![\"\"](\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_mupm2BmIjtc\/S8-nQ6HpMSI\/AAAAAAAALu8\/al2SX9opCl4\/s1600\/michael+steele3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe RNC bids adieu to its chairman.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
It was only two years ago in the wake of a confidence shattering election that establishment Republicans\u00a0gambled on redesigning\u00a0the party’s infrastructure on a foundation\u00a0of Steele.\u00a0 \u00a0As 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.\u00a0 Instead, Steele (and the RNC members who supported his election in 2009) seemingly envisioned the chairmanship as the role of Promoter-in-Chief.\u00a0 And after two gaffe-filled years <\/a>of Steele tickling his tonseils with his heels while racking up Obamaesque debts<\/a>, the RNC not only parted ways with Steele<\/a> but likely also with the mindset that elected him.<\/p>\n The laymen’s criticism of Steele’s tenure would be to endorse what the Baltimore Sun<\/em> wrote of him in 2002, that Steele “brings little to the team but the color of skin.”<\/a>\u00a0 And Steele most certainly was an affirmative action hire – but more for his policies than pigmentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n So what if Steele was pro-choice<\/a>, was against the war in Afghanistan<\/a>, insulted the party’s conservative base<\/a>, and played the race card <\/a>against his own party when\u00a0it suited\u00a0him – he was going to give the Grand Old Party a “hip-hop” makeover<\/a>.\u00a0 Steele was so out of sync with the times, he was one giant clock around his neck away\u00a0from becoming the\u00a0Republican\u00a0Flavor Flav.<\/p>\n All might have been forgiven had Steele simply done his job.\u00a0 But while the zeitgeist of the conservative base was moving\u00a0away trusting the party appartatus, Steele\u00a0was trying to\u00a0buy private jets\u00a0<\/a>as the RNC was enduring questions about expenses at\u00a0bondage-themed nightclubs.\u00a0 The result?\u00a0 Fundraising lagged<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n In such a light, there’s little wonder the RNC elected Reince Prius<\/span>.\u00a0 Reece Priebus<\/span>.\u00a0 Reese Pieces<\/span>.\u00a0 What’s-his-name or to the voting members, Not Michael Steele.\u00a0 Priebus saw a\u00a0tremendous political turnaround in Wisconsin, in part due to\u00a0the party’s ability\u00a0to win back the trust of Tea Party sympathizers without alienating independents.\u00a0<\/p>\n The task before Priebus is certainly much larger than what he faced in Wisconsin,\u00a0but unlike Steele will hopefully\u00a0succeed or fail outside the media limelight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The RNC bids adieu to its chairman.\u00a0 It was only two years ago in the wake of a confidence shattering election that establishment Republicans\u00a0gambled on redesigning\u00a0the party’s infrastructure on a foundation\u00a0of Steele.\u00a0 \u00a0As Maryland’s former lieutenant governor and losing ’06 Senate candidate, Michael Steele had few direct qualifications for what was largely a managerial role, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,105,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservatism","category-first-ringer","category-republicans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17460"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17476,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17460\/revisions\/17476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}