The race for the Republican nomination is full steam ahead. The Iowa caucus weeded out Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and made Rick Santorum a credible contender, even though he lost — just by eight votes. With a win in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney may be pulling away from the rest of the GOP presidential candidates.

Former RNC Chairman, Michael Steele joined Roland Martin on the set of Washington Watch to discuss the GOP presidential race, Santorum’s “Blah People” comments and more.

During the skit Golden said: “And now a translation for the EIB brothers and sisters in the hood. Yeah, what up, my homeys? Check it out, yo. El Paso. Obama blazed up in there like a total O.G. and they took it to them Republicans like Team Six took it to Osama, up all in their grill dog, double tapped him, told ‘em the border under control, yo. We puppies ain’t gonna chill till they get a moat with some gators to keep those Mexies out, which, you know, a’ight, a’ight, I feel that. But, but, you know, there’s some’ about this that just ain’t — ain’t — ain’t right…..”

“I thought it was highly inappropriate,” Steele said. “It is stupid. It’s not something that furthers the conversation.”

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“I know exactly how Caesar felt,” Steele says, without a hint of irony. “It is what it is.” He claims that Priebus had been planning to defect for six, seven, eight months before announcing a bid for the chairmanship. Steele was blindsided. “I trust my friends. Well, I guess the adage is right. In Washington, you should get a dog…We put a lot of resources in Wisconsin over the last two years…that’s what you do for [the] team.”

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

Washington — After bowing out of the reelection race, former RNC chairman, Michael Steele had an interview with Hardball’s Chis Matthews and discussed the lack of African Americans in the Republican Party. The Hill reports:

What I tried to do [as chairman] was to broaden the landscape over which we could play, go into neighborhoods where we needed to be in, but hadn’t been in generations, and I think it made a difference,” he said, citing the election of African-American Reps. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Allen West (R-Fla.).

After “Hardball” host Chris Matthews noted he rarely saw groups of blacks congregating at Republican conventions, Steele replied with his usual candor. “We could have used a few more brothers in the house, there’s no doubt about that.”

Steele lost his bid for a second term as RNC chairman on Friday, with Reince Priebus emerging as the new party chief after seven rounds of balloting.

Looking ahead, Steele predicted the president would maintain the tone of his recent speech in Tucson in the upcoming State of the Union address.
“It’s an opportunity for the administration to lay out an agenda,” he said.

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Steele got a standing ovation after his announcement following a rocky two-year tenure that saw Republicans notch huge victories last fall.

After four rounds of voting, Reince Priebus (Ryns Pree’-bus) was leading. Cino, Ann Wagner and Saul Anuzis also were competing.

Steele got a standing ovation after his announcement following a rocky two-year tenure that saw Republicans notch huge victories last fall.

After four rounds of voting, Reince Priebus (Ryns Pree’-bus) was leading. Cino, Ann Wagner and Saul Anuzis also were competing.

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GOP Chairman Michael Steele is fighting for survival atop the Republican National Committee, seeking to hold off four challengers accusing him of financial mismanagement and poor stewardship during his rocky, two-year tenure.

The 168 members of the RNC were set to vote by secret ballot Friday on who should serve as party chairman during the 2012 presidential election cycle, when Republicans will try to defeat President Barack Obama. Eighty-five votes are needed for victory.

Steele, who shocked many fellow Republicans by deciding to seek a second term, registered some level of public support as the RNC’s winter meeting convened this week. But many committee members were keeping their intentions private and several rounds of votes are expected, making it impossible to predict the outcome.

The victor will face an RNC debt $15 million to $20 million or more and demoralized donors who are frustrated with Steele’s management.

Among Steele’s challengers are:

-Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin Republican Party chairman who ran Steele’s chairmanship bid in 2009. He broke with Steele to run against him and has the backing of several GOP insiders. Priebus argues that fixing the RNC’s finances is a top priority; critics accuse him of ignoring the money problem when he was close to Steele.

-Maria Cino, a New York native and a veteran party operative who served in the Bush administration and was a top planner of the 2008 Republican nominating convention. She has cast herself as a turn-around specialist when it comes to fixing troubled national party organizations.

