RINO’s Seize Control of RNC Chairmanship

The Washington Post praises pick of moderate Republican Michael Steele over his five more conservative rivals. The caption below the title in the link below says it all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/30/AR2009013003898_pf.html

This is disturbing as the only people this liberal newspaper call moderates are liberals whereas centrist Republicans like McCain and even pro-abortion Republicans are often mislabeled by the liberal press as conservatives. Steele supports affirmative action and embryonic stem cell research. He also praised Obama’s election as President and said he would moderate the party’s conservative stands on the issues (like abortion?)

The whole point in electing a new chairman to break from Bush was to move the party back to its core conservative principles not further along the same center-left path that Bush took us along resulting in unprecedented back-to-back GOP electoral wipeouts. I believe Republicans made a big mistake in electing him and are putting their hopes for retaking power in serious jeopardy as moving our party to the left is a near certain recipe for permanent minority status for the Grand Old Party.

I think his election represents a step backward for the GOP who really needed a conservative like Blackwell or Dawson to lead it to victory in the all-important 2010 and 2012 elections. Steele's praise for leaders of the most liberal wing of the party like Christine Todd Whitman a pro-abortion, pro-gay liberal and the Main Street Centrist Coalition are troubling. We could have done a lot better.

I was disturbed to learn that while our new RNC Chairman claims to be pro-life, he also has stated that he supports Roe v. Wade so he has a mixed record at best on the life issue, which has always been the most principle tenet of the Republican Party.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Michael_Steele.htm

He has spent his whole career supporting inclusion of liberal groups in our party, not that inclusion is necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. We obviously don't want a litmus test for Republican Party membership. However, the more I learn about Steele, the more I am beginning to believe that even re-electing Duncan as Chairman would have been preferable to moving the party to the left with Steele's ascension to the chairmanship. I am sorry to see that a solid conservative like Blackwell provided the margin of victory for Steele rather than endorsing fellow conservative Katon Dawson who would likely have won with his endorsement. Some of you may not know Steele was one of the founders of the liberal Republican Leadership Committee with liberal GOP former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Whitman created this group along with Steele to take control of the party for the liberal wing of the party.

Among the RLC's most prominent supporters are four pro-abortion groups as well as the gay activist Log Cabin Republicans. The Log Cabin Republicans had a lot of good to say about his candidacy for RNC Chairman. When asked about the RNC's Conservative Steering Committee, Steele stated that if elected chairman he would not allow this conservative group to meet ever again. In consideration of these and other facts about Steele, I am very concerned that his open tent policy for the GOP may not include conservatives. If he moves the party leftward to marginalize and exclude conservatives from the GOP, then the GOP will have lost any chance it hoped to have to regain power and return to being the majority party in this country.

So Steele supports Roe v. Wade, is supported by the Log Cabin Republicans and was a founding member of a group dedicated to taking over the GOP for the liberal wing of the party leaving only last year to run for chairman and now we find out supported the Clinton semi-automatic rifle ban to boot. I just don't see how anyone can call him a conservative. A moderate or centrist yes, but conservative no. Is he a likable guy and good speaker yes and is it nice to have a black Republican leading our party? Sure. I know there are people who will disagree with me on this and of course I respect their opinions as fellow conservatives, however, I fear with Steele's election as our chairman, the GOP is in danger of moving even farther leftward than it did under George W. Bush. I would not be surprised to see him try to water down the pro-life plank of our party in his continuing attempts to make the GOP more inclusive of the left.

Change is not always a good thing as we have learned all too well with Obama. With Steele's election, conservatives have lost the battle for the RNC chairmanship in my opinion and our road to retaking the majority in Congress will now be that much harder without someone who can clearly articulate our conservative principles and stand his ground against the left and against Obama. I find myself missing Chairman Duncan already.