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Give Michael Steele More Time
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Saul Loeb, AFP / Getty Images
The RNC chairman is indecisive and at times immature, but there is plenty to respect, including his call yesterday for Harry Reid to step down. Meghan McCain on why she hasn’t lost faith.
What is going on with Michael Steele? In the last year, the Republican National Committee chairman has become one of the most confusing and controversial figures in politics. Last week brought yet another example of his troubles representing the party: an outburst during an interview in which he said his critics should “fire him or shut up.” It was alarmingly immature coming from someone who is supposed to be a leader.
Steele also protested recently that he “didn’t ask for and didn’t seek” the job of RNC chairman.
Unfortunately for him, there are those records of him attending the RNC election last January, not to mention videos announcing his candidacy where he states, “I want the gig. I’m ready, I’m ready to lead this party.”
Steele’s had his role for only one year, and, like the rest of the party, is still adjusting and struggling to find his identity.
When a leader is so indecisive about whether he wants his own job, how is anyone supposed to want to follow him? When Steele was initially elected chairman of the RNC, like many others in my party I was excited about a fresh and different voice, especially because Republicans were in need of new inspiration after the last election. However, since his appointment, it’s been one snafu after another, giving the impression that he’s disorganized and full of mixed messages. From his early criticism of Rush Limbaugh as an “entertainer” to recent reports of his $20,000 speaking fees, one thing is certain: From a public-relations standpoint, his actions are killing him in the eyes of the GOP.
But let’s hold off on the firing squads. He’s had his role for only one year, and, like the rest of the party, is still adjusting and struggling to find his identity. I understand from personal experience how hard it is to be criticized by fellow Republicans. There is something that particularly stings about negative comments by people whose side you are on.
• John Batchelor: The Michael Steele Debate
• Peter Beinart: Harry Reid Was RightAnd there is plenty to respect, starting with his call on Fox News Sunday this weekend for Harry Reid to give up his position as Senate Majority Leader because of his racially insensitive comments about President Obama not having a “Negro dialect.” Chairman Steele rightly took a hard stance, emphasizing the double standard of Democrats and Republicans making racially insensitive remarks, and comparing Reid’s comments with Trent Lott’s to Strom Thurmond in 2002.
I also admire that he has resisted the urge to placate the Tea Party fringe of the GOP in the name of fundraising. And he is willing to admit when he is wrong, as he did a week ago when he used the slang term “honest Injun” in an interview, and apologized for his mistakes.
Has Michael Steele made mistakes and questionable decisions? Yes. But he deserves more time before we jump so quickly. Michael Steele should know that the clock is ticking, but we’re in no hurry to see that time run out.
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
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Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
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Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
FrontPaws
This column made me laugh out loud. Meghan McCain calling ANYONE immature happens to be very funny. Equally amusing is her need to tell people, in almost every column, what they should think and/or what they should do, as if she has a wealth of experience, knowledge, and wisdom to draw from. Sorry Meghan, but most people aren't too keen on taking direction from a know-nothing, do-nothing pampered teeny-bopper.
juliebee
My problem with Ms McCain is that she has a comment for everything EXCEPT Sarah Palin and the incredible danger she poses to this country. If she wants to judge everybody else, she needs to include her father and Palin. Until she gets real about the 2008 election and about her real political affiliation, DEMOCRAT, she should keep her mouth shut.
senchirai
No Democrat HER.
cesspool
this blonde bimbo lost weight yet? she doesn't speak for me, just the rino wing of the bloated gop -- tippecanoe & tyler too
pittsburghdem
That is the most valid way to attack someone for their political opinion--just make fun of their weight.
loveyou777
One thing for sure you have the correct name, cesspool. Why notl concern ourselves with the people in Washington who count not those on the outside looking including the TV blubber mouths and many websites.
charo111
I agree FrontPaws. Why anyone prints her statements, or has her on interview shows is beyond my understanding. She's an embarrasment to the Republician party in almost every statement she makes.
rapierwits
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's the same reason that anyone named Kennedy or Bush gets whatever they want: dynasticism
oliverckerr
I wrote a 224 page book, and except for a quotation, the word 'if" does not appear. Nor does the word 'think." I also do not use words that end in "ism."
