http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/0/steele_elected_rnc_chair.html?hpid=topnews

Quote :

" Steele Elected RNC Chair The Republican National Committee elected Michael Steele as its first African American chairman today in Washington, a decision that came after an excruciating series of ballots that displayed a level of drama rarely seen in national politics. Michael Steele speaks at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. last September. (AP) On the sixth and final ballot Steele bested South Carolina Republican party Chairman Katon Dawson 91 to 77. "It's time for something completely different and we are going to bring it to them," Steele said after his victory. "This is our opportunity. I cannot do this by myself." (Watch the full speech.) Steele acknowledged that the GOP has an "image problem" but cast his election as a "new moment" for the Republican Party. Asked about the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh and his back and forth with President Barack Obama, Steele was careful not to wholly embrace the controversial conservative talk radio host. "Rush will says what Rush has to say, we will do what we have to do as a party," said Steele In picking Steele, who had previously served as the chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, the state's lieutenant governor, and the GOP nominee in the Maryland Senate race in 2006, the party regulars seem to be acknowledging the need for new -- and different -- faces at the top of its food chain. "The winds of change are blowing at the RNC," said current chair Mike Duncan who stepped aside after losing votes on each of the first three ballots. After five ballots, the race came down to Steele and Dawson. Republican party strategists in attendance at the meeting openly fretted about the possibility of electing Dawson, who had acknowledged his membership in a whites-only club, and the signal it would send to a country that had just elected Obama as the nation's first black president. Of Obama, Steele offered the president congratulations for his victory but also sought to send a message to the Democratic chief executive; "How do you like me now," Steele asked. It was -- interestingly -- former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell who ultimately swung the race to Steele when he dropped out before the fifth ballot and endorsed the former lieutenant governor. The move was somewhat unexpected as Blackwell had staked out the turf as the most socially conservative candidate in the field while Steele had had to beat back rumors that he was not sufficiently conservative. Steele faces a massive challenge to rebuild a party that faces significant organizational, financial and messaging hurdles. The Democratic National Committee is up and running and will have the benefit of the 13 million person strong email list that Obama built during the primary. Democrats also have the luxury of controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress. Steele will provide a charismatic face at the top of the GOP but will be tested to show an ability to raise the money necessary to compete with the DNC in 2009 races (governors contests in Virginia and New Jersey) as well as the critical 2010 midterm elections. If you missed our live Twitter coverage of the RNC proceedings -- and they were FAR more dramatic than you might think -- you can catch up on it all on TheHyperFix feed."

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!



[Edited on January 30, 2009 at 6:08 PM. Reason : ctrl v]

1/30/2009 6:05:43 PM

Quote :

"Wouldn't we look like a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies, bragging on our own midget negro, doesn't matter how stumpy articulate."

1/30/2009 6:16:52 PM

I've read about this guy and he actually sounds pretty legit, trying to limit the influence of social conservatives on the party and all.

1/30/2009 6:16:57 PM

damned if you do, damned if you dont

lefties will find someway to spin this negatively

1/30/2009 6:54:43 PM

Quote :

"I've read about this guy and he actually sounds pretty legit, trying to limit the influence of social conservatives on the party and all."

Ummmm, ok. Not social conservative huh? This is the same guy that said stem cell research is like Nazi experimentation and had to apologize for it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020902540.html

1/30/2009 7:54:45 PM

it was in 2006, yea, we can play that game too

1/30/2009 8:26:14 PM

mike steele is awesome, im happy

1/30/2009 9:58:45 PM

Steele is an incredibly dirty politician.

1/30/2009 11:44:51 PM

A comment from three years ago about a timely issue isn't fair game?

[Edited on January 31, 2009 at 12:28 AM. Reason : er...]

1/31/2009 12:28:00 AM

wait wait wait

we're not allowed to bring up anything from before 2007 now

1/31/2009 1:29:24 AM

It won't make a difference until they can weed out the Limbaughs, Oreillys and Hannitys.

1/31/2009 2:40:32 AM

Holy fucking Buddha on stilts, are we really that stupid? Alan Keyes and Condoleeza Rice have less credibility among minority communities than my pasty ass does. Do they really think this asshole is gonna be any different? That is to say, anything other than a pathetic attempt to demonstrate how not-100%-white the party is?

I'd rather them elect Sarah Palin than a token black guy. One makes us look stupid, the other makes us look manipulative, and also really stupid.

[Edited on January 31, 2009 at 11:11 AM. Reason : ]

1/31/2009 11:10:33 AM

man i cannot wait for the republican party to split

hell, i might even join one of the groups that comes out of the ashes

1/31/2009 11:24:56 AM

Silly timing, but what can you do. Keyes, and more so Rice, don't make much headway in the black community exactly because they ARE Republicans. I think that reflects more on the black community than it does on Republicans as a whole. Republicans would do well to realize that they don't need the black vote to win, and making silly token gestures doesn't do anything to help them. They need to realign themselves with old school liberalism that they party was founded in, and stop trying to play to the Democrats.

