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100 Days of Silliness
Mike Segar / Reuters
GOP Chairman Michael Steele angered Rush Limbaugh, annoys donors, and can't inspire the base—and those are the high points of his first three months, Republicans tell The Daily Beast.
On Saturday, May 9, Michael Steele marks 100 days as chairman of the Republican National Committee. When Republicans were looking around for a new party leader, they knew they needed someone who would be a dynamic communicator committed to modernizing the party. One of the Bush administration’s biggest failures, many conservatives came to believe, was its inability to communicate conservative principles to the American public.
“A lot of donors seem totally underwhelmed by Steele. Some donors are looking for another organization to donate to.”
Steele was not the hardline conservative candidate; he was supposed to be the symbol of change representing the party that lost the election against a candidate running on change. Since his election, his words have often turned out to be more liability than asset, causing groans on his own side. “Some Republicans are remembering the benefits of a GOP chairman who didn't try to make himself the story,” one Republican strategist told The Daily Beast. “Chairmen like [Ed] Gillespie and [Ken] Mehlman focused on their jobs, not the spotlight, and they were more effective because of it. That was a lesson that Howard Dean eventually learned, too.”
In early March, Steele engaged in a spat with talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, dismissing him as nothing more than “incendiary” “entertainment.” Shortly after, Steele backed down and apologized, realizing he might have alienated a popular figure, maybe the most popular, for the conservative base. More recently, Steele told GQ magazine that abortion was an “individual choice” for a woman, flabbergasting conservatives who had been led to believe that he was pro-life. Not seen by conservatives as a trustworthy conservative, he has tried to ingratiate himself by making clear that moderates aren’t welcome in the party.
These gaffes and stumbles don’t count all of his comments that have been just plain silly and cringe-worthy, such as how he wears his “hat backwards, you know, because that’s how we roll in the Northeast” and how Republicans need to “uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.”
But the RNC chairman is more than a public spokesman for the party. He also manages a large organization responsible for fundraising, communications, research, field work, and other operations for the party. While those espousing the party line insist he’s effective, others close to the RNC tell a different story.
“Chairman Steele was elected to lead the Republican Party based on his belief in working hand-in-glove with our state parties to win elections and discuss our principles of lower spending and taxes, limited government, and a strong national defense with American families,” RNC Deputy Director of Communications Todd Irons told The Daily Beast. “Chairman Steele has built a solid organization at the RNC to fully support our state parties and candidates heading into important gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey in November, and the 2010 mid-term elections,” Irons added.
However, several Republicans intimate with what is happening at the RNC expressed concern to The Daily Beast about the lack of infrastructure and spending priorities. According to the latest FEC reports, the RNC had just over 100 people on its payroll in March compared to more than 200 people on payroll in March 2007 and nearly 260 in March 2005, both off-election years shortly after new chairmen took over. Key spots remain to be filled, including that of finance director.
One former RNC staffer told me Steele’s decision to fire everyone upon taking office was “one of the dumbest things that he’s done—and that’s saying something,” and faulted the chairman for not aggressively hiring experienced staffers. “It seems like his mission was to not hire anyone who’s worked on a campaign in the last three election cycles,” said the former staffer, adding, “They’re running on a skeleton crew. There are a couple of really important campaigns going on right now that I don’t think they’re really helping to the extent that they probably need to.”
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Amanda Terkel is Managing Editor of ThinkProgress.org and Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
connie47
Amanda, you gave us a bunch of reasons that the GOP picked Steele in the first place, but left out what was probably the #1 reason - he's black.
drmarkklein
The Republican Party is anything but conservative. It's wild borrowing and spending during the Bush years made a mockery of its professed beliefs in family stability and strong middle class. Real economic conservatives and former base voters like myself have gone independent making it very hard for the GOP reconstitute itself as an effective national political force.
apparently
The constant barrage of emails from the RNC, signed by Michael Steele and referring to the recipient as 'constituent'' was the first clue that Steele has a very clouded view of his position.
Republicans didn't elect him, and to be addressed as one who voted him in isn't a forgiveable thing. Complaints go unanswered about that one amongst others. The RNC is now king of form letters. They don't listen!
Banjo1
The RNC has given affirmative action a shot. Now it's time to move on.
Str8UpNoChaser
This isn't an example of affirmative action at work. If it were, Steele would be just as capable as anyone else that campaigned for the position. He isn't. He was only picked because he was black. That is idiocy.
Republicans just don't get it. They picked Sarah Palin to be their "Hillary Clinton" and that didn't work either. People are looking for more substance than gender and race alone. They expect people to be competent as well. I don't think that is too much to ask.
