If the most prominent democrat gets a credibility watch, surely Steele deserves one too.

Quote :

"HONEST-INJUN ON THAT"

The video also has him saying the GOP trying to be more moderate is what has got them into trouble.


http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/01/08/steele_claims_he_wrote_book_before_rnc.html

Quote :

"Steele Claims He Wrote Book Before RNC "Appearing today on Laura Ingraham's radio show, RNC chairman Michael Steele that he wrote his book Right Now before he became chairman. The problem is," TPM reports, "the book itself doesn't read like it could have possibly been written before January 2009 -- it was clearly written in late 2009, either in November or December, and is based entirely on current events up to that point." "The book is full of references to current events in 2009: The stimulus bill, the health care debate, foreign policy, ACORN, the party switch of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Tea Parties and the 9/12 March on Washington, etc.""

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/13/republican.brand/index.html

Quote :

"GOP needs power player to end 'warlord status,' expert says In the year since the last election, the Grand Old Party has made a handful of attempts to give itself a makeover, but all have stagnated. Now, the fractured party finds itself trying to regroup as the 2010 election cycle nears. "The party is sort of in warlord status -- where different people are leading different fiefdoms, different warring armies that are frequently at war with each other," said John Avlon, author of books on independent and extremist politics. In one corner, conservatives are accusing moderates of abandoning party principles. In the other, moderates are blasting conservatives for drawing partisan lines. And then there's the Tea Party fringe that's attacking both sides -- moderates because they are moderate and conservatives because they are not conservative enough. The various factions have different ideas for the direction of the party, and they turn to different people to represent the voice of the GOP. "Where the Republicans are having the biggest problem now is sort of a vacuum of leadership," said Republican strategist Chris Wilson. Catch phrases, slogans and tag lines can change, Wilson said, "but what it gets down to is leadership, and it is all about who is seen as the leader of the party." "It's not like you can just change one day the Republican brand from 'a to b' the way that Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to go from 'Finger lickin' good' to 'We do chicken right.' It just doesn't work like that," said Wilson, who has conducted thousands of public opinion surveys for candidates, companies and political groups. Attempts to revive the Republican brand -- from Rep. Eric Cantor's "National Council for a New America" to Republican Party head Michael Steele's vow to launch an "off the hook," hip-hop infused PR campaign -- all failed to gain much momentum."

Quote :

" Michael Steele said Tuesday that if he was not chairman of the Republican National Committee, he’d be a tea party protester. “As I like to tell people — long before there was this big push on tea parties — if I wasn't doing this job, I'd be out there with the tea partiers,” Steele said during an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto."

Not that the Tea Party isn't a big fan of Steele. But he'd be out there protesting if not for the $.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/01/gop_furious_at.php

Quote :

" House and Senate leadership aides are furious with RNC chair Michael Steele and have angrily confronted the RNC's press shop over their inability to keep the chair on message. In the course of a regular daily conference call between senior Congressional communicators, House and Senate aides berated RNC staffers over Steele's comments that the GOP would not be able to take back the House, and that even if they did, the party would not be prepared to lead. A senior Senate aide brought up Steele's comments, arguing that he was ruining what should be several days of glowing press for the GOP in the wake of retirement announcements from Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chris Dodd (D-CT). "Steele is setting us far back with his comments and it needs to stop," the aide said, according to 2 sources who were on the call."

And of course more recently he said this
"Trust me, after taxes, a million dollars is not a lot of money"


So what do you all think of the man steering the GOP ship this election season?

2/11/2010 11:33:59 AM

2/12/2010 3:53:01 PM

He's an idot, but he belongs in the GOP credibility watch thread. President Obama gets one because he is the President. It isn't as if there is Tim Kaine credibility watch.

2/13/2010 5:03:39 PM

Quote :

"He's an idot, but he belongs in the GOP credibility watch thread. "

When a party controls the presidency, the president acts in many ways as the head of the party. And Steele has certainly earned a credibility watch. Besides if we have had Reid threads, and Pelosi threads, Obama threads, Biden threads, and the like, there is no reason that every GOP leader has to be isolated into one thread... at least not for THE head of the GOP.

2/13/2010 5:18:25 PM

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/zombie_reagan_raised_from_grave

Steele may have some competition

2/16/2010 10:33:13 PM

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/23/rnc-defends-spending-habits-under-steele/?fbid=CeukDESvFZn

Quote :

"RNC defends spending habits under Steele Washington (CNN) – Michael Steele's handling of Republican National Committee's bank account is under fire once again, thanks to a Politico story out Tuesday detailing some of the committee's expensive habits during Steele's tenure. The story compared last year's RNC's financial disclosures with committee paperwork from 2005, the last comparable year before a midterm election, and concluded that Steele not only took in less money than his predecessors, but also spent nearly twice as much on items like car services, charter flights and fancy meals. "Michael Steele is an imperial chairman," grumbled one GOP fundraiser to Politico."