-Ann Wagner, a former Missouri state GOP chair who was an RNC co-chairwoman from 2001 to 2005 and was once an ambassador under George W. Bush. She argues that the RNC is broken and needs to completely re-evaluate how it operates.

-Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party who lost to Steele two years ago. Savvy with social networking, Anuzis argues that the RNC must be competitive on the technology front to have a chance at toppling Obama.

Steele, the brash former lieutenant governor of Maryland whose tenure has been marked by financial woes and verbal missteps, argues that he should be elected because of the GOP’s record of coast-to-coast victories last fall, including winning control of the House, while he was chairman.

He doesn’t mention that Republican operatives formed a network of outside groups that adopted traditional national party functions out of a concern about the RNC’s ability under Steele to raise money and deploy resources to key races.

The GOP seems both anxious and angry that Steele is hinting at using his Blackness as an issue during the race, a move that could very well hurt the RNC heading into 2012 by hampering its ability to attract growing minority demographics.

And despite an electoral tsunami on Nov. 2 and a majority in the House, Republicans find themselves heading into 2011 with a party apparatus in disarray. At the center of it is Steele, the party’s first African American chair and a former Lieutenant Governor plucked by the GOP establishment as a counterweight to the election of the first Black President. Now, to the chagrin of that same establishment and an assorted chorus of high profile partisans looking to change direction, Steele has announced plans to run for a second term.

Read more at Politic365.com

Washington — Uncertainty reigns in the race for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee despite the election being less than a month away.

Conversations with a number of strategists close to the RNC – and its 168 voting members – suggest that none of the six candidates in the running are anywhere close to securing the 85 votes needed to claim the chairmanship.

Read entire article at WashingtonPost.com

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The RNC Chairman used the term to describe Indiana Committeeman Jim Bopp, Jr., a longtime RNC member and vocal critic of Steele, after Bopp suggested last week that Steele was “playing the race card” in his re-election bid. Bopp was bothered by Steele’s remarks during a conference call with RNC members to announce his bid for a second term, in which Steele said that his re-election would “speak volumes about our willingness to truly be the party of Lincoln.”

Asked about Bopp’s comment during an appearance on WBAL radio, Steele responded: “Well, Mr. Bopp is an idiot. If he took that away from, and I don’t want to be crass and I don’t want to throw stones at him but I just think that’s an idiotic statement to make.” Steele added that Bopp is bitter because he had a consulting contract with the RNC that was terminated.

Watch Steele’s Idiot Comment:

The exchange sent Gentry Collins rushing to Bopp’s defense on Tuesday. Collins, who served as the RNC’s political director under Steele before launching his own campaign for the chairmanship earlier this month, questioned Steele’s “temperament” and said the remark suggests “a complete lack of discipline demonstrating an unfitness for leadership of a national political party.”

“It’s no wonder major donors have been abandoning the RNC in record numbers,” Collins said Tuesday. “When the Chairman engages in name-calling of members of his own committee, he diminishes the RNC, the office of Chairman, and himself. For the good of the Committee, he should publicly apologize to Mr. Bopp. I’ve known and worked with Jim Bopp both on the committee and on campaigns – it would be hard to find a more principled leader in our Party. Mr. Steele should be thanking him for his service, not slandering him over the public airwaves.”

Read entire article at CNN.com

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Current RNC Chair Michael Steele is giving an indication that he wants a second term but members of the GOP are saying that he should not get the job. Republicans are setting up a scoring system called the 13-point “Leadership Criteria” test to determine if potential candidates line up with Republican principles.
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Republicans did not do well in amongst African-Americans and Hispanics in the midterm elections. 95 percent of Black women voted for Democrats. 88 percent of Black men voted for Democrats and more than 60 percent of Hispanics voted for Democrats.

Even in Nevada, where Sharron Angle was believed to be beating Sen. Harry Reid, he took 90 percent of the Latino vote.

What can Republicans do to engage minority voters and garner support for GOP candidates?

