He's the new chairman of the Republican National Committee:
WASHINGTON - The Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in its history Friday, just shy of three months after the nation elected a Democrat as the first African-American president. The choice marked no less than "the dawn of a new party," declared the new GOP chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Republicans chose Steele over four other candidates, including former President George W. Bush's hand-picked GOP chief, who bowed out declaring, "Obviously the winds of change are blowing."Steele takes the helm of a beleaguered Republican Party that is trying to recover after crushing defeats in November's national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress put Barack Obama in the White House.
GOP delegates erupted in cheers and applause when his victory was announced, but it took six ballots to get there. He'll serve a two-year term.
Steele, an attorney, is a conservative, but he was considered the most moderate of the five candidates running.
He was also considered an outsider because he's not a member of the Republican National Committee. But the 168-member RNC clearly signaled it wanted a change after eight years of Bush largely dictating its every move as the party's standard-bearer.
Democrats will no doubt try to downplay the choice of Steele as nothing more than a lame attempt by Republicans to attract black voters, but the truth is that Steele has been extremely popular with Republicans for some time -- long before most people had ever heard of Barack Obama. Steele became the first black official elected to statewide office in Maryland when he won the Lieutenant Governorship in 2002. In 2006, Steele ran unsuccessfully for the seat of retiring Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes. In the wake of the Republicans' crushing 2006 Congressional defeat, many party members pushed for Steele to take over the reins of the RNC, but the party chairmanship was given to Kentucky Republican Mike Duncan instead. Steele was also considered to be a potential running mate for John McCain during last year's Presidential election.
Of course we all know what Democrats think of Steele:
Like all black conservatives, he has been subjected to more than his fair share of name calling, bigotry, and hate mongering. And in an obvious attempt to smear Steele before the 2006 Senate elections, two staffers from the office of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) used Steele's Social Security number to fraudulently gain access to his credit records.
Steele's mission as RNC chairman is to unify the Republican party and restore its sense of identity. Republicans are not interested in using Steele as leverage to peel black voters away from Barack Obama. The deep cultural identity that makes Barack Obama "one of us" within the black community, combined with the traditional unity of the black voting block, means that such an effort would be doomed to failure right from the start. Let's hope that Michael Steele can get the Republican party back on track and in a position to begin chipping away at the Democrats' Congressional majority in 2010.
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Republicans
Tags: Michael Steele, Republicans, RNC
Comments (14)
BTW, were those two staffer... (Below threshold)1. Posted by GarandFan | January 31, 2009 12:19 AM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
BTW, were those two staffers ever prosecuted? Just wondering since a lot of Democrats are in a prosecuting mood. Any update on Jefferson? Ooops, sorry, their exempt aren't they, being Democrats and all that.
1. Posted by GarandFan | January 31, 2009 12:19 AM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 00:19
2. Posted by jp2 | January 31, 2009 1:27 AM | Score: -6 (10 votes cast)
"Lk ll blck cnsrvtvs, h hs bn sbjctd t mr thn hs fr shr f nm cllng, bgtr, nd ht mngrng."
hrd th hvns pnd nd rnd rs™ n hm - s mn t ws lk plg f lcsts
.
2. Posted by jp2 | January 31, 2009 1:27 AM |
Score: -6 (10 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 01:27
3. Posted by John Irving | January 31, 2009 3:49 AM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
I heard the heavens opened and rained Oreos™ on him - so many it was like a plague of locusts.
Speaking of racist bigots, we hear from one of them already.
3. Posted by John Irving | January 31, 2009 3:49 AM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 03:49
4. Posted by Greg | January 31, 2009 7:53 AM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
jp2 still=FOOL
4. Posted by Greg | January 31, 2009 7:53 AM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 07:53
5. Posted by Paul Hooson | January 31, 2009 11:18 AM | Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
I'm a Democrat, and I've always like Mr. Steele personally. He has a magnetic personality. I just don't agree with his personal politics on many issues, though. I'll be happy to see more of him on talk shows and interviews because I like the guy. He's charming and sometimes funny.
