Steele Curtains
By First Ringer
The RNC bids adieu to its chairman. 
It was only two years ago in the wake of a confidence shattering election that establishment Republicans gambled on redesigning the party’s infrastructure on a foundation of Steele. As Maryland’s former lieutenant governor and losing ’06 Senate candidate, Michael Steele had few direct qualifications for what was largely a managerial role, save a brief term as the Maryland GOP’s chair. Instead, Steele (and the RNC members who supported his election in 2009) seemingly envisioned the chairmanship as the role of Promoter-in-Chief. And after two gaffe-filled years of Steele tickling his tonseils with his heels while racking up Obamaesque debts, the RNC not only parted ways with Steele but likely also with the mindset that elected him.
The laymen’s criticism of Steele’s tenure would be to endorse what the Baltimore Sun wrote of him in 2002, that Steele “brings little to the team but the color of skin.” And Steele most certainly was an affirmative action hire – but more for his policies than pigmentation.
With the GOP routed by a supposedly moderate sounding African-American orator, the party was willing to promote a poorly Xeroxed copy of the same qualities. The mere prospect of improved outreached to independents, young voters and minorities was enough for some to stomach Steele’s more centrist than center-right orthodoxy.
So what if Steele was pro-choice, was against the war in Afghanistan, insulted the party’s conservative base, and played the race card against his own party when it suited him – he was going to give the Grand Old Party a “hip-hop” makeover. Steele was so out of sync with the times, he was one giant clock around his neck away from becoming the Republican Flavor Flav.
All might have been forgiven had Steele simply done his job. But while the zeitgeist of the conservative base was moving away trusting the party appartatus, Steele was trying to buy private jets as the RNC was enduring questions about expenses at bondage-themed nightclubs. The result? Fundraising lagged as the RGA became the defacto home of the Republican establishment despite the fact that Steele’s face was on TV more than the RGA’s Gov. Haley Barbour.
In such a light, there’s little wonder the RNC elected Reince Prius. Reece Priebus. Reese Pieces. What’s-his-name or to the voting members, Not Michael Steele. Priebus saw a tremendous political turnaround in Wisconsin, in part due to the party’s ability to win back the trust of Tea Party sympathizers without alienating independents.
The task before Priebus is certainly much larger than what he faced in Wisconsin, but unlike Steele will hopefully succeed or fail outside the media limelight.
January 17th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
And so it begins (or is it continues?). 5 seconds after the last vote was cast, LSM headlines trumpeted that Pubbies kicked an African-American to the curb.
January 17th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
But Steele could throw one hell of a party. What happens in Vegas….
January 17th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
At least the Republicans didn’t throw oreo cookies at him like the Dems did when he was running for Senate. This was all before the climate of hate, of course.
January 17th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Michael Steele no longer in the Republican hizz-ouse?
Guess you don’t have many black Republicans to choose from. Wonder why that is.
January 17th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Hey, Night Rider, you got a source for that particular piece of “information?”
January 17th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Are you FACT CHECKING Night Rider, Angry Clown?
January 17th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
The Dem scum merely threw the Oreos; being libs with noodle-arms, they couldn’t apparently actually hit Steele.
So is racism OK as long as it doesn’t degernate into physical violence?
January 17th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Uh, yeah. You Teatards aren’t so big on “facts,” after all.
Angryclown was just wondering. Since you don’t feature a lot of black people on the blog, should we consider this thread Shot in the Dark’s MLK Jr. tribute for 2011?
January 17th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
“When pressed, Miller said he couldn’t swear in court that Steele did get hit with cookies because he didn’t actually see it happen.”
Well, case closed then!
January 17th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
we consider this thread Shot in the Dark’s MLK Jr. tribute for 2011?
Tomorrow.
January 17th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Well, case closed then!
Well, except for the bit about “”I’ve never claimed that I was hit, no. The one or two that I saw at my feet were there. I just happened to look down and see them,” Steele said. ”
Glad to see you are OK with an acceptable level of racism, Uncle Clown.