WATCH: GOP Continues To Have Problems Engaging Minorities

On Revernd Al Sharpton’s nationally syndicated radio show “Keeping It Real,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was less than confident when asked about his future as the Republican chair.

“Well…we’ll see how it goes,” Chairman Steele responded to a direct question. “I’ve told them that they will get used to my leadership.”

To the idea that if Steele does lose his post, he will be the first African-American in government or elsewhere to lose a position after doing a good job, Sharpton offered jokingly to “march for him,” to which Steele responded with a nervous laugh: “Well, that would be very interesting.”

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“Oh, if I run, I’m going to win,” Steele said in an interview for the POLITICO video series.

VIDEO:

Steele said he has told committee members, “Yeah, I’m thinking about it, and I’ll let people know what I’m doing.

“I’m not playing coy or cute,” Steele added. “I’m going to assess and evaluate what I think the party needs based on how we do this week, where I think the party needs to go based on how we do this upcoming week, what additional work still needs to be done.”

Steele, 52, a lawyer and former Maryland lieutenant governor, was elected the party’s first African-American chairman on Jan. 30, 2009, when the GOP was gasping for air after the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Read entire article at Politico.com

Michael Steele was recently asked about Newt Gincgrich’s comment that President Barack Obama had a “kenyan, anti-colonial worldview and defended Newt’s comment, saying he did not see any racism or race baiting with the statement.

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From CNN.com:

Conservative activist and blogger Andrew Breitbart will headline a fundraiser this August hosted by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele in Beverly Hills.

A Republican National Committee spokesperson confirmed to CNN a report in Talking Points Memo, which also published a copy of the event invitation.

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From: Washingtontimes.com:

The Republican National Committee failed to report more than $7 million in debt to the Federal Election Commission in recent months – a move that made its bottom line appear healthier than it is heading into the midterm elections and that also raises the prospect of a hefty fine.

In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer – a charge RNC officials deny.

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Michael Steele Said He “Ain’t Going Nowhere” After Afghan War

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. – In his first public remarks since his widely condemned comments on Afghanistan, Republican Party chairman Michael Steele said Thursday he “ain’t goin’ anywhere” despite calls for his resignation.

Steele’s appearance before Colorado Republicans was his first since he came under fire last week from within the GOP for calling the nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan a mistaken “war of Obama’s choosing.” The gaffe prompted criticism of Steele’s leadership, and some calls to resign.

“Every time something happens, people say, ‘Oh, you should step down. You should step down.’ The reality is, that’s not happening, so stop the noise on that,” Steele told about 100 volunteers and state GOP leaders.

Steele added that stepping down from his post is a bad idea with November’s general election just a few months away. “We have too much work to do,” he said.

Although he didn’t apologize for his Afghanistan comment, Steele affirmed his support for the war effort and told the crowd he is “foursquare, 1,000 percent with these troops on the ground … and that should’ve been very, very clear.”

He also joked about his outspoken nature, referring to it as his “individuality.”

That individuality, he said, “you know, from time to time gets me in a little trouble, but that’s OK, we understand how that works,” Steele said to laughter from the volunteers.

In his remarks captured July 1 on camera and posted online, Steele criticized President Barack Obama and his handling of the Afghan war and suggested it can’t be won. Republican officials later confirmed Steele made the comments at a Connecticut fundraiser, which was closed to the news media.

“If he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you don’t do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right? Because everyone who’s tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed,” Steele said in the remarks last week. “And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”

“This was a war of Obama’s choosing,” Steele said. “This is not something the United States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.”

Since the remarks, Steele has drawn sharp criticism from within the GOP, including calls for his resignation from some prominent conservatives. Responding to that, he issued a statement stressing his support for U.S. troops but did not acknowledge his factual error about a war launched by former President George W. Bush in response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Steele’s gaffe was not his first. In the last year, he predicted the GOP won’t win House control this fall and criticized fellow Republicans in a book that party leaders didn’t know he was writing until it was published.

Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, who attended the Colorado event Thursday, was asked by reporters about Steele’s Afghanistan comment and said, “I certainly wasn’t happy about it.” But after a private meeting with Steele, Coffman said he supports him staying in place.

