Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Saturday, March 14, 2009

HEAD OF RNC, STEELE, CONTINUES TO CONTRADICT HIMSELF AND ANGER THE GOP

This statement in GQ by RNC Chairman, Michael Steele, couldn't be any clearer:


GQ: Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?

STEELE: Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice. […]

GQ: Are you saying you don’t want to overturn Roe v. Wade?

STEELE: I think Roe v. Wade—as a legal matter, Roe v. Wade was a wrongly decided matter.

GQ: Okay, but if you overturn Roe v. Wade, how do women have the choice you just said they should have?

STEELE: The states should make that choice. That’s what the choice is. The individual choice rests in the states. Let them decide.

And yet, less than 24 hours after Steele's answer became public, he backtracked on it after being pressured by the radical wing of the Republican Party. A majority of Americans are in agreement with Steele on his assertion that woman have a right to choose, but the radical wing will have no part of that centrist idea.

Steele issued a new statement, completely backing down from his comments. Not only does he say now that abortion isn’t an individual or state choice, he says that he supports a constitutional ban on abortion:

MICHAEL STEELE:

I am pro-life, always have been, always will be. I tried to present why I am pro life while recognizing that my mother had a ‘choice’ before deciding to put me up for adoption. I thank her every day for supporting life. The strength of the pro life movement lies in choosing life and sharing the wisdom of that choice with those who face difficult circumstances. They did that for my mother and I am here today because they did. In my view Roe vs. Wade was wrongly decided and should be repealed.

I realize that there are good people in our party who disagree with me on this issue. But the Republican Party is and will continue to be the party of life. I support our platform and its call for a Human Life Amendment. It is important that we stand up for the defenseless and that we continue to work to change the hearts and minds of our fellow countrymen so that we can welcome all children and protect them under the law.

Faiz Shakir of Think Progress:

SHAKIR: Looking at Michael Steele’s accomplishments here: He’s deceived the party on his views on choice; he’s shut down the GOP’s in-house think tank; he’s thrown out “slum love” to Bobby Jindal and one-armed midgets; he’s said it’s crazy for gay couples to join in civil unions; and then he lost the battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party to Rush Limbaugh. And this is the guy who the Republicans tell us is going to lead them out of the wilderness.

27 comments:

Dave Miller said...

To quote an oft used GOP line, Steele was for choice before he was against it.

Anonymous said...

You're back!! Yea!

Dave Miller said...

Shaw, along the same flip flop lines, you might enjoy David Sirotas take on the GOP and health care.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090312_for_competition_
before_they_were_against_it/

Anonymous said...

Blow it out of your ass, your nothing but a RACIST jackass punk. Any idea how mentally disturbed you sound? Any idea? The demise of the liberals will come from this irrantional exuberance at having won a majority. It's like turning a kid loose in a candy store. He won't stop until he pukes up everything he's eaten. And Thanks for proving once again my point...

Dave Miller said...

Williams, such uplifting words from the ever positive GOP side of the aisle.

Exactly what in this post by Shaw was racist? Can you cite a clear example? just maybe, or perhaps, you are the irrational one.

Arthurstone said...

So long Mike!

And what a pity.

Steele had a remarkable ability to induce the GOP faithful to show their true colors over and over again. The party has been hijacked by religious/reactionary/imperialists and the party will get a lot worse before it gets better. And that's good news for the rest of us.

Things will only improve for the Repubs start acting like citizens and not victims.

That D. Williams is a real wordsmith. What a thoughtful post.

Cheers!

Shaw Kenawe said...

Dave,

Yes. What Steele has done is classic flip-flopping. What the GOP doesn't understand is that he may very well have been able to bring them into the 21st century and make the party truly inclusive. But any attempt has been quashed and stomped so that the GOP can retain its distinction of being out of the mainstream and truly radical. Thanks for the link.

Lynne,

I've been traveling this week and only able to do sporadic posting.