But "dynasticism?" That is a winneer! Free copy of "New World Hors D'oeuvres" for you:
http://michaelslevinson.com/newworld.pdf
michaelslevinson.com
camfield
"But let's hold off on the firing squads. He's had his role for only one year . . ." says Meghan about Steele.
Hmmm. Perhaps she and others of her ilk also should take that same attitude in referring to . . . oh, let's say perhaps President Barack Obama, for example.
Meanwhile, can the GOP afford to fire Steele, thus looking petty and also alienating African Americans? Seems they have someone with the guts to speak his own mind and they're beginning to look at him as a loose cannon. The one they really should try to put a gag on is Sarah Palin.
sickofobamabots
No way. Not all of us in the US love Communism like you left wing freaks.
orsay54
Yes.. Also, she contradicts herself throughout the entire article.. WHERE/WHEN did he apologize?????????
Mindimension
she is the daughter of a guy who had the worst judgment of picking a empty vessel as his running mate. if meghan had any integrity and mental evolution she would have hated to campaign with a guy like McCain, instead she and her mother travelled all through the country with their old man while getting yelled and cursed by the pathetic character
Fulltime247
Megan are you on Crack!! - Steele is a disgrace!! - He's silly, stupid, misinformed and the PERFECT chairman for a party that thinks Sarah 'Know-Nothing' Palin should be president. He should fire *himself* for the Honest-Injun comment (Who still says that?) - This guy is borderline retarded but that would be a slur against retarded people. - You can have him. - You repubs should run a Palin/Steele ticket in 2012. - The SNL bits would write themselves (like they did for Failin' Palin).
FrontPaws
It's a gross exaggeration to say that the Republican party thinks Sarah Palin should be president. Some do, and some don't. I like her, and I think she's a strong, smart woman, but she's not presidential material.
dodgeyaussie
Oh you lot crack me up. The woman is as dumb as a bag of hammers.
baptox
dodgeyaussie, Dumber.
Kalikynos
If you don't consider her to be "presidential material", does that mean you didn't vote for the McCain/Palin ticket? Any vice presidential candidate's qualifications should be evaluated in light of the possibility he or she will assume the powers of the president.
Chuckv
Palin is smart enough, but she is very ignorant. She does not know that fruit-flies are important in genetic research, why there is a North and South Korea, or anything about evolution. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg of ignorance. Imagine what a comprehensive test of cultural and scientific literacy would find. Unfortunately, many or most people get through four years of colleges just as ignorant. This is an indictment of our educational system as well as our cultural values. Palin and Bush before her consider their ignorance as neither a personal fault nor a disqualification for office.
bthove
FrontPaws,
You think Sarah Palin is a 'strong smart woman' and Meghan McCain is a know nothing, do nothing pampered teeny bopper? What world are you living on? Are trees blue there? Is the sky green? I rarely agree with Meghan McCain, but she's articulate and intelligent with a nuanced take on the world around her...And she's not even 26 yet.
Sarah Palin is a yammering dingleberry (see EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEW she's ever done and her facebook postings) in her mid 40s who QUIT the one post that actually gave her some credibility, and despite a degree in journalism (that she had to go to 5 different colleges to attain) she had to HIRE someone to ghostwrite her own LIFE STORY.
Meghan McCain continues to impress with her enthusiasm and insight. I can't wait to see where she'll be in 20 years. Sarah Palin is going to run as a 3rd Party candidate because it's 'God's plan' and lose the right the 2012 election. I wonder if you'll think she's so strong and smart then.
amanda07070
Don't insult my hammers dodge!