“I think he should stay on. He gave me the confidence he can lead this party forward,” said Coffman, who served with the Marines in Iraq, but added that Steele is charged with running the GOP, not making national defense decisions.

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Steele: Afghanistan Is “War Of Obama’s Choosing”

From TheGrio.com:

By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

Once again RNC Chairman Michael Steele has taken his rhetoric a bit too far. Last Thursday while speaking at a Republican fundraiser Steele said he found the dismissal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal “comical.” Steele went on to say “Keep in mind … this was a war of Obama’s choosing, ….This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in … the one thing you don’t do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan …Everyone who has tried over a thousand years of history has failed, …”

As a result of these comments Chairman Steele has come under heavy fire from within the Republican Party. Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol among others has called for Steele’s resignation. “I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican Party.” Sometimes, as with Steele, the problem is the messenger and the message.

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Steele: Afghanistan Is “War Of Obama’s Choosing”

GOP Chairman Michael Steele: “I’ve Made Mistakes”

WASHINGTON — The embattled head of the GOP isn’t getting an endorsement from Sen. John McCain.

McCain says party chairman Michael Steele’s recent comments about the Afghanistan war are “wildly inaccurate” and inexcusable.

The Arizona Republican says Steele needs to assess whether he can still function in his job and must make “an appropriate decision” about his future.

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At a recent GOP fundraiser, Steele called the U.S. commitment of troops in Afghanistan a mistaken “war of Obama’s choosing.”

The war began after the Sept. 11 attacks, when George W. Bush was president. McCain tells ABC’s “This Week” that it’s “America’s war and we can’t afford to fail.”

Some Republicans want Steele to resign because of his remarks.

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WASHINGTON — Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele suggested the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is “a war of Obama’s choosing” and history should have told President Barack Obama that a ground war is unlikely to succeed with the current strategy.

Steele’s comments drew sharp criticism on Friday — including from a top conservative backer of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — as the Republican leader weathered the latest gaffe of his tenure. In remarks captured Thursday by camera and posted online, Steele had harsh words for the Democratic president and his handling of the 9-year-old war begun by Republican President George W. Bush in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States.

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“If he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you don’t do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right? Because everyone who’s tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed,” Steele said. “And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”

Republican officials confirmed Steele made the comments at a fundraiser in the northeastern state of Connecticut. Reporters were not allowed to attend the gathering.

“This was a war of Obama’s choosing,” Steele said. “This is not something the United States has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.”

The United States and allies overthrew Afghanistan’s Taliban government after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington. The war lagged as the Bush shifted its focus to Iraq, but Obama shifted the focus back to Afghanistan and planned to send 30,000 more troops there.

Steele did not say whether he agreed with that increase.

The Republicans have come under criticism from outside and within the party because of previous Steele gaffes during his 1½ years as party chairman. Elections in November will choose all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 36 of the 100 senators; such off-the-wall blowups would be unlikely to help Republican candidates.

“The chairman clearly supports our troops but believes that success of the war effort in Afghanistan requires the ongoing support of the American people,” committee spokesman Doug Heye said in a statement.

“The responsibility for building and maintaining that strategy falls squarely on the shoulders of the president. Like so many Americans, Chairman Steele wants to hear an explanation from President Obama on what his strategy is for winning the war in Afghanistan.”

Steele’s comments come as Obama’s new chief in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, earned Senate confirmation and arrived on Friday to take over the war. Obama dismissed the previous commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, last week after Rolling Stone magazine published unflattering comments by McChrystal and his aides about senior U.S. officials.

Steele called the dismissal a “very comical” event that shows the frustration military members have with Obama.

“The American people will be interested to hear that the leader of the Republican Party thinks recent events related to the war are ‘comical’ and that he is betting against our troops and rooting for failure in Afghanistan,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse said. “It’s simply unconscionable that Michael Steele would undermine the morale of our troops when what they need is our support and encouragement. Michael Steele would do well to remember that we are not in Afghanistan by our own choosing, that we were attacked and that his words have consequences.”

