Shots on the House

At one point I was happy that Steele won the election for RNC Chair. That time is long gone. It’s bigger than just taking on Limbaugh, although I think his battle with Conservatism’s loudest voice on the radio was empty-headed and foolish. It’s his hip-hop idiocy, which I viewed as light-hearted at first, until I realized he was trying to make headlines instead of making policies within the organization he leads. It’s internal jockeying in New York’s 20th district, where our lead has been slipping. It’s comments that undo the progress social conservatives have made in their battle to define marriage, and the continuous battle to overturn Roe. Let’s start with the social issues, from his GQ interview a few days ago:

Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”

Explain that. [on abortion]
The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.

Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.

Are you saying you don’t want to overturn Roe v. Wade?
I think Roe v. Wade—as a legal matter, Roe v. Wade was a wrongly decided matter.

Former RNC eCampaign staffer and friend of mine James Richardson is arguing that people that view Steele as a curator of opinion for the party are misinformed. He also says that Chairman Steele is misinformed. I think the fact that Steele views himself as a spokesman for the party on issues of platform is a big problem, especially since many of his views so directly contradict said platform, and if he wasn’t out there getting media coverage for saying stupid things, social conservative detractors wouldn’t be so upset. James thinks the calls to remove Steele are premature, and I say we have no time to waste with ultra-liberal Democrats are consolidating power.

Steele’s comments on gay marriage in particular are discouraging because they’re so out-of-step with one of the battles pro-marriage GOPers have been fighting for years. Civil unions are a civil rights issues, gay marriage is not. By equating homosexuality with race, you’re taking away our ability to define marriage, and you’re undercutting one of our biggest contentions with the leftist stance on gay marriage: that it’s a civil rights issue at it’s core. It’s not, it’s a moral issue, and the federal government should get out of the way and let the states continue defining marriage as they have been for the last few years. On to the hip-hop lunacy, also from the GQ interview:

Okay, so tell me about this hip-hop plan of yours.
Well, I have to admit, I’m rather amused. It was a conversation I had with a Washington Times reporter, and we were talking about the breadth and depth of the reach that I would try to bring to the party. And I told him, everybody’s in play. I want to reach everybody; I want to touch everybody. I think we have a very strong and powerful message to deliver. The urban community is a center for economic activity. It always has been, particularly in the black community. We are very much an entrepreneurial people, and I think the Republican message is one that speaks directly to that. It’s self-empowerment, it’s ownership, it’s opportunity. And hip-hop—I used hip-hop more as a symbolic term. I know some people started going a little nuts about “Oh, well, you know, they’re misogynists!” And some call them urban terrorists, which I think is an offensive term. But you know, they miss the point of what hip-hop is. Hip-hop is about economic empowerment.

I agree with Chairman Steele here, but when he originally made the statements he wasn’t talking about the message of hip-hop and how it is in line with conservatism, he was talking about our image. The media and the leftists say we look like Nazis, which Steele didn’t correct when D.L. Hughley made the claim on television. Our Chairman should’ve said “Nazis?”, then turned over the chair, threw down his mic, and walked out. It would’ve only been appropriate. Instead he nodded and went on to talk more about his moderate rebranding of our ideas. I never like it when comments from our Chairman degrade our party and ideas and empower the late-night crowd:

Sure, Letterman is an idiot, and he’ll do anything to make fun of the Republican Party, but this time Steele brought it upon us. We should never recraft our principles to fit the media’s narrative, but in this case, it’s not even about principles, it’s all about Steele’s vision. My friends, it’s time for Michael Steele to shut up and run the party, but in absence of that decision, it’s time for him to go. Saul Anuzis is starting to look like our Saviour right now. If I wasn’t scared of the prospect of a Katon Dawson Chairmanship), I’d outright call for Steele’s resignation. Imagine how much the media would love that scenario; ousting the party’s first black Chairman for a man who was a member of a “whites-only” country club. Shudder.