JohnHedtke
Bthove, I agree. I think that Meghan McCain still has a lot of live to live and that she's charmingly immature yet, but it's not IMO through a lack of trying to be adult and appropriate. I do believe she's got a way to go, but I actually have some respect for her opinions. Sarah Palin, OTOH, is a ignorant narcissistic bitch who will do anything to garner public support, including offering her children and family up on the national stage. Her attendance at a dominionist (aka "Christian fascist") church gives me great pause, as there's no good that comes out of Christian fascists.
oliverckerr
She's a fascist hypocrite, beneath her surface a moose-faced flat assed, titless anti-semite.
But she is very watchable and people will tune in to wach her
michaelslevinson.com
FarLeftFist
Well at least there is one black man that had a gig for a year that Meghan WILL actually defend.
Please, if there is a God, let Michael Steele be RNC chair for many years to come.
JohnHedtke
I think Michael Steele is a fool who was hired by the RNC to be a token. He's been a fool in the job so far and I love the idea of him being a foot-in-mouth jerk for the RNC for years to come.
charmingOpal
me too JohnHedtke!! Serves the grand ole' party right for being so obvious and clumsy --same mistake they made with Palin. Sadly, the party of aging, staid white men think they can put anyone front and center to serve as their mouthpiece.
dodgeyaussie
HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... oh wait.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa
Thanks Meghan, that's the best laugh i've had in ages.
HAHAHAHAHAH ohh shit...
ROFLOFLFOLFOLFOLFOFL
carolinem
Meghan McCain's writing is ridiculous. It's always disjointed, meandering, and most of all, unbelievably childish.
Her last sentence, "Michael Steele should know that the clock is ticking, but we're in no hurry to see that time run out" is embarrassing as hell. A sixth-grader would write that.
How did this imbecile manage to graduate from Columbia? Two words: John McCain
baptox
Notice how TDB always manages to feature white, blond women commenting on older African American males? They love to juxtapose the images to create sort of a salacious visual reference to these non-stories.
And why is it that TDB features Meghan McCain and Liz Cheney so frequently as writers/commentators? Neither of them have accomplished anything in their own right, and they are both parrots for their conservative fathers.
Why aren't more minority and women writers featured on TDB? How about more established women writers who aren't writing fluff pieces? And why is there always the requisite skin images that feature women in such degrading ways?
Can't a site that's supposed to be fresh veer from the formulaic sexplotation format?
Mindimension
money can get Bushes and Mcains anywhere, just have to marry a rich wife and dump the old wife who suffered while one was smoking cigarettes as POW, after having been shot down during one of this bombing raids on innocent civilians
GernBlanston
Meghan, is this really the paper you want to turn in tomorrow at homeroom?
If Jay Leno has taught us anything, it's that mistakes can be fixed. So, Ms. Brown?
gurukalehuru
Only been in the job for a year. Who else would that apply to, Meghan?
orkaambe
what a pity, poor people! partisan politics is pathetic. the serious minded, the best and the brightest are on wall street whereas the clowns hover in washington being consistently inconsistent in the name of politics. just pathetic, ain't it?
i'm feed up with the bickering. the more i listen to America's political elite, the more i find them to be shallow and self seeking. as for steele, let him be. he's just as confused as his pay master. o! megan, get a life. you're equally confused.
FrontPaws
Dodgey Aussie....how does someone who's "as dumb as a box of hammers" become a very successful governor of a state? Could you be a very successful governor of a state, and if the answer is no (which, obviously, it is) does that make you as dumb as two bags of hammers?
baptox
Answer to your questions: Her constituents are as dumb and gullible as she. She wasn't "successful." She quit when things got tough, remember?
Denjudge
I'd also like to know how she was "successful." She not only quit the governorship; I do believe that she came in as mayor of Wasila with a budget surplus but left with a big budget deficit.
I believe she was only so popular because she gave everyone in the state a $2000 check after "taxing" the oil companies' profit. Further, I know little about Alaska politics, but I understand that the guy who was governor before her was so bad, anyone could have beaten him.
senchirai
your definition of "successful" is specious at best. She didn't even have the stones to finish serving the state of Alaska.
