tea Party Patriots, remembers asking the Republican Governors Association...

Critics of Michael Steele's tenure as Republican National Committee chairman are motivated by racism, Steele suggested in an interview published on Tuesday. Speaking to Washingtonian magazine (no online version), Steele wondered why his Democratic National Committee counterpart doesn't get the same criticism he does. "I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation," Steele said. "Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?”

Critics of Michael Steele's tenure as RNC chairman are motivated by racism, Steele suggested in an interview published today. Speaking to the Washingtonian Magazine (no online version), Steele wondered why his DNC counterpart doesn't get the same criticism he does. "I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation," Steele said. "Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?” The RNC has experienced significant staff turnover since Steele became chairman, especially in the communcations shop. That has prompted speculation about Steele's management...

Michael S. Steele has maneuvered through a minefield of internal discontent, emerging from a critical party gathering with his authority intact.... High-profile Republican gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey and a victory in the recent special Senate election in Massachusetts have helped quiet grumbling within the RNC over Mr. Steele, whose position and authority seemed shaky just a few months ago. A feared open revolt against the former Maryland lieutenant governor fizzled at the 168-member RNC's winter gathering in Honolulu over the weekend, despite lingering questions... In the view of RNC General Counsel Reince Priebus, who is also Wisconsin...

WEST VALLEY CITY — The head of the Republican National Committee said Friday he believes voters may have moved beyond the bias against Mormonism that hurt Mitt Romney in last year's presidential election. Speaking to reporters after a town hall meeting at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Michael Steele said comments he made earlier this year about Romney being rejected by the GOP base because of his faith were "old news." "I was speaking to an attitude or a mindset at the time that I thought was unfortunate and I said that I think (Romney) proved just how unfortunate it...