Friday, March 06, 2009

The New Face of the GOP

Photo courtesy of CNN.comWith the departure of George W. Bush and the dismantling of Sen. John McCain by President Barack Obama, the Republican Party has been rudderless and faceless since the election in November. The far right abandoned the less-than-stellar conservative credentials of McCain while holding their collective noses as they supported his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, a relative unknown from a part of the country not generally known for its political chops.

It took six rounds of voting and considerable arm-twisting before Michael Steele could wrest control of the Republican National Committee. Steele, the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, was propped up to lean on his African American roots to be the Anti-Obama for right-thinking Americans. But his rise to the chairmanship appears to be more like window dressing than an actual change in Republican thought about Blacks and minorities in general.

The governor of Louisiana - little Piyush "it's Bobby from the 'Brady Bunch'" Jindal - was poised to jumpstart his national political two-step on the back of President Obama's first speech before Congress. Unfortunately, Jindal's handlers neglected to remind his speechwriters of how much this tenderfoot is shrinking violet under the glare of the national spotlight. They sent him out to slay the "Dragon Obama" with a pea shooter! He is no longer a national figure... no longer in the running, either.

The void left by Bush, McCain, Palin, Steele, Jindal, and the rest of nameless Republican operatives has been filled by the blowhard ass of one Rush Limbaugh. He has a devoted national audience that has been tuning in daily for close to two decades to get their right wing marching orders. He spends the better part of his radio segment telling his viewers what to think and how outraged they should be at the latest Democratic shenanigans.

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RNC Chairman Michael Steele thought that he would secure his position at the top of the party by taking on Limbaugh... he had nowhere enough piss to win that pissing contest. At the end of the week, he had to kowtow, eat crow, and apologize to Rush Limbaugh. I can almost hear Rush phoning Sean Hannity, "I made that boy lick my boots!"

To further diminish his "face of the party" credentials, a Black Republican has called for Steele to resign as party chairman. Instead of being "Darky II: The Right One, Baby" in 2012 at the top of the Republican ticket, in three short weeks, he already has the darky faithful in the Republican party putting Steele's balls in a vice.

Right wing nut job Dr. Ada Fisher, National Committee Chairwoman in North Carolina, has called on Steele to step down (from an article in The Hill):

Michael Steele should resign as Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman, according to a committee member from North Carolina.

In an e-mail to fellow RNC members obtained by The Hill, Dr. Ada Fisher, North Carolina's national committeewoman, said Steele is "eroding confidence" in the GOP and that members of his transition team should encourage him to step aside. Fisher added Steele's personal e-mail address to the e-mail.

"I don't want to hear anymore [sic] language trying to be cool about the bling in the stimulus package or appealing to D.L. Hughley and blacks in a way that isn't going to win us any votes and makes us frankly appear to many blacks as quite foolish," Fisher wrote.

Fisher, who is one of three black members of the national committee, backed South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, whom Steele edged out in the final round of voting to win the chairmanship in late January. She has voiced repeated opposition to Steele, sending dozens of e-mails to committee members even after Steele won election slamming him for any number of chips that have fallen awry.

Fisher’s call for Steele’s resignation comes amid growing frustration in the GOP that the new chairman’s repeated gaffes are hurting the party.

It remains unclear just how much trouble Steele may be in with his own membership. While several RNC members have told The Hill that Steele remains popular with their bases, Washington-based strategists are grumbling, an attitude that is slowly filtering down to the states.

Steele appeared over the weekend on Hughley's CNN show, where he fought back against the assertion that radio host Rush Limbaugh was the "de facto leader" of the Republican Party. Steele said he himself was the de facto leader and called Limbaugh an entertainer whose program's content was "incendiary" and "ugly."

On Monday, Limbaugh shot back, saying on his show that Steele was not the leader of the party and that many conservatives would "hang up" when Steele's RNC came calling for contributions.

"Limbaugh has already promised that 'His Conservatives' won't be giving to the RNC. I would suggest to you that that is a real bet," Fisher wrote. "If we can't raise money and continue to allow the alienation of the few varifiable [sic] red states remaining, we are foolish."

Steele later said he had reached out to Limbaugh to clarify his remarks, insisting he meant no offense. But the incident elicited crowing from Democrats, who for weeks have pursued a strategy seemingly designed to elevate Limbaugh to the front of the GOP line. Democrats would enjoy contrasting themselves with Limbaugh's assertion that he wants to see President Obama's economic policies fail.

Calling the Limbaugh-Steele clash a "Republican Horror Show," Fisher expressed what some other GOP strategists have until now only said privately: "I have never seen such ineptness in our GOP leadership," Fisher wrote. "And I though we handled the 2008 elections very poorly."

Fisher could not be reached for comment Thursday morning, while the RNC did not immediately have comment on her letter.


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plez sez: dang! ole girl ain't cutting the brother any slack! i hate it when Black folk bicker publicly for publicity... i understand that she isn't a big fan of brother-man, but methinks she could've done her attack more quietly.

now, brother steele should know by now that the republicans wanted a brown face to counter the brown face sitting in the Oval Office. i guess he started fooling himself into thinking that republicans would actually hand him the keys to cars to take it whereever he wanted to go... he's sitting in the driver's seat, like hoke sat in the driver's seat in "driving miss daisy." he ain't driving that car nowhere that miss daisy don't approve of!

the republican party is still populated by rednecks, southerners, delusional Black folk (like dr. fisher and steele and connerly), and outright racists who believe this country is "too much for the Blacks" already.

plezWorld wonders aloud: how did michael steele win the chairmanship again?!?

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i agree with dr. fisher about one thing... this Black thinks that the republican party looks foolish!

~ ~ Citations ~ ~

Read the The Hill article about the call for Steele to resign.

Read the CNN.com article about Fisher's call for Steele to step down.

Read the Christian Science Monitor article about the Steele-Limbaugh feud.

Read the Christian Science Monitor article about how Limbaugh is the head of the Republican Party.

Read the CNN.com article about Rush Limbaugh and the GOP.

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