Obama Citizenship

Congratulations to New RNC Chairman, Michael Steele!

By Phil

I wish the former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele all the best in his new position; frankly, he’s going to need it. Per RedState:

The Republican Party needs to do two contradictory things in the years to come: return to the party?s conservative roots and sell the party?s message to voters who are not base conservatives. Chairman Steele has promised an aggressive outreach to do the latter; we urge him, in that effort, not to neglect the former. We can?t sell a message based on our principles if we don?t have principles.

Also:

Over at the Arena, Democratic strategist Lanny Davis had some interesting comments about the RNC Chairman?s race. He said:

Michael Steele was positively my last preference for RNC Chair ? since he was, and is, by far, the most effective, articulate center - right voice of the Republican Party, with a firm but friendly manner on TV and, thus, the best possible choice for the GOP to appeal to the broad middle of American society. For all those reasons, I hoped the RNC would not elect him. I am surprised that a party that currently has Rush Limbaugh as its leading voice (my personal preference for Republican Chair) would be wise enough to reject Mr. Limbaugh and elect Michael Steele.

As a Democrat, I am very disappointed.

This is what’s funny:

As to Rush Limbaugh, though, Davis apparently had knowledge of a Limbaugh Shadow Candidacy for Party Chairman that I did not. As far as I had been aware, Rush was no more running for RNC chair ? despite Davis?s good-humored preference for him as opposition apparatus leader ? than he has been running for public office (a fact that, as noted yesterday, hasn?t stopped the DCCC from taking time and resources that could be used to target actual Republican candidates and directing them at him).

Further, despite Democrat claims to the contrary, Rush Limbaugh isn?t the leader of the GOP; rather, he?s the leading voice for the conservative grassroots of a party whose elected representatives all too often act as though they have an acute case of anterograde amnesia when it comes to recalling who it is they represent, and why it was they were elected.

All of this is particularly prescient as the Democratic party actually launched a petition against the talk radio show host. I think what the party will find is that this Rules for Radicals Rule #11 isn’t quite going to work this time around.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on January 31, 2009 (boomark / email).