TallulahBankhead
I'm sure if the RNC looked really hard they could have found someone who was competent and not a white person. It's not affirmative action to chose a minority who is a buffoon. It's affirmative action to seriously consider all the BEST candidates, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. In this case, how can you say the RNC did that?
oliverckerr
Their are two issues here. One is the interior structure of the republican party, the nuts and bolts behind the party's day to day management and the only thing they do, which is raise money.
Steele is not a good manager. Firing the experienced regulars was poor, like disbanding Saddam's army and blackballing all the baathists. Upon that stupidity, Iraq fell apart and we were left holding the bag.
The other part of Steele's chairman job is "party spokes-person." Clearly Michael Steele fails there, too. The party is a many legged creature, but today, headless. Soon the extremities will begin to atrophy.
We could be on the brink of a whole new politics. We should be.
I like the idea of a two party system. One party should be registered, the other party the unregistered. The goal of the registered is to get the unregistered to participate, by voting. And the unregistered should be in charge of running all the elections. The Independent Party all can join.
The way our politics runs today is a charade. The "in" party spends the money like its water, so to keep in power. The "out" party preaches fiscal austerity.
But the "two party" system I envision would save a ton of money, and instead of pretending there is some philosophical difference, we could go about the business of solving the giant problems we are faced with, like cleaning planet earth before Mother Nature deserts us..
I admit that I get most of my ideas from my father's friend, the black listed poet prophet michael s levinson dot commie. Soon, because I keep his name alive, I, too will be a black-listed former Beastie.
Ritarita
oliver-
You probably
Will be gone.
And I don't
Think
It's unfair.
Imagine someone
Coming on your site
Relentlessly posting
15 paragraph run on
Self-promotional
Rants.
It's very unappealing.
When in doubt
About how to feel
Turn the
Tables.
And then get
A better
Strategy.
oliverckerr
Ritarita you are the one who is ranting. The issue is the giant problems our country faces. There isn't anything that I say that is even remotely self-promotional. I certainly am not asking you or anyone to buy (poet prophet spelling is "b-eye") anything. Nor are there any give money promotions on michael s levinson dot commie web site. Just his writing which is creative.
You don't like that. That is a shame. I did not learn writing sitting at his feet, but I have listened to dozens of tapes my father recorded of the poet prophet - his creative way of talking. From that I have picked up a few tricks.
They used to call him a campus prophet in the student newspaper, before Hoover's people destroyed his friendships and marginalized his life. you don't like that. That is sad.
Instead of attacking me, or him, and wishing our death, how about a comment on the new two party system envisioned above where one tent fits all.
Chernynkaya
Ritarita,
The couple of times I've read your posts, I agree with you. But most of the time, when I see your annoying and silly "poetic" format, I scroll to the next comment. Please, it's just too precious.
Ritarita
Chernyn-
There is
No reason to
Read what you
Don't want to read.
I skip posts too.
Utaneus
Ritarita-
You are
So lame
connie47
What is a black-listed former Beastie? Isn't that someone who uses the site as a platform to promote their own website? If you can't comment without pushing your own site, it's fine with me if they make you go away.
oliverckerr
I don't have a web site. What The Beast prohibits are posts that are selling (or pushing via link) goods and services. The jacklegs challenged the readership to visit The New York "Slimes" and insert the words "jacklegs jumping up" into The Times archive slot.
Those people who did found themselves on a page with an article by Maureen Dowd where the president of the United States, at that time George, the Elder referred to michael stephen levinson as a "jacklegs jumping up demanding equal time with some screwy scheme."
That case of the poet prophet with the words for all man kind getting cheated out of his First Amendment Right to make a live televised speech on behalf of his candidacy for president went all the way to the Supreme Court where it hangs, in limbo today, by a kevlar thread.
Imagine yourself a candidate for president, you have $23 in your pocket, and the president of the United States is talking about you. Scary. As scary as The Pelican Brief (where art imitates life). Especially scary when media can't be bothered to find out who the chief ex-spook, holding the most 'pow wow er full' office in the world, was / is talking about.
"Jacklegs" was attacked by one of your poster buds and Jacklegs really hollered at the guy. That appears the reason for banning him. Before that, Jacklegs concluded every post with his web site michael s levinson dot commie and the you tube forward slash poetprophet and sometimes an address for a full pdf of his most recent "New World Hors D'oeuvres" which you might note was and is, though certainly available in stores, for money, free to thedailybeast posters who only had to paste in the address for a full copy on their desk top. Decent.
Jacklegs also pointed out that from his posting on thedailybeast more than thirteen gigs were downloaded from his web site. Not too shabby.
So he was eliminated. But the eliminator got carried away. Not only was the 'jacklegs' barred for life from the Beast, which is a feather in his cap from his point of view, sort of like being banned in Boston, but every post he ever posted was also removed from the Beast archive.
I told you my father was a survivor from Auschwitz, who was a child prodigy, part of a quartet that played Mozart for the people as they were herded out of the box cars on arrival at the phony train station, as they were lined up for their shower.
