GOP Aides Tell RNC: Keep Steele Quiet

[cory777]

Source: Yahoo

Top GOP congressional aides have demanded that their colleagues at the Republican National Committee rein in Chairman Michael Steele after Steele suggested House Republicans could not retake the majority this November.

House and Senate leadership aides used a conference call Wednesday with RNC staff to voice their latest frustrations with Steele, who said "not this year" when asked Jan. 4 on Fox News whether the GOP would win control of the House in 2010.

This isn't the first time Steele has come under fire from Capitol Hill. He ignited a moderate backlash early in his tenure and again in November when he warned moderates against leaning too far to the left. In an ABC interview in November, Steele said: "Candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you're crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we'll come after you."

One Republican Senate aide familiar with Wednesday's conference call said Steele's latest remark couldn't have come at a worse time. "Democrats were having a bad week," the aide said. "They had retirements out of the blue, the poll numbers were in our favor and now all of sudden the news is that Republicans are somehow at fault."

According to multiple sources, Republican congressional aides bristled at Steele's decision to use his book tour to question Republicans' political chances. They pressed RNC staff to keep Steele quiet and cancel any more media appearances.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20100107/pl_cq_politics/politics3276175

---

But I thought he was the new hip face of the RNC. Sarcastically speaking.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. There they go shutting up a black man again

[wryter2000]

2. I think they may regret it

Steele doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'll go quietly.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I suspect there are powerful people who have got the goods on Steele

and will use that information - if necessary - to ensure that he STFUs when told to do so. I have a theory about conservatives in general: the leaders WANT people in key positions who are 'compromised' - who have secrets known only to party leadership but that can be held like the sword of Damocles over their heads to ensure compliance and obesiance. A person who hasn't 'got any flies on him/her' is dangerous to conservatives; such a person is immune to the specter of blackmail and may actually go public with the threats made against him/her.

I believe it's no different in the case of Steele. Somebody's got dirt on him, and we probably know some of it: the 'Oreo cookie' incident, from his failed run for governor of Maryland. That whole story stunk to high heaven, and somebody knows the truth about it, and Steele probably knows that they know the truth as well. I believe a 'clean Republican' is a contradiction in terms, and that a true 'boy scout' would never get the necessary party endorsement for a run at the office.

On edit: the same thing may be true for Democrats as well, but I don't have as much reason to believe that's the case. For one thing, Democrats are not a monolithic bloc that votes in lockstep with party leadership. For another, there are truly 'clean' Democrats serving in office, which I consider an impossibility among GOOPers.

[jaysunb]

4. Bingo !

:thumbsup:

[aquart]

12. Except, if Schumer has his way, in New York.

[mwb970]

5. He da man! /nt

[yellowcanine]

6. Looks as if they are putting the black man in "his place." Way to go GOP.

Nice way to get the minorities back into the GOP tent.

[LiberalFighter]

7. Congressional aides are making the demand?

But members of Congress are not making the demand?

I'm thinking that those aides may have overstepped their job description.

[Moosepoop]

8. I'm almost starting to wonder if he's a mole...

... really a Democrat in disguise, thwarting the GOP by having infiltrated them. Not likely, but he's effectively helping us a lot more than he's helping them! :+

[davidpdx]

9. GOP to Steele: "shut up"

Come on Steele, please don't quit this year..we need ya.

[Grassy Knoll]

10. " Democrats were having a bad week" WAAAAAA.........

Republicans are having a bad decade with many more years to come,
Steele is just the 900 pound gorilla in the room....that talks out loud .

[TomCADem]

11. By The Way,What Happened To Steele's Republican Ideology Test?

Was it the fact that most would fail on deficit issues?

[Wizard777]

13. Black Power! They can't keep a brotha down like that!

Word up and get on down with your bad self Homie. You're free to be as black as you wanna be. If they keep it up you need to get gangsta on their asses.

[No Elephants]

14. We all know why Palin was the V.P. nominee and Steele got to head the RNC.

I have to rofl over how the Republicans yelled "identity politics" when Obama and Hillary became the Democratic frontrunners.