Steele has been prone to gaffes that have enraged congressional Republicans. In the last year, he predicted the Republicans will not will not win control of the House of Representatives in the elections. He also drew ire from the party when he criticized fellow Republicans in a book that party leaders did not know he was writing until it was published. In-party critics were irked further when he told them to “get a life” and “shut up.”

Earlier this year, his oversight of the RNC was called into question because of lavish spending, including money to entertain donors at a lesbian bondage club in Los Angeles.

The criticism of the latest incident did not end at the political party level. Conservative leader Bill Kristol, writing for his Weekly Standard newspaper, said it was time for the chairman to step down.

“There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they’re certainly entitled to make their case,” wrote Kristol, a consistent supporter of the Afghanistan war. “But one of them shouldn’t be the chairman of the Republican Party.”

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From HuffingtonPost.com:

RNC Chairman Michael Steele on Sunday offered some of the most forceful disapproval of Rand Paul‘s libertarian positions to date from within the broader Republican Party.

In dual Sunday news show appearance, the Republican National Committee leader said he was “not comfortable” with Paul’s position on the Civil Rights Act — which he called “misplaced in these times” — and cautioned that if he were to be elected the Tea Party-backed candidate would have to temper his views accordingly.

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“He had a philosophical difference as many members who come to Congress have a different philosophies,” he said. “But when you get here, what you do and how you execute the job is what matters.”

Perhaps a reflection of his own personal history, Steele’s rebuke was remarkably direct. At the very least it dwarfed the muddled responses from Republicans in the Senate, who have largely skirted the question of whether they, like Paul, think the Civil Rights Act intruded too deeply in private enterprise.

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From SunTimes.com:

Why should an African-American vote Republican?

“You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True,” Republican National Chairman Michael Steele told 200 DePaul University students Tuesday night.

Steele — a former Maryland lieutenant governor and seminarian serving as the first African-American head of the Republican Party — offered a frank assessment of the American political system.

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A week after his Democratic counterpart, Tim Kaine, told 200 activists at an Ethiopian Restaurant four miles away that the Tea Party movement was causing a “civil war” in the GOP that could help Democrats in November, Steele said he is telling Republicans around the country to work with the Tea Party activists to elect Republicans this fall.

“I have advised our state chairs: Don’t turn your nose up, or turn away those who are active in the Tea Party movement. Embrace them. Welcome them. Talk to them,” Steele said. “Those activists have now become a very large part of our voting bloc. They represent a third or more of the voting age population, so they’re going to have a profound impact on elections and in some cases in the primaries this November and this spring. Both parties had better pay attention.”

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Amiri Baraka Calls Michael Steele A “Real Public Coon” At Black Writers’ Conference

OPEN LETTER TO MICHAEL STEELE: Drop The Slang & Stand Up To Racism

Michael Steele addressed the National Action Network Conference yesterday and called Al Sharpton a “strong leader” and a “friend.” He also alluded to some of the Republican party being similar to an Elephant’s ass, saying:

“I work every day in this job, as I like to put it, to turn the elephant, Now, I don’t know if you ever had to turn an elephant, but the end you have to start with is not necessarily the best place to start.

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Al Sharpton Hosts National Action Network Convention To Address Racial Inequality

From NBCNewYork.com:

Hundreds of officials and influential leaders are participating in an annual national convention hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network, which began Wednesday morning.

The four-day conference will feature prominent names in politics, civil rights, religion, business, education and entertainment addressing issues that impact people of color with a priority on racial inequality. Topics include health care, the racial achievement gap, labor and employment, the state of the Black Church, and others.

“We often teach our children, that the only way to garner change and advance society is to eliminate discrepancies in the social order of life,” Sharpton wrote in an online statement. “When there is equality across racial and class lines, we all benefit.”

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The major highlight of the convention is a leadership forum on the concluding day, “Measuring the Movement: Black Leadership’s 12-Month Action Plan,” where leaders representing constituencies across the county will pledge a plan of action to affect change regarding these issues over a 12-month period. This event will air live on TV One, and a special hosted by Joe Scarborough will air on MSNBC.