2/23/2010 11:04:22 PM

This is cross-racism. He got the position because he is black and not because of any attributes to his ability or character. They just needed an african american to compete with Obama. Too bad they chose a Carlton.

2/23/2010 11:17:33 PM

Quote :

" If the most prominent democrat gets a credibility watch, surely Steele deserves one too."

I'm not sure you can really call him the most prominent Republican.

Steele's most likely counter is VP Biden, which seems about right.

[Edited on February 24, 2010 at 10:51 AM. Reason : /]

2/24/2010 10:47:15 AM

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/06/steele.rnc/index.html

Quote :

"Steele tries to reassure GOP as top aide resigns STORY HIGHLIGHTS * Ken McKay, chief of staff for Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, resigns * Steele insists he is the right person to lead the GOP into November midterm elections * Critics say Steele lacks leadership to oversee GOP's national political organization * GOP political strategist worries that Steele is no longer listening to sound political advice"

Quote :

"Last week, Steele also came under fire from social conservatives after reports surfaced that the RNC had picked up a nearly $2,000 tab at a bondage-themed West Hollywood nightclub for a group of young donors. A few days later, Democrats distributed an RNC fundraising solicitation that had a misprinted number sending callers to a phone sex line. Steele also had to distance himself from an internal party document that described high-level Republican donors as "ego-driven" and suggested enticing them with "tchochkes" while urging "visceral" appeals to small donors."

Steele can't seem to get out of the news. On the plus side, I think the Family Research Counsel has called for an end to donations to the RNC because of all this. Which is probably good for the GOP long term to shed some of those social conservative fundamentalists, even if it isn't all that helpful for them in the short term election cycle.

There have been many calls for his resignation, even among some once powerful conservatives... what do our resident tdub GOP ppl think? Should he stay or should he go now? And is Steele right about his recent fallout being troubles being due to race?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040602661.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Quote :

"Appearing recently on ABC's "Good Morning America," Steele told George Stephanopoulos that being African American has magnified his travails. Stephanopoulos had asked Steele whether his race gave him a "slimmer margin for error." "The honest answer is yes," said Steele. "It just is. Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. We all -- 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." Except that African American Republicans aren't buying it. For starters, Steele was elected by the predominantly white party. After months of unforced errors, he can't now turn around and charge his party with racism. Actually, racism would mean expecting less from an African American than from a white counterpart. If you can't play the race card with your own race, you might be in a heap of denial. As Juliette Ochieng wrote in a blog item that was picked up by BookerRising.net, the black, moderate-conservative news site: "Mr. Steele's margin for error is smaller than it was when he first became RNC chair due entirely to the fact that he has made so many errors and due to the fact that he seems incapable of learning from them." "

4/8/2010 5:35:46 AM

Tom Fetzer, head of the NC GOP (also the guy who sued a radio host for suggesting he was gay), is now calling for Steele's resignation. Which is bigger news than others who have called for him to step down in that Fetzer is someone in a position to vote on whether or not Steele keeps the job if he doesn't step down on his own.

http://projects.newsobserver.com/sites/projects.newsobserver.com/files/Chairman%20Michael%20Steele.pdf

Quote :

"Dear Michael, I have prayed for you and hurt with you these last few weeks. I thank you for the passion you have brought to the job of leading our party, which is one of the reasons I have been a strong supporter of you during my tenure as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. Some of the criticism directed at you has been deserved, some of it hasn't, but no one could criticize you for lack of effort or enthusiasm. This is not about finding fault or assigning blame. That's beside the point. The point is to deal with the reality of a situation that is becoming increasingly untenable. Without going into a lot of detail about the situation we find ourselves in, I offer my personal opinion that the best way for you to deal with the reality of the situation is to tender your resignation as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. I neither arrived at this conclusion lightly nor derive any pleasure from articulating it to you."

4/8/2010 6:48:34 PM

hooksaw, this thread bump is for you.

7/1/2010 4:24:50 PM

^ Turnabout is fair play, sir!

7/1/2010 4:34:54 PM

This video is about a year old, but, for whatever reason, it always cracks me up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAEgXVeo_ac

Quote :

"So fast, so soon."

Quote :

"Bingo."