5. Posted by Paul Hooson | January 31, 2009 11:18 AM |
Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 11:18
6. Posted by Smiles | January 31, 2009 11:25 AM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Michael,
Some of us read Wizbang from work. A lot of companies have zero-tolerance policies that result in an employee being fired if any sexual or racially offensive images are found on their computers. It does not matter if the article is not racist. Just having the images in ones system folders is all it takes.
Companies typically enforce this policy when they have to work on your computer. For example, while they are adding more memory they will look in your system folders and see what images are in there.
This is the second time in the last few weeks an image has appeared on an article that a reader could get fire over. The other one contained nazi symbols.
Please do not post pictures that could get your readers fired.
6. Posted by Smiles | January 31, 2009 11:25 AM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 11:25
7. Posted by John | January 31, 2009 12:58 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Smiles,
You can turn off "Show Images" under the Advanced Tab->Multimedia section found in the Tools of Internet Explorer.
If you use Firefox, go to Tools->Options->Load Images Automatically, and uncheck that option.
If you are at work, most likely you are permissioned not to change those settings, but if you can, you could does those to protect your yourself.
7. Posted by John | January 31, 2009 12:58 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 12:58
8. Posted by Jason | January 31, 2009 1:15 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Shame on the Democrats for their racist attitudes. They support Black America when it's politically convenient.
http://www.rightklik.net/
8. Posted by Jason | January 31, 2009 1:15 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 13:15
9. Posted by JLawson | January 31, 2009 1:27 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Smiles -
If your work environment is so 'zero tolerance' that having a picture in your cache with no racist attachment is considered a firable offense, you might want to consider only being here on your off-work time, instead of attempting to get the authors to censor their content so they won't offend PC HR weenies far beyond their control.
Or you can clear your cache as a precautionary measure whenever you go home - that would be under 'tools', 'internet options', 'browsing history' in IE7.
I work for a reather large corporation myself, in IT - and when we did memory upgrades we didn't have the TIME to go through all the cached stuff on each machine. That yours do... well, it sounds like your IT folks are real assholes.
9. Posted by JLawson | January 31, 2009 1:27 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 13:27
10. Posted by Oyster | January 31, 2009 2:08 PM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
"Smiles,
You can turn off "Show Images" under the Advanced Tab....."
Or you can, you know, ....work.
10. Posted by Oyster | January 31, 2009 2:08 PM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 14:08
11. Posted by max | January 31, 2009 3:18 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Oyster is sooooo helpful.
11. Posted by max | January 31, 2009 3:18 PM |
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 31, 2009 15:18
12. Posted by Steve | February 1, 2009 4:09 AM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
You need to look into people before praising them.
You really do sound like a Kool Aid drinker.
Michael Steele's victory is another great lost for conservatism. I believe we will see the GOP be in permanent minority status from now on.
And perhaps that is the way they like it.
12. Posted by Steve | February 1, 2009 4:09 AM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on February 1, 2009 04:09
13. Posted by Palinisevil | February 2, 2009 4:00 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I'm guessing a woman would have been chosen if Hillary had become President. As all political parties find when they've stagnated for eight years, to win they must change with the times.
The majority on here frothed at the mouth and ranted that Obama was only picked to attract the black vote. But now those same people champion Steele saying his color had nothing to do with anything. I'd have to agree, black people such as myself (shock horror a black guy on a far right forum) wouldn't vote Republican if Jesse Jackson himself became Chairman of the GOP.
I'd be a liar if i said Obama's color didn't influence my vote, i didn't vote for Kerry. But to try and say Steele hasn't been picked, maybe not exclusively, for his color is just so much BS.
13. Posted by Palinisevil | February 2, 2009 4:00 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 2, 2009 04:00
14. Posted by Angela | February 6, 2009 2:12 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I just hate to see an African-American fall into the same trap as Sarah Palin and Yes- they are using Michael Steele to attract minority voters because the GOP is a shell of it's former self. Abraham Lincoln is rolling in his grave wondering why they did not stick to his game plan?
14. Posted by Angela | February 6, 2009 2:12 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on February 6, 2009 14:12