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NEW ORLEANS — In damage control mode, GOP national chairman Michael Steele on Saturday sought to quell the furor over his management of the Republican National Committee by acknowledging errors and vowing to learn from them.

“I’m the first here to admit that I’ve made mistakes, and it’s been incumbent on me to take responsibility to shoulder that burden, make the necessary changes and move on,” Steele told GOP activists and party leaders, drawing a standing ovation.

“The one mistake we cannot make this November is to lose,” he added, and the crowd cheered in agreement.

Saturday’s speech to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference was Steele’s first public appearance since the disclosure of questionable spending — including a $2,000 tab at a sex-themed California night club — resulted in top advisers cutting ties with him and North Carolina’s state party chief calling for his resignation.

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Normally a bombastic showman, Steele struck a contrite tone before the supportive audience in the half-full hotel ballroom. He did not address the specific complaints. And even though he acknowledged his errors, he also blamed others.

“We can’t coast into the majority, nor can we assume it’s a sure thing. The liberal media are looking for any possible alternative narrative to tell,” Steele said. “They are looking for those distractions, and Lord knows I’ve provided a few.” He added: “The Democrats also know that they have some explaining to do, and they’d love nothing more than for us to keep pointing fingers.”

Outspoken and brassy, Steele is not a traditional buttoned-down GOP chairman and he’s been a target of criticism since he was elected last year. The complaints reached a fever pitch over the past week, causing both embarrassment and distraction for a GOP looking to take advantage of a troubling political environment for Democrats ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.

Still, for all the angst in the GOP over Steele, it’s unlikely he will be fired. Ousting a chairman is a complicated, messy process that requires votes of two-thirds of the 168-member RNC. And, while there are both hard-core Steele opponents and fierce Steele allies, several Republican officials at the New Orleans conference said that most committee members and party chairmen simply seem to want to move on from the controversy so Republicans can focus on November.

Attended by roughly 3,000 GOP activists and party leaders, the three-day conference wrapped up Saturday with speeches by prominent Republicans considering running for president in 2012 against President Barack Obama.

Conference attendees voted in a “straw poll” for their top 2012 choice; the results were hardly predictive and meant little. Many Republicans considering a bid were left off the list while others like Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour asked that their names not be included. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney didn’t attend the conference but won by a single vote over Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Those who gave speeches downplayed talk of the next presidential election.

“We have got to stay focused on the election of 2010. Don’t worry about 2012 … We can’t wait until 2012 to start taking our country back,” Barbour told the crowd. Despite that message, he sounded every bit the presidential candidate and spoke after running a slick video that promoted his role as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Barbour also urged unity as the GOP wrestles with what to do about Steele and as the tea party’s emergence highlights divisions among Republicans.

“The wind is at our back. How are we going to make sure it continues to fill up our sails?” Barbour said. “We stick together.” He said Republicans should focus on the 80 percent of issues that unite them, not the 20 percent that may divide them. “We’ve got to let the things that unite us be the things that guide us,” he said. “We cannot let ourselves by torn apart by the idea of purity.”

Earlier, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who is looking for a political comeback, took on the Republican Party, saying that when Republicans controlled Congress and the White House before Democrats won control: “We let America down.”

“Conservatism didn’t fail America, conservatives failed conservatism,” Santorum said, prompting huge cheers. “Let’s be honest: we were guilty of more government when we were there.”

Seeking to raise his national profile, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence — a darling of the party’s right flank — introduced himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican.” And, eying another run after his 2008 failed bid, Paul told activists that “the American people have awoken” because Washington won’t address the nation’s fiscal crisis.

Still, for all the appearances by likely 2012 candidates and excitement over the midterms, the RNC’s woes hovered over event.

“In life, you realize very quickly that you can’t please everyone. But you can certainly make them all made at you at the same time,” Steele said. “And that is a lesson well-learned. It is an opportunity as well. Because folks have been mad at us in the past and we have learned from that past, and we are now ready to move on to a brighter future.”

