GOP Steele detractors in a bind
Red Maryland has an interesting post up from a Michael Steele detractor who, nonethless, thinks the party shouldn't dump him. The post outlines a laundry list of questionable things Steele has said or done but concludes that the thing for Republicans to do is to work with the guy instead of trying to dump him:
Political Wire reports that Steele will most likely face a no confidence vote after the March 31st special election to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's seat in NY-20. Unofficial word, and I have nothing more substantial than that, is that failed nominee Katon Dawson is a mover in this boneheaded scheme.For those who don't know, Dawson's campaign foundered when it scored an own goal. Dawson allegedly at some point in his life belonged to a whites only club that wasn't the US Senate and was unable to effectively address the allegation. The whole thing seemed tenuous to me and I figure if a former Klan recruiter can be president pro tem of the Senate then let bygones be bygones.
We are already suffering from allegations of tokenism in our election of Michael Steele. Very unfairly, I might add, as the first choice of a lot -- but not enough -- of us was Ken Blackwell. The last thing we need right now is a palace coup pulled off by someone with Katon Dawson's baggage.
And that's the issue the GOP faces -- even if it wasn't playing the politics of symbolism in choosing Steele, it would certainly get whacked by the politics of bad symbolism if it dumps him.
Comments
Andy
do you want to venture an opinion here on your blog? me, i think they were playing racial political symbolism w putting steele up in front at the RNC and, since they should have known that he is a really incompetent man who just happens to be black, they deserve being pillored if they so quickly dump him.
i think the inaptly named website RedState substantially misstated the lifelong membership in a whites only club that olde Katon, from down in the cradle of secession, has not disavowed, and quit only 2 or so months prior to running for the national RNC office, deserves some fact-checking before you repeat it in the Sun blog.
It is a problem of race and search for symbolic cover in matters of race that now ensnares the GOP. Or maybe, Republicans are so out-of-touch only they could watch Barack Obama outperform every pol in the USA and say the answer is Michael Steele.
Michael Steele is no Barack Obama to paraphrase an old senator from Texas.
Posted by: Tony Joe from Baltimore | March 12, 2009 10:54 PM
Red Maryland's streiff pinpoints the GOP's dilemma of its own making, but he does not address--and refuses to discuss--the Steele liability threatening to force his party's hand.
The Political Wire blip he linked was a reference to blogger Sean Quinn, who said below the fold:
"Perhaps most significantly in the long run, Steele has had several bad stories emerge regarding his 2006 Maryland Senate campaign financial operations...
"Speculation is mounting that Republicans who have it in for Steele are leaking these stories and potentially might have more."
www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/steeles-fate-likely-hinges-on-ny-20.html
No matter who has it in for Mr. Steele, his most troubling liabilities can be found in publicly available documents from his unsuccessful senate candidacy and his tenure as Maryland's lieutenant governor.
- Steve Lebowitz
Posted by: justdafactsd | March 13, 2009 1:06 AM
Why hasn't the GOP selected and candidate to run against
PELOSI?
Posted by: Sam Cunningham | September 15, 2009 6:51 PM