[Edited on July 1, 2010 at 6:01 PM. Reason : ]

7/1/2010 5:58:35 PM

Someone post the crazy shit Michael Steele was saying about Afghansitan today. It's too tedious to do from my phone.

7/2/2010 12:55:16 PM

As requested:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/02/kristol-says-steele-needs-to-go-rnc-defends/?fbid=FSxK5fb889k

Quote :

"(CNN) – As a leading conservative voice is calling on Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to resign his post, the RNC is defending the chairman's recent statements that appeared to criticize of the United States' war effort in Afghanistan and suggest the conflict there may be unwinnable. "The Chairman clearly supports our troops but believes that success of the war effort in Afghanistan requires the ongoing support of the American people," RNC Communications Director Dough Heye said. In a speech at a Republican fundraiser in Connecticut Thursday, a YouTube video shows the RNC chairman declaring of the war in Afghanistan, "This was a war of Obama's choosing." "This is not something the United States actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," he added. That statement is at odds with the fact the United States led a NATO coalition with overwhelming public support to invade Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and has prompted William Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, to publicly call on Steele to step down. "There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they're certainly entitled to make their case. But one of them shouldn't be the chairman of the Republican party," Kristol wrote. Speaking at the Connecticut fundraiser, Steele also appeared to suggest any conflict in Afghanistan may be unwinnable. "Well if [Obama's] such a student of history, has he not understood that that's the one thing you don't do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan. Alright? 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 without committing more troops," Steele he said in expressing a position that is not only at odds with the White House but most of the Republican Party as well."

7/2/2010 1:19:56 PM

wow

7/2/2010 1:21:03 PM

This is what he said:

Quote :

"The McChrystal incident, to me, was very comical. And I think it's a reflection of the frustration that a lot of our military leaders have with this Administration and their prosecution of the war in Afghanistan. Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. It was one of those, one of those areas of the total board of foreign policy ["in the Middle East"? -- Note: The audio is not quite clear in this section.] that we would be in the background, sort of shaping the changes that were necessary in Afghanistan as opposed to directly engaging troops, but it was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he's such a student of history, 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."

Clear case of "I DONT REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM 2000-2008"

7/2/2010 1:26:33 PM

Hahahahahahaha hilarious.

7/2/2010 1:51:53 PM

haha, thanks for posting


this guy is crazier than howard dean

7/2/2010 4:10:22 PM

^ Howard Dean helped his party win Congress and the WH, and a slew of state races. Steele is a token black guy with a foot perpetually in his mouth.

7/2/2010 6:46:56 PM

Let's face it - the GOP wanted their token black guy after Obama got elected....

But then they picked Steele

7/2/2010 7:07:15 PM

GOP... "We're diverse too! Just look at this black guy as our party chairman! Oh, and we have WOMEN at our tea parties!"

7/2/2010 7:09:11 PM

the tea parties are pretty diverse... there is strong representation from many minority groups and equal amounts of men and women

7/2/2010 8:06:06 PM

^ [citation needed]

7/2/2010 11:26:22 PM

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REPUBLICAN_CHAIRMAN_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=TXWIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Quote :

"GOP chairman: Afghan 'war of Obama's choosing' By PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican chairman Michael Steele drew criticism from within his own party Friday, including calls to resign, after saying the 9-year-old commitment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan was a mistaken "war of Obama's choosing." As criticism swelled, Steele issued a statement stressing his support for U.S. troops, but he did not acknowledge his factual error about a war launched by former President George W. Bush in response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A senior official in Bush's administration said it would be impossible for the Republican National Committee to speak with credibility on foreign policy if Steele remained chairman."

Quote :

"Steele has been prone to gaffes that have enraged congressional Republicans. In the last year, he predicted the GOP won't win House control this fall. He also drew ire when he criticized fellow Republicans in a book that party leaders didn't know he was writing until it was published. His GOP critics were irked further when he told them to "get a life" and "shut up." Earlier this year, his oversight of the RNC was called into question because of lavish spending, including money to entertain donors at a lesbian-themed bondage club in Los Angeles. That incident led to the departure of a key Steele adviser, the party's finance chief and the top committee staffer."

7/3/2010 1:16:27 AM

Quote :

"the tea parties are pretty not diverse... there is strong token representation from many minority groups and equal amounts of men and women"

fixed

I've heard that a majority of self-identified Teabaggers are women but idk about their appearance at the rallies, so I didn't challenge that bit of the post

7/3/2010 1:38:14 AM

Quote :

"GOP... "We're diverse too! Just look at this black guy as our party chairman! Oh, and we have WOMEN at our tea parties!""