January 17th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Angry Clown, I would imagine Mitch’s demographic is about the same as NPR’s. They did an MLK-fest all day.
It seems like you are attempting to use the color of skin to determine content of character. Tsk-tsk. It is like you are killing him all over again.
Only conservatives know how to celebrate MLK day without resorting to racist invective.
January 17th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
OK, so Michael Steele claims he looked down and saw snacks at his feet? No idea where they came from, who threw-put-dropped them there? Wow, that’s almost enough to get the new House Speaker weeping like a baby.
Geez, the one thing you conservative types used to have going for you is at least you didn’t act like a bunch of pussies. Compassionate conservatism, I guess.
Guns don’t kill people. Cookies do.
Hey, if it gets you wingnuts over a case of the vapours, let Angryclown apologize, on behalf of the rest of America, for that vicious placement of baked goods.
Angryclown is laughing a lot here.
January 17th, 2011 at 9:35 pm
“Only conservatives know how to celebrate MLK day without resorting to racist invective.”
Haha, yeah, by ignoring it entirely! Hey, 17 shopping days till Reaganmas!
Angryclown is having even more fun than usual.
January 17th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Santa Claus Victim to Numerous Racist Cookie Attacks
“I just happened to look down and see them,” Claus said, referring to the carefully placed cookies that seemed to follow him from house to house this Christmas Eve. Federal agents are treating the cookie sightings as bias incidents.
(Angryclown laughing so hard he fell off his unicycle.)
January 17th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
“Angry Clown, please, please stop killing Doctor King!
Signed,
America”
January 17th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
They ain’t no racist like a librul racist. Thanks Clownie. You is one MoFo racist librul, and you ain’t ever failed to disappoint. You piss on any black conservatives to celebrate MLK jr. day, you misanthropic little darling?
January 17th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Watch your mouth, Kermie. Angryclown has a Fig Newton, and he’s not afraid to use it!
January 17th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Heehee! Nothing says racial tolerance like posting in dialect, Kermie. You wingnuts are so amazingly clueless! Of course, you’re also very dependable, cheap entertainment to malicious clowns of superior intelligence.
January 18th, 2011 at 12:23 am
Let me remind you, Angry Clown, more sodomy != economic recovery.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Nothing says racial tolerance like posting in dialect, Kermie.
Yes, it’s especially amusing when Barack Obama slips into it.
And we really don’t want to know about your “fig newton”. Some things should be left unsaid.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Well, since we’re all so hateful and violent, let’s throw cookies at Clown. I’m thinking Nutter Butters.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I’m going to spend my time trying to find “malicious clowns of superior intelligence”. I think they are a myth.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:37 am
angryclown said:
“saw snacks at his feet”
“Guns don’t kill people. Cookies do.”
“Racist Cookie Attacks”
“threw-put-dropped”
Paraphrased “No, you sillies, Democrats and Liberals cannot be ‘racist’, by (our) definition, it’s impossible”. You are trying pretty hard to downplay this event, which may or may not have happened the way it was reported.
“clowns of superior intelligence”
I would really like to see some evidence of this. Hint: repeating the phrase “I am so S-M-R-T smart” won’t do.
It is the same old angryclown racism argument: “You are more racist than me because I repeatedly and strenuously say so”. Strange, what passes for “intelligence” in angryclowns world.
January 18th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
On the bright side, the Mets still suck.
January 18th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Jets are doing all right though, Mr. D. How’s the Vikes?
January 18th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Farvre retired again. Maybe he’s going back to the Jets.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Oh, you’re such a doofus, Troy. The most credible account you teatards can come up with has Steele claiming he saw “one or two” Oreos at his feet. Not that they had been thrown – much less who might have thrown them.
A well fed Population, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and eat Cookies, shall not be infringed.
January 20th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Oh my. How ever will I rebut the “you’re such a doofus” argument. Curse you, angryclown, I’ll get you next time.
Hehe.