CBS has file film. In case the film ever gets replayed, my dad was the shortest youngest member of the Mozart group, playing the piccolo instead of a flute, farthest on the right, at the end.
Suffice to say, the "adminis traitor" prefers you are unable to ever reread what Jacklegs wrote, (sort of like burying the bones at the concentration camp to eliminate the evidence) and that ladies and gentlemen has nothing whatsoever to do with jacklegs hollering at some dude for writing something really insulting.
What the beast should be doing is hiring jacklegs to blog original essays every other day, with videos, for purposes of a book in association with The Beast and do a deal on selling "New World Hors D'oeuvres" on this web site so to develop a formula for a mass media readership platform that shows a profit. That would be cool.
What you did not like were his comments. Or mine.
The issue is our truly broken politics, and what we need to do to renew. But you jump on the after thought in the last paragraph and confuse the issue.
Cforchange
Impossible job in the short term, it will take a generation to rebuild the party. I give him a "B" for bravery to accept the position in the first place.
democracy7
I give him a "c" for chutzpah. I can't think of a more inept way to attract donors, and to keep the party rolling. All the ghetto talk in the world won't modernize this dinosaur.
Banjo1
Ritarita has nothing
to say but she spaces
this nothing so funny
connie47
Banjo1,
If you're going to imitate
Pay attention to detail and
Capitalize each line.
Ritarita
And better
Content
Would help.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--joebloeSpasticula
Steele justt cannot get over the novelty of being a black man in charge of the RNC. Every new stupid remark from his lips is more proof that he doesn't think he has to do anything with the position, except be black. He's an embarassing throwback to more simpleton, naive ideas about racial identity. He's twenty years out of date and represents anything but the future.
doko84
the thing i find so offensive about steele is his exploitation of his race. like "that's how we roll..." He sounds like an idiot.
it's just pathetic how out of touch he is.
and he looks like a muppet.
flyoverland
Steele has been a disappointment. The GOP elite reminds me of the country club that wants to host a PGA event and can't because they don't have any black members, so they say, let's get us a black member and find the richest black guy and invite him to join. The problem with the GOP is the same as the DEMs, it is populated with professional politicians who only care about self preservation. We need to get rid of the professional political class and bring in new people who want to serve the country not feather their own nests. In reality, many blacks agree with the GOP social agenda. I am on the board of a housing non-profit with a number of black leaders. They don't agree with the Dem's on much, however they all voted for Obama. The lure of a black president was just too strong. They would have voted for McCain over say Kerry. That is now over. We've had a black president and other than him spending like the prodigal son, not much else has changed. Nothing will change until we turn out incumbants and breath fresh air into Washington.
dm10003
it's like the way tv networks counter-program; other buy's got a successful reality show about dogs, get us a dog reality show, whatever it looks like.
xsm941f
A NUMBER OF BlACK LEADERS??? What pray tell is a black leader"?? Why is it I have NEVER heard or read someone described as a "white leader"? Never. I'd challenge you and everyone to point me where ANYONE was described as a "white leader". It is a patently demarginalizing phrase. That said Steele is a dope. To me the height of racism & sexism is the GOP's getting Steele & Palin to so how we can "out do the Democratic party. Yes I did say Democratic not "Democrat". Been the Democratic party for a hundred years. How grade school silly is it to say "democrat party"? How cornball!
vchaircis
Steele is a scam. Just like Sarah Palin. All surface, no substance. Hey everyone, look, we got a black guy and a woman too.
The question to ask, if Obama hadn't won, would Steele be RNC Chair?
Now they're stuck with him. They can't fire him. How would it look? That's what happens when you're all surface and no substance.
Our President has done a damn good job at protecting America from this economic disaster. Go on line and look at the pictures of the Great Depression. What you see is the result of "letting the recession run it's course" and "wait for it to right itself". Did you look it up? Soup kitchens, migrant workers, the Dust Bowl. Look up the event where WWI veterens set up a tent city in DC to beg for a pro rata share of their war bonus and Hoover orders a young Douglas MacAurther to fire on them and bulldoze their encampment. The depression was almost 2 1/2 years old when Roosevelt took over. We were fortunate that Obama came on the seen immediately.
The country doesn't need a fake Obama figure head there to create the illusion the the ultra right is somehow progressive.
If only there was a way to show what things would look like if we just let the recession "run it's course".
Spasticula
Exactly. Steele should be thanking Obama, without whom he'd still be kicked to the curb in the RNC.
ThinkAgain
IShe neglects to mention that donations this year are actually up and exceed what the dems have raised for the same period. The inside gossip might make a good article but the dollars are the real story since that's Steeles job.
Spasticula
And the dollars (GOP donors are now saying) are trailing off as Steele's gaffes and idiocy pile up.
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