1/31/2009 11:27:15 AM

^Oh, I agree completely. And if they're going to pander to minorities, Hispanics are the way to go. They actually have a foothold there. It'll still be inane and subtly racist, but at least the intention will be to make headway some place it can actually be made.

1/31/2009 11:29:48 AM

Quote :

"I think that reflects more on the black community than it does on Republicans as a whole. "

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=southern+strategy

Quote :

""Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain...if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?""

1/31/2009 11:50:47 AM

I think part of this too represents just how empty the pipeline for future GOP leadership is. With the last administration, so many of the big names were either disgraced by or tainted for their work with President Bush, leaving very few potential party leaders left. If you doubt that, just remember to a year ago at the Republican slate for presidential candidates. Thus, someone like Steele has the chance to rise to the opportunity, especially with the election of President Obama.

Seriously, the party has been burnt to the ground. If anyone has the leadership and charisma, they could completely redefine and rebuild the GOP. Not sure of Steele or Dawson was it, but its a real possibility.

1/31/2009 12:02:58 PM

Dont know enough about Steele but Katon Dawson is a douchebag. Really. You don't want to turn to him as your leader.

I'd pump up Crist, Pawlenty, and Jindal myself. As a centrist liberal, they appeal to me the most which is what you want.

1/31/2009 12:04:29 PM

how in any way is Bobby Jindal appealing to a centrist liberal

the man scares the shit out of me

"OOOH HE CLEANED UP LOUISIANNNA"

fuck that

i'll take a mismanaged country before i head into the bible thumping redneckery he promotes

1/31/2009 12:32:55 PM

^^ Sorry but the head of the RNC should never appeal to a centrist liberal.

The Republican nominee for President? Yes. But the head of the RNC is always gonna be a party-line guy to rally the base and keep his own guys in line. If he appeals to a liberal, then he's probably doing something wrong.

Or did you think that Howard Dean was chosen by the Dems because of his crossover appeal?

[Edited on January 31, 2009 at 1:02 PM. Reason : 2]

1/31/2009 1:01:13 PM

Quote :

"Or did you think that Howard Dean was chosen by the Dems because of his crossover appeal?"

yes?

the man was one scream speech away from Carter-ing GWBush

are you honestly trying to say the man who engineered the democrat takeover of 2006 and the piling on of 2008 doesn't have "crossover appeal"

lol

[Edited on January 31, 2009 at 1:21 PM. Reason : no seriously, LOL]

1/31/2009 1:20:22 PM

1/31/2009 9:39:01 PM

Oh Woodfoot, did you get dumber in the time that you left TWW or am I giving you too much credit?

Quote :

"yes? the man was one scream speech away from Carter-ing GWBush "

Wait, what?

Dean would have lost horribly in 2004 to Bush. No, seriously, Republicans were PRAYING that Dean would win because everybody knew that he'd be a joke in the general election, specifically because the guy doesn't appeal to anyone except liberals.

Quote :

" are you honestly trying to say the man who engineered the democrat takeover of 2006 and the piling on of 2008 doesn't have "crossover appeal" lol "

Howard Dean engineered the democrat takover? No, that honor goes to one man, and one man only. His name is George W Bush.

Dean did what he was supposed to do; he kept the party together and helped craft a message beyond just opposing anything that Bush advocated. But don't act like the guy ever had any appeal to conservatives. C'mon, you should know better.

2/1/2009 5:26:23 AM

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=%22Howard+Dean%22+%2250+State+Strategy%22

lol

obama got half his moves from the Howard Dean Playbook, dumbass

2/1/2009 9:15:14 AM

and "Crossover Appeal" doesn't necessarily mean "Drawing Republicans"
sure, he's never going to pull someone from the 23%ers
but instead they were looking to flip a percentage of soccer moms, nascar dads, middle class working families, upper class, religious individuals, etc, etc, etc

as obama showed, all you needed was 10% here and there from random demographics and you can flip states that pretty much NEVER go blue (*cough NC *cough VA *cough)

lol, no crossover appeal...

2/1/2009 9:20:04 AM

^ Dean is everything the Democrat party did NOT need in 2004. He came across as an angry white male, but a progressive one. The scream wasn't an aberration, it was a manifestation of his overall demeanor. To try to compare his campaign and personality to Obama's is laughable.

Quote :

"Holy fucking Buddha on stilts, are we really that stupid?"

yes. The "intellectual" center of the GOP is now dominated by Palin, Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly. This is a long way from Buckley.

Quote :

"if they're going to pander to minorities, Hispanics are the way to go."

Agreed. One of the more accurate criticisms of the McCain campaign is that he did not capitalize on how much he had done in support of Hispanic immigrants. Unfortunately, that is what a fear of upsetting an ignorant, xenophobic "base" will do to you.


Also, aside from the irony of an Arabic news channel pointing fingers at Americans for ethic-based biases, and my disappointment (though lack of surprise), that these people exist in large numbers, does the guy at the 30 second mark remind anyone of this guy:

2/1/2009 9:46:50 AM

^ I saw that too.