FarLeftFist
3 words - George F**kin Bush
CentristChris
Meghan, I truly enjoy reading your blogs. I've thought, for a very long time, that you are the future of the Republican party. My generation needs someone to stand up for equality for all, and I think you're that voice.
However, I don't necessarily agree that Harry Reid should step down. His comments are on par with what a lot of people were probably thinking during the election - would America have elected a thug President who used phrases such as "wud up playa" and "yo homie, what's goin' down?" Extremely doubtful. America wanted a President who speaks eloquently, effectively, and meticulously; a far cry from the prior administration (dare I say nuclear?). And that is what they received. I am always so boggled by the constant divide this country has - as soon as you say any African American speaks well, you're called a racist. I don't expect my black friends to speak poorly or ghetto, but just as if one of my white friends has a great vocabulary, I compliment them on it.
I just wish people would take a compliment as it was intended. What is "negro dialect" anyway? If I had to give it a definition, I would say it's street talk. Did such street talk every get anyone anywhere? If you're educated in a good school system, you probably have good reading and writing skills, and there is no such "dialect" to speak of. If anyone in this country has failed, it's the parents - kids shouldn't be susceptible to having to learn such "street talk." If they had things to do after school (a.k.a. quality parents), they wouldn't be roaming the streets getting into trouble. And this isn't just a black issue; it's an American issue.
So while Reid's comments could have been made in a more "politically correct" manner, he'd still be labeled a racist. Think of Reid saying "Obama speaks very affluently." At that moment, I can hear Al Sharpton saying "what, for a black man?"
Does it ever end?
edomejn
Right On Meaghan, I have never agreed with you, but Michael Steele must stay. He is the best hope for the republican party.
senchirai
HAHAHA I agree.
cmhandy
Megan,
Please, please, please, please, please stop writting.
sickofobamabots
Don't read it if you don't like it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kalikynos
re: "Chairman Steele rightly took a hard stance, emphasizing the double standard of Democrats and Republicans making racially insensitive remarks, and comparing Reid's comments with Trent Lott's to Strom Thurmond in 2002."
Meghan McCain must not know or care that Steele's stance was significantly less "hard" on his fellow Republican, Lott...in fact, his stance then was downright limp. Double standard for Republicans and Democrats? Let the record show:
The Washington Post reported on Dec. 14, 2002: "Lt. Gov.-elect Michael S. Steele said last night that he was personally upset by U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's praise for Sen. Strom Thurmond and his segregationist past, but said Lott should not be forced to relinquish his leadership position in the Senate. 'Trent Lott apologized, but he needs to keep apologizing because this is a very sensitive issue to the black community,' Steele (R) said at an event celebrating his election as Maryland's first black lieutenant governor. 'I know Trent Lott personally, and I know that this is not his intent. But it's still unfortunate. And I think he needs to apologize a little bit more.'
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31332.html#ixzz0cIh08BNg
AusLib
It makes me laugh that the Man of Steely would rally against Harry Reid's comments especially about turning so-called Negro speech on and off...like creating a weblog called 'Whatup!'
laDivaG
Meghan: I know you were trying to defend Steele, but you really did more harm than good pointing out what an utter flake this man is. Maybe you were trying to be sneaky about criticizing him?
Also, if Steele wants Reid to step down then he should set a good example and step down himself. There is no difference between Reid's comments about Obama not having a "Negro dialect" and Steele's "honest Injun" comments from a racial sensitivity perspective.
But I don't believe that either one of them should step down since they were both insensitive and clumsy but not criminal. Let the democratic process work. The voters and RNC committee should express their support or rejection of these two guys through the election/selection process.
Beyond-Hollywood
Meghan must be part of Steele's new hip hop GOP! You might want to go back and read what you wrote about Reid's comment vs. Steele's and try to fathom how disingenous you are. Really try.
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