D.Williams,

Your irrational spill-over tantrum is noted. And who exactly are YOU calling a child? Really. If you are a member of the GOP, they're in more trouble then we imagined. Whew!

Arthurstone,

Agreed. Until the GOP understands that they will never win an election with only Dittoheads voting for them, they'll remain a regional, backward-thinking party led by a bloviating talk radio bigot.

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

The only positive thing Michael Steele will take from his short term as RNC Chairman is that he shares an honor with George W.Bush. They are both "Shitheads of the Week."


Congratulations and good bye Michael.

Anonymous said...

Any bets on how long this doofus lasts?

When we get a new chairman, can we add a spine to the job requirements? Please?

I think 'flip-flopping' is fine when it is because you learned something new, but just kissing ass is sad.

For the record, you Democrat types will know you are in trouble when a high profile Republican says we need to raise taxes and faces the inevitable outcry without blinking.

Until then, try to do good things while you are in charge, K?

The Griper said...

there is nothing contradictory in what Steele said. there are some very prominent liberal and pro-abortion attorneys who have acknowledged that Roe vs Wade was poorly decided.

Dave Miller said...

Griper, saying that Roe v. Wade was wrongly is one thing, and you are right, both sides of the ledger have said that.

But Steele said first that women should have that choice.

He then clarified his words saying he believed that this is essentially a states rights issue and that they should choose.

If he believes the states have the right to choose, does not that imply that both options could be legal and viable?

Why would he support giving a state the right to choose to legalize abortion, which in the eyes of the GOP, is killing innocent unprotected children?

Anonymous said...

Steele called abortion an “individual choice” and opposed a constitutional ban on abortion in an interview, which appeared online , echoing the language of the abortion rights movement and appearing to contradict his own heated assertions during his campaign for chairman that he is a committed soldier in the anti-abortion movement.

Where's the principle and ethics in that?

I don't support Steele's pro-choice position?
The real leader of the republican party is Rush Limbaugh

Anonymous said...

Just in case you haven't figured it out by now, Obama is truly the polarizing figure, not Rush.
Not only that, all the poseurs around him, or that have been around him, are or try to be.
It’s just that people like Katie Couric, and Oprah, don’t tell you Obama is, and his friends are polarizing.
It is not about Rush Limbaugh who champions freedom and liberty… It is about the reckless arrogant polarizing freedom stealing policies of Obama.

Anonymous said...

Well, that didn't take long did it?
Isn't it funny that whenever a black becomes a republican ( Michael Steele) he's viewed upon by other blacks as an Uncle Tom.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Beth said...

Just in case you haven't figured it out by now, Obama is truly the polarizing figure, not Rush.

Beth, only a small percentage of radical right Republicans believe this.

Poll after poll after poll says you are wrong. You believe this assertion, I'm sure, but it's just not true. Mr. Obama has pissed the radical right off because he's reached out to the Republicans, and they've rejected him, big time, making them look like petulant pissants.

The American people have taken note and in poll after poll see the Republicans as obstructionists.

You can call Mr. Obama all the names you wish and imagine him as a "polarizing" figure. But the facts are that the Republicans are saying NO! and Rush Limbaugh is a disgraceful bigot, popular only with a small group of white men mostly in the south and some western states.

How you can defend that poor excuse for an entertainer is a puzzlement to me and a majority of Americans.

Rush Limbaugh's approval rating with the American people is 26%.

He is not well liked by a majority of Americans. They think he stinks. He's the polarizing figure, and that you haven't come to terms with that fact and faced it only proves how out of touch you and your fellow travelers really, really are.

It's quite a pity.

You are not mainstsream, Beth. The sooner you realize you're a fringe element in your party, the better for you and the GOP.

dmarks said...

Griper: Thanks for pointing out that the real issue is abortion, not "choice".

Anonymous said...