2/1/2009 11:10:17 AM

Quote :

"To try to compare his campaign and personality to Obama's is laughable."

show me ANYWHERE that i compare dean and obama on a personality level

but you're fucking foolish if you think dean's 50 state strategy did not SIGNIFICANTLY aid in

1. the democrat takeover of 2006
2. obama's win

are you kidding me here?

obama set up offices, with major volunteer/paid work in states that he had NO SHOT AT

fighting in utah and texas and all those other dark dark red states made it easier for obama to bleed mccain in the purple states

do you people not even pay attention?

2/1/2009 3:56:49 PM

I misunderstood you, been a touch sick today. My apologies.

No, I agree that Dean / Axelrod's 50 state plan was brilliant in that it forced McCain to spread his limited resources thinner than his budget could handle. Dean may be a good planner, he just isn't the candidate Obama is.

2/1/2009 6:18:56 PM

but man would he have been better than john fucking kerry

hell, john kerry basically ran on some half-assed "i can outbush bush on a lot of things" platform

[Edited on February 1, 2009 at 6:20 PM. Reason : fuck kerry]

2/1/2009 6:19:59 PM

It'd have been more entertaining to say the least.

2/1/2009 6:32:49 PM

Mike Steele

starring in

Nailin' Paylin II: Double Dippers.

2/1/2009 6:42:04 PM

where is that picture of the creepy kid from?

2/1/2009 7:05:59 PM

you talkin bout the preacher boy from there will be blood?

2/1/2009 7:06:58 PM

Quote :

"Dont know enough about Steele but Katon Dawson is a douchebag."

Pretty much. The guy is an old-school (read: bat shit crazy) conservative who was a member of a whites-only country club (they still have those?) until recently.

Quote :

"Republicans would do well to realize that they don't need the black vote to win, and making silly token gestures doesn't do anything to help them."

They do need the votes of people who perceive the GOP as racist (or at least racially insensitive).

2/1/2009 8:20:10 PM

i just saw a picture of steele

motherfucker looks like the guy who invented THE HUMPTY DANCE

i wonder if he ever got busy in a burger king bathroom

2/2/2009 3:54:05 AM

Quote :

"and "Crossover Appeal" doesn't necessarily mean "Drawing Republicans" sure, he's never going to pull someone from the 23%ers but instead they were looking to flip a percentage of soccer moms, nascar dads, middle class working families, upper class, religious individuals, etc, etc, etc as obama showed, all you needed was 10% here and there from random demographics and you can flip states that pretty much NEVER go blue (*cough NC *cough VA *cough) lol, no crossover appeal... "

If you had actually read the context of my post, you would know that I was specifically talking about Howard Dean's appeal to conservaties, which is about zero. Not his electoral campaign strategy, not his "50-State-Plan". His actual appeal to people who label themselves as Conservatives. This was in direct response to Kainen saying that it's important that the head of the RNC's appeal to "centrist liberals".

Karl Rove has engineered multiple masterful campaigns that brought independents and Dems on board to help Republicans win. Does that mean that he appeals to liberals?



[Edited on February 2, 2009 at 11:08 AM. Reason : 2]

2/2/2009 11:05:39 AM

spin it however you want, b

at the end of the day more people have "Crossed Over" to howard dean's party than michael steele's

2/2/2009 3:39:40 PM

Yep.

You can thank George W. Bush for that.

2/2/2009 3:42:35 PM

k

2/2/2009 4:34:18 PM

Fine if its strickly out of merit; but its pretty sad if the GOP picked this guy just so they could be like

"Look America We can pick minorities to lead our party too!!!"

2/2/2009 4:46:33 PM

i'm trying to find a good picture of Humpty Hump so you can see just how much these guys look alike

2/2/2009 4:55:34 PM

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/republicans_like_gop_s_conservative_direction_democrats_don_t

Quote :

"Coming off a shellacking at the polls in November, the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 24% think failed presidential candidate John McCain is the best future model for the party, and 10% are undecided. "

Wow. Given how out of touch they are, picking Steele was a stroke of genius.

2/2/2009 7:59:22 PM

yikes

2/2/2009 8:13:58 PM

"damn if you do...

2/2/2009 8:21:10 PM

Quote :

"the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future,"

HOLY FUCKING SHIT BATMAN

as long as republicans keep believing this they will keep losing elections to the Liberals. My dream candidate is a moderate republican fiscal conservative that is not in the back pocket of ExXon and panders to Evangelical America.

2/2/2009 8:40:41 PM

whats great is that the fundies can't outraise the moneys, and the moneys can't outvote the fundies

shits perfect

so go ahead, let the fundies steer the party to Golgotha, and let the moderate moneys hold their nose and donate to the left

or, and this would be great, go ahead and make a third party viable

2/3/2009 2:01:01 AM

Quote :

"damn if you do..."

There's an element of that here. Simply by virtue of being a prominent Republican, Steele is painted as an Uncle Tom. In order for him to truly be the best choice for RNC Chair, he has to have enough in his favor to put him ahead of all the rest even with that drawback.

I don't really see a way out of this cycle, either. Every African American republican is a target for derision. Their ability to enhance their own influence, and that of the party, is extremely limited.

2/3/2009 11:42:15 AM

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/06/steele-cleans-house-republican-national-committee/

steele cleans house

probably needed to happen.

2/6/2009 7:59:27 PM