Someone has to make the tea.

7/3/2010 2:52:24 AM

Steele faces new resignation calls
http://mobile.politico.com/story.cfm?id=39346&cat=topnews

Quote :

"Keep America Safe Chairman Liz Cheney also called on Steele to resign, telling POLITICO in a statement that "RNC Chairman Michael Steele's comments about the war in Afghanistan were deeply disappointing and wrong." "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," Cheney said. "I endorse fully Bill Kristol's letter to Chairman Steele. It is time for Chairman Steele to step down." While Steele has survived other dust-ups, Friday's departure from the party line led to deep frustration. Former Bush administration official Dan Senor told POLITICO that "a leader of the national Republican Party should not be popping off with half-cocked, neo-isolationist ideas on serious national security issues." Senor, who served as a White House and Pentagon adviser in Iraq, added that "Steele's comments smack of hypocrisy, given the Republican Party's strong support for President Bush's post-9/11 policies." "

7/3/2010 11:59:24 AM

Steele is done, i think.

This could work out in the GOPs favor though, especially if they get someone competent to replace him.

7/4/2010 11:04:09 AM

It'll be a lol if they replace him with Katon Dawson

[Edited on July 4, 2010 at 11:15 AM. Reason : of "no-black country club" fame

7/4/2010 11:15:14 AM

Oh snap... McCain has jumped on the down with Steele bandwagon.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/04/mccain-questions-steeles-ability-to-lead-rnc/?fbid=CeukDESvFZn

Quote :

"(CNN) - Sen. John McCain sharply criticized Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Sunday, calling his comments on the war in Afghanistan "wildly inaccurate." In an interview from Afghanistan broadcast on the ABC program "This Week," McCain, R-Arizona, said there was no excuse for Steele's statements that the war launched by former President George W. Bush was "of (President Barack) Obama's choosing" and may be unwinnable. "I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess whether he can still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican National Committee," said McCain, a veteran senator who was the Republican presidential candidate in 2008. His criticism follows calls for Steele's resignation by Liz Cheney, a former State Department official and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and former South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson, who finished second to Steele in the RNC chairman's race last year."

7/4/2010 1:01:57 PM

Quote :

"McCain, a veteran senator who was the Republican presidential candidate in 2008."

I love when CNN puts things like that in an article... I'm sorry, but unless you've been living under a rock for the past three years - you know who the fuck John McCain is

7/4/2010 1:17:32 PM

Unless you're reading it from another country or 50 years in the future.

7/4/2010 1:29:58 PM

^^Yeah, they could have easily just said Senator McCain... gotta fill those column inches somehow I guess?

Also Senator Lindsey Graham added that Steele's comments were "uninformed, unnecessary, unwise, untimely"

7/4/2010 3:35:12 PM

Quote :

""I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess whether he can still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican National Committee," said McCain, a veteran senator who was the Republican presidential candidate in 2008."

Ehhhhh, I don't think that means anything at all. Typical politician-speak. Mouth is open, words are coming out, but he's not actually saying anything. Steele is already doing this sort of assessment, so McCain is talking about it as if he were talking about the weather. "Nice day today. Steele is assessing. Rain tomorrow, eh?"

[Edited on July 4, 2010 at 3:38 PM. Reason : rain]

7/4/2010 3:37:52 PM

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/08/issa-steele-is-not-my-leader/?fbid=SEA_jdXHE53


Rep. Darrell Issa said Thursday that RNC Chairman Michael Steele 'is not my leader.'

Quote :

"Issa: Steele is 'not my leader' Washington (CNN) – Rep. Darrell Issa has a message for Michael Steele: Represent the consensus view of the Republican Party, or resign as chairman of the Republican National Committee. "Michael Steele is supposed to reflect a consensus of Republican platform and policies," the Republican said during a taping of C-SPAN's 'Newsmakers' program. "If he does that, he certainly could remain. If he's not willing to do that, if he wants to be a political leader on his own, there are plenty of seats open in November. I suggest he run for one of them." Steele has been under fire for suggesting that the war in Afghanistan is one "of Obama's choosing" and that the conflict might be unwinnable. Steele has since clarified his statements. But one week after Steele's initial comments, Issa sounds unconvinced. "I feel very strongly that he is not my leader, he does not make policy for me," Issa said Thursday. "I think he has to make a decision, and everybody at the RNC has to make a decision. Are they going to speak on behalf of the consensus of Republicans, what we've already established as policy? If so, that is great, he can do the job. If he is not willing to do it, then I think he should resign. He has to decide which he is going to be.""

