Beginning Of the END?

In the world of politics, there was plenty of eye-rolling and mockery at reports that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele spent lavishly on gratuitous and questionable expenditures in February.

For Republican donors and strategists, however, the revelation sparked yet another round in a lengthy debate over whether the rambunctious GOP leader really is the right fit for the party in the minority.

On Monday morning, the Daily Caller reported that the RNC spent thousands of dollars on high-end travel arrangements, swanky hotels and, most remarkably, “meals” at a lesbian-and-bondage-themed nightclub in West Hollywood. The latter expense, naturally, grabbed most of the attention and the cleverest of headlines — prompting the RNC to simultaneously state that it would investigate the expenditures and that it wasn’t Steele who went to the club.

But the damage had already been done. While several GOP strategists are willing to grant Steele a pass — under the rubric that one has to spend lavishly to raise lavish amounts of money — several big donors and party officials are completely baffled.

“For those donors who truly believe in conservative values, this latest news about Steele has to be very disturbing,” said Douglas MacKinnon, former press secretary to Majority Leader Robert Dole. “No matter which side of the aisle you find yourself, if you are giving a political party your hard-earned money, you should have no doubts that it is going to be spent as advertised and not to provide a spoiled, egocentric, out-of-touch chairman with frivolous luxuries which are out of reach of the vast majority of the American people. Michael Steele needs to resign and let the RNC vote in a man or woman who understands that his or her needs do not come before the needs of the nation or the party.”

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Michael Steele Called Tone Deaf By GOP Brass, Urged To Resign.

Steele Won't Defend 'Unfortunate' RNC Presentation

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared on Fox News this afternoon, and had to answer some tough questions about the recent internal fundraising presentation that included negative depictions of President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi — and the RNC’s own donors.

The fundraising presentation, which was originally reported by the Politico, included the infamous illustration of Obama as the Joker, and also compared Pelosi to Cruella de Vil. It also directed how to appeal to “ego-driven” large donors, and to appeal to small donors through “fear” and “extreme negative feelings” and “reactionary” attitudes against the Obama administration.

Steele said he just became aware of the presentation yesterday, and that the RNC is looking into it through an internal process. When asked by Megyn Kelly how to defend it, Steele responded: “Well you don’t defend it. It was unfortunate.”

Kelly asked Steele about “essentially ripping on its own donors in this” by referring to large donors as ego-driven and small donors as driven by fear. She asked Steele for his response.

“I’m trying to figure out what the intent behind – I mean, the words on paper don’t sound appealing. And certainly we love our donors and we thank them for the support that they’ve given us over the past year, and continue to give us,” said Steele. “I don’t know what the context, or how that was presented to this particular committee of individuals. I was told, that’s typically what people think about our donors — or think about donors generally. But that is not the case for our donors. Our donors are compassionate, concerned activists out there who support a party that they believe in. And we want that to continue.”

video:

Steele Won’t Defend ‘Unfortunate’ RNC Presentation (VIDEO) | TPMDC.

Who Should Go?

Michael Steele called on Sunday for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to step down for racially insensitive comments, even as the RNC Chairman brushed aside talk that he should resign for using an epithet of his own.

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday”, Steele condemned Reid for calling then-presidential candidate Barack Obama “light-skinned” and “with no Negro dialect” in private conversations during the campaign. The remarks, Steele stressed, were just as contemptuous as those made by former Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who once praised Strom Thurmond’s segregationist presidential candidacy. And, as such, Reid (like Lott) should be forced to resign from his leadership post.

“I think he should,” said Steele. “There is a standard where Democrats think they can say these things and apologize when it comes from the mouth of their own. But if it comes from anyone else, it’s racism. It’s either racist or it’s not. And it’s inappropriate, absolutely. So if the standard is the one we saw with Trent Lott as leader at the time, then I think this absolutely falls in that category here. … Remember, this is the same leader who just a few weeks ago was talking about health care in the context of slavery. Clearly he is out of touch.”

The follow-up question to Steele’s statement was obvious from the onset. The RNC Chairman, this past week, had been chastised by members of both parties for using the phrase “Honest Injun” to tout the Republican party’s platform. Combined with other gaffes, was this too grounds for resignation?

“No, absolutely not,” he said. “Why should I Chris [Wallace]? I’m pushing the ball. I’m raising the money. I’m winning elections. I have got the base fired up.”

“If [the comment] is [offensive] I apologize for it,” he added. “I wasn’t intending to say a racial slur at all. The reality is that’s not the same as what we were talking about before.”

Michael Steele: Harry Reid Should Resign Over Racial Comments, I Shouldn’t.

“I wrote this book before I became chairman. Because of the clock and the calendar, I wound up doing it now,” said Steele. It’s not clear whether this might have been intended to somehow deflect criticism from other Republicans over the book – GOPers have said they didn’t know Steele was writing a book until it was released — or whether he might have been speaking figuratively that he decided to write the book earlier. It’s hard to know exactly what he meant.

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Steele: ‘I Wrote This Book Before I Became Chairman’ Um, Really? | TPMDC.

Mr. Steele, elected in January to the $223,500-a-year RNC post, is working with at least four outside agencies in Washington, New York, Boston and Nashville that book the speaking engagements. He charges between $8,000 and $20,000 for an address, plus first-class travel and lodging expenses.

via Ex-RNC chiefs rip Steele speaking fees – Washington Times.