From the NY Times:

WASHINGTON — Michael Steele was hardly the consensus choice to become chairman of the Republican National Committee, scrambling to the top early last year after surviving multiple ballots in a crowded field.

Mr. Steele’s supporters rallied around him as a compelling advocate at ease making the Republican case on television and someone who would be the first African-American to lead the party. His opponents were apprehensive about Mr. Steele’s equally strong reputation as a showboat, an inexperienced manager given to advancing his own ambitions and prone to bursts of indiscretion. Even as the committee settled on him at the end of hours of balloting, Republican leaders were never quite sure which Michael Steele they would get.

Click here to view GALLERY: Black Conservatives

Fourteen months later, the answer has become clear. At a time when the Republican National Committee is looking to take advantage of Democratic troubles and make gains in Congressional elections, Mr. Steele is commanding attention mostly for questionable expenditures by the committee, lagging fund-raising, staff defections and dismissals, an aggressive round of paid speeches and speaking appearances and politically inopportune remarks.

On Monday, confronting criticism of the committee for picking up a $2,000 tab for donors and staff at a West Hollywood strip and bondage club, Mr. Steele said in response to a question on “Good Morning America” on ABC that he and President Obama were being held to tougher standards because they were black.

Click here to read more.

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GOP Chairman Steele’s Visibility Draws Detractors

White House: Steele’s Problem Isn’t Race Card, It’s His Credit Card

Michael Steele appeared on Good Morning America the Monday. When George Stephanopoulos asked him if he believed that he was being treated unfairly over bondage-gate due to his race, Steele replied:

The honest answer is, ‘Yes, Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do. It’s a different role for me to play and others to play and that’s just the reality of it. But you just take that as a part of the nature of it.

When asked about this, White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs replied:

I think that it is a very silly comment to make. I think Michael Steele’s problem isn’t the race card, it’s the credit card.

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WASHINGTON — Republican Party chairman Michael Steele defended his stewardship of party affairs Monday and dismissed criticism as the talk of GOP figures uncomfortable with his “streetwise” managerial style.

Asked in a nationally broadcast interview if he would step down in the face of criticism of the party’s financial management, Steele replied, “No.” He said some had been second-guessing him “since the day that I got the job.”

Steele, however, acknowledged controversy over the $2,000 the party spent recently for a party at a sex-themed Hollywood nightclub, but said that “when I first heard about this behavior, I was very angry.”

RELATED: Amiri Baraka Calls Michael Steele A “Real Public Coon” At Writers’ Conference

Two top congressional Republicans said Sunday the RNC must be held accountable for the way it uses the money it raises in light of much-criticized Hollywood outing. “This kind of thing has got to stop or they won’t get any contributions,” said Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

WATCH HERE:

Kyl and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who is leading the GOP effort to recruit candidates and elect House members, distanced themselves from Steele when discussing the committee’s controversial spending.

Steele had already come under fire for committee spending on flights, limousines and high-end hotels, but he was not present at the Voyeur Hollywood West on Jan. 31 when a group of young Republicans ran a tab picked up by the RNC.

After reporters noted the bill in a funding report, the RNC fired a staffer it blamed for the outing and said it would be reimbursed by a donor who had attended.

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RELATED: Gingrich Says Republicans Are Nervous About Michael Steele

Asked on “Fox News Sunday” if Steele should step down, Kyl demurred but said, “The people that contribute to the committees, both Democrat and Republican, want to know that their money is well spent for the cause, and it needs to be that way.”

Appearing Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Steele said he had a budget with $8 million left after the 2009 elections, contests which saw the GOP score victories in gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia and in a special U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts.

“I hear our base out there,” Steele said. “I hear the leadership. and we’re taking steps to make sure that we’re even more, how shall we say, fiscall y conservative.” But he also attributed his problem to “unnamed Republicans who don’t like me.”

Steele was asked if he felt he has a smaller margin of error than others because he’s black.

“The honest answer is yes. It just is,” the former Maryland lieutenant governor said. “Barack Obama has a slimmer margin than others.”