Rush Limbaugh's hopes are becoming a reality. Obama will fail.
How long will it be before the press starts to give us some honest reporting on this administration?
Now der Fuehrer is going to tax everyone that is fortunate enough to have health care through their employment straight out of it so the socialist state can take over another huge segment of the economy and give the citiznes crap in place of quality health care. It will also mean the deaths of millions of older Americans. How can we be letting this happen? How can the media continue to act as the propaganda arm of this Marxist coup?
Liberal elites have no marketable skills and are incapable of actually holding productive jobs. This is why so many of them teach in universities. When asked to serve in government, they're clueless. Obama's "message war" is too late. Most of us were pointing out this OBVIOUS lack of capacity months before the election. But Bush hating dimwits insisted on putting the most unqualified, naive, inexperienced and unaccomplished person EVER in the White House without ever even determining if he was a US citizen. This sad story is only beginning to unfold...our country will suffer greatly as a result of what he's done in 50 short days and will do on behalf of president Pelosi from this point forward.

The White House officials are fighting like little high schools bullies, out of control. Especially, when they have to start attacking a radio show host, like Rush Limbaugh, who is just a voice for people, like myself, who do not have a mike or a visual platform to speak out, just like the liberals use tv & news media to speak out against whatever they want. So, we are thankful and the other side knows we are not going to just lie down and die. I pray that the voices of those who are against, health care reform, energy reform due to the nonsense of global warming, abortion and the"nazi" tactics of Obama and company.

dmarks said...

Beth: "Now der Fuehrer is going to tax everyone...nazi tactics of Obama and company...."

The left-wing idiots (Move On, etc) were beyond the pale when they equated Bush with Hitler. Guess what? Right wingers are also boneheads for doing the same thing equating Obama with Hitler.

I suggest looking into Godwin's Law.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Beth wrote:

Now der Fuehrer is going to tax everyone that is fortunate enough to have health care through their employment straight out of it so the socialist state can take over another huge segment of the economy and give the citiznes crap in place of quality health care.

I wish you'd be more careful, Beth, before posting hysteria.

Mr. Obama has simply said everything is on the table, but he has NOT put in place a provision to tax health care benefits.

You really need to take some time to research your wild rantings before embarrassing yourself and posting them.

Arthurstone said...

dmarks typed:


'The left-wing idiots (Move On, etc) were beyond the pale when they equated Bush with Hitler.'



Except Moveon.org did no such thing.

Ah yes. the Hitler ad. An ad that was submitted to a MoveOn contest and then specifically rejected and denounced by MoveOn, so the Hitler images were first used by "liberal opponents" only if "liberal opponents" means "some guy with access to the internet."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/10/01/nazi_insult/

dmarks said...

Move On did promote it. I visited their web site during the time they had it up there. Moveon.org denying it is as flimsy as Rush Limbaugh promoting the "magic negro" term and yet denying it.

"Liberal opponents" in this case means one of the more powerful Democratic Party political organizations of the decade that those to "air" and promote the ad on their site.

But they were probably only the biggest of the thousands of liberal/left political commentators, bloggers, and "journalists" who equate Bush with Hitler. Here is another one at Democratic Underground. Here is yet another at Democrats.com.

It's irrefutable that Bush = Hitler equation was very common on the Left. This does not make it OK that many are doing this now from the Right.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Obama?

Thats a joke, Why call that RAT'S ASS Mr.?

dmarks said...

Hi Anon,
You remind me of someone who would call Christians (any of them) bible-thumpers. Playground pejoratives.

Besides, I thought your ilk equated the President with a monkey, not a rat.

Anonymous said...

I wish not concur on it. I over warm-hearted post. Expressly the title attracted me to read the intact story.

Anonymous said...

Amiable brief and this mail helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you on your information.

Anonymous said...

Well I acquiesce in but I contemplate the brief should prepare more info then it has.

Anonymous said...

very useful read. I would love to follow you on twitter.