Friday Open Thread

Got a busy day ahead of me.

In the meantime, here’s a topic for this afternoon: What are your comments on the recent comments GOP Chair Michael Steele has gotten into hot water over (again) – specifically, his telling Republican critics to “shut up, fire me, or get out of the way” and “I didn’t seek this job“?

In my book, Steele has been bad news almost since day one of his GOP chairmanship – and I say that as someone who was a big fan of his up until close to a year ago, but I’m interested in your thoughts as well.

TGIF!

Snowy mailbox — A mailbox with a unique post sticks up from a snow bank at the end of a Moreland Hills, Ohio driveway on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

6 Responses to "Friday Open Thread"

Jim says:

January 8, 2010 at 1:27 pm

Steele has been a disaster for the RNC. He is little more than just another RINO and as long as the RNC stays on the path of center-left as led by Steele and the Washington elites, conservatives are going to continue bleeding away from the GOP.
Anthony says:

January 8, 2010 at 1:58 pm

Steele’s been a great disappointment to me. American political parties are primarily fund-raising organizations, and the chairman’s job is to do just that and then deploy the cash where needed to win elections. The chairman’s job is not to act as the leader or de facto face of the party. On both grounds, Steele’s been an annoying failure.

I supported him when he ran for the office*, but now I think we’d have been much better off with Saul Anuzis or Ken Blackwell.

*(And what’s this nonsense about “I didn’t seek this job?” Say what? He fought to get that job. That’s like Pelosi saying the health care legislative process has been the most open ever!)
Carlos says:

January 8, 2010 at 2:13 pm

When Steele ran last time I supported him because he was the “conservative alternative.” In fact, what he was was the less liberal of two bad choices.

Until recently (and I mean just weeks) he has been the “moderate” (read: liberal) voice of “reason” as the “leader” of the RNC. He may have come to realize there really is a conservative tide rising in the nation, but that doesn’t mean he’s changed one iota.

I’ve already notified them they’ll never see a penny out of me because I’ll support those candidates who most closely mirror my values, and so far, I haven’t heard of one candidate they support wholeheartedly that I do.

And what’s really gotten to me is that they were pretending John-Boy was the greatest thing since French Toast, and dis on Sarah nearly daily!

Do the world a favor, Michael. Just go into oblivion quietly, and let us never have to dissect your self-promoting, bloviating (usually wrongly) speaking again.
LC Gregory says:

January 8, 2010 at 4:51 pm

I really liked him when he was running for Senate in Maryland. His ads were some of the best I’ve EVER seen.

Now? The staffers in question should have looked him square in the eye and said “If I had the power, I’d fire you right now. Now YOU shut up.” Easy for him to demand these people “fire” him when he knew full well they weren’t the ones with that authority.

Don’t go away mad, Mikey. Just Go Away.
Xrlq says:

January 9, 2010 at 1:14 pm

My response to Steele is all of the above. First we fire him, which he should be cool with since he didn’t seek that job in the first place. Then we replace him with a Newt Gingrich type who can craft a new Contract With America and make the most of what should be a strong election cycle on its own (and likely would be moderately strong even despite Steele’s best efforts if we retained him). Then we shut up, and then we get out of the way.
Jen says:

January 12, 2010 at 12:30 pm

I supported Steele for Senator here in Maryland, and just recently managed to scrape the last of his bumpersticker off of my car. Needless to say, we have been very disappointed.

To LC Gregory, we loved his ads too.

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