7/9/2010 1:24:24 PM

Yeah, the GOP mainstream will crucify anyone that speaks out against their precious wars.

7/9/2010 1:32:55 PM

Out of the 36 posts in this thread, you've made 13 of them, Supplanter. Keep hope alive, man.

But unless you can show us an election in which voters based their votes on who occupied the party chair position, what do you have here? Whether Steele stays or not, good luck with this approach (and this thread).

7/9/2010 6:34:20 PM

^I let this thread go for 3 months, Opt brought it back for you specifically according to his post

then jwb9984 asked someone to post about the crazy steele stuff that had just come out

Quote :

"Optimum punch it 12954 Posts user info edit post hooksaw, this thread bump is for you. 7/1/2010 4:24:50 PM hooksaw All American 15286 Posts user info edit post ^ Turnabout is fair play, sir!"

You & Opt brought this thread back, not me. I can't help that Steele had another bout of the crazies at the same time.

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 6:50 PM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 6:49:23 PM

I would think that Democrats would want Michael Steele to get fired. From the beginning, people were saying Steele only got his position because he was black and the GOP wanted a counter to Obama's election. If he gets fired, Democrats could then say, "Ha, Republicans are racist!"

In some ways, Steele was on target with his original statements. Yes, it is now Obama's war. Obama had the power, on day one, to get us the fuck out of the debacle that is Afghanistan. I'm sure that wouldn't be considered a good use of political capital, but he could have (and should have) done exactly that. Nothing would be more beneficial at this point than getting us out these overseas conflicts. It's draining our economy and people are dying. We will never win these stupid wars, and anyone that thinks the wars are even winnable needs to get their head checked.

When he says "this was not a war of America's choosing," it strikes me as incorrect. The public was widely supportive of the Afghanistan war. Now, had they known what it would turn into, maybe they wouldn't have been. The sentiment in those days was, "let's go over there and get those fuckers that attacked us." Back then, even hinting that 9-11 was a direct result of misguided foreign policy would have been shouted down as unpatriotic.

So, on that same point, I don't think the American people knew what they were on the hook for with Afghanistan. The idea was to kill the people that helped orchestrate 9-11. We weren't talking about setting up camp for 10+ years and building a democracy.

7/9/2010 6:57:03 PM

And I'm not defending Steele's comments and other gaffes, but my point stands:

Quote :

"But unless you can show us an election in which voters based their votes on who occupied the party chair position, what do you have here?"

7/9/2010 6:58:20 PM

Statements of the party chairman influence public perception of the party.
Public perception of the party affects votes.
These concepts are fairly obvious.

There's not going to be any correlation as direct as you're asking for, and there's a damn good chance that no one has ever done the polling and legwork to try and prove the relation between party chair and votes. It's virtually impossible to prove anyway, given the number of factors involved in elections. The party chair is just one component of how people see the party as a whole.

I think you know your question is absurd, too... you just like to play your little rhetoric games. You don't have a point and it doesn't stand, and everyone (including you) knows that.


Edit: Also, I expect that this post will result in you repeating your question and asserting that it has not been adequately addressed. That's what you usually do in cases where someone undermines your argument or rejects the way in which you are trying to frame the situation. Go on and play your rhetoric games, though... It just makes you look like an idiot in front of everyone else here.

[Edited on July 9, 2010 at 7:15 PM. Reason : .]

7/9/2010 7:07:36 PM

^ Please stop with the ad homs. Are you trolling?

In any event, this is a legitimate point, whether you like it or not:

Quote :

"But unless you can show us an election in which voters based their votes on who occupied the party chair position, what do you have here?"

7/10/2010 1:22:24 AM

Quote :

"From the beginning, people were saying Steele only got his position because he was black"

Some said the same of Obama.
I think they're both right, or both wrong.

7/10/2010 2:20:45 AM

HERP DERP

7/10/2010 2:31:06 AM

^
I know, right?

7/10/2010 2:32:03 AM

I think you meant "i no rite"

7/10/2010 2:38:28 AM

Quote :

"Please stop with the ad homs. Are you trolling?"

I attacked your "point", then I attacked you and your typical rhetoric. I did not combine the two into something that would constitute an ad hom. You might want to look up what that actually is.

7/11/2010 5:41:45 PM

^ Thanks for the advice. My point stands.

7/11/2010 5:48:24 PM

wrong thread

[Edited on July 12, 2010 at 6:30 PM. Reason : .]

7/12/2010 6:29:57 PM