“But you take that as part of the nature of it,” Steele added. “It’s more because you’re not somebody they know. … Not old-boy network oriented. … My view on politics is much more grassroots oriented … so I tend to, you know, come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more street-wise. That’s rubbed some feathers the wrong way.

RELATED: GALLERY: Michael Steele Does Hip Hop Poses With GOP Interns

Even as Steele and the national committee are being criticized for lavish spending habits, Steele has hired a special finance assistant who himself was fined by the District of Columbia three years ago for improperly spending money from a political action committee, according to published reports. The special assistant, Neil Alpert, will help with fundraising, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The Post said that in 2007, the District’s Office of Campaign Finance found that Alpert improperly spent $37,670 on items not authorized by the D.C. Baseball PAC, which he chaired, or the D.C. Baseball Association, a nonprofit group the PAC created to raise money for youth programs. Alpert was asked to reimburse the groups, which were later dissolved after Major League Baseball authorized a Washington franchise. He was fined $4,000.

In keeping up with the news every day, you’re bound to come across some pretty crazy headlines. But every once and a while here at NewsOne, we stumble upon a story that sounds so absurd, so completely contrary to our understanding of reality in the universe, that we pause and say, “Wait, you’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way that actually happened.”

To celebrate April Fool’s Day, here are the top ten 100% true stories that sound like they have to be jokes:

Michael Steele Does Hip-Hop Poses With GOP Interns

At this point, pretty much anything RNC Chairman Michael Steel does or says sounds like some sort of joke. But this epic display of coonery at the most high-profile level of politics seemed too ridiculous to be true … until we saw the photographic evidence.

BET President Hosts Event To Improve Black Women’s Image

In today’s other headlines from Opposite World, Popeye’s Chicken Releases A Guide To Healthy Eating, Lil Wayne Holds Summit On Effective Contraceptive Use, and Up Is Down.

GALLERY: Top Newsmakers

11-Year-Old Becomes World’s Youngest Mother

Part of what makes this story sound like it can’t be true is plain old wishful thinking: The world would be a better place if this sort of thing just didn’t happen.

Man Charged $23 Quadrillion For Cigarettes

Either those “sin taxes” on vices like cigarettes and alcohol have gotten way out of hand, or this story is a serious reminder to watch out for faulty credit card machines.

Teens Arrested For Rapping McDonald’s Order

What does this 911 call even sound like? “Hello, police? I’d like to report a crime in progress. I asked these kids repeatedly if they’d like to Super-Size their meals for $.50 extra, and they just kept saying ‘I’m about a dollar menu/what the f#&% is 50 cents?’ Please send a squad car right away.”

Black Woman Faces 15 Years In Prison For Cutting Line At Wal-Mart

We know the justice system can be harsh on Black criminals, but doesn’t an actual crime have to be committed before you disproportionately punish someone?

Colonel Sanders Bypasses Security, Enters United Nations

There’s no reason to think this story is anything but a joke. Why would this ever happen in someone’s imagination, let alone in reality?

29-Year-Old Has 21 Kids With 11 Women

Of course this sounds like a joke, at least for those of us who were still holding on to some faith in humanity. No one wants to believe that 12 people (the one man and his 11 baby-mamas) could possibly be that stupid that many times.

Black Singer Calls Rush Limbaugh His “Hero”

Since everyone knows that Rush is a well-documented racist, no remotely sane Black person can seriously be calling him a hero, right? Right!?

Leprechaun Robs Bank On St. Patrick’s Day

Witnesses described the thief as having shouted, “They’re after me lucky charms!” as he fled the scene with police in pursuit.

From HuffingtonPost.com:

The majority of the news stories covered by Jon Stewart are of a serious tone. So while we get to reap the benefits of his satirical breakdown, he’s got to deal with the weighty stuff. But shouldn’t he get to have some fun, too?

Last night he got his opportunity. Upon hearing the RNC spent nearly $2000 at a lesbian bondage-themed strip club, “The Daily Show” ran with it. A Muppet reenactment, a correspondent totem pole, and Groucho glasses were all included. It was fantastic. Did we mention MUPPET REENACTMENT!??

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WATCH it here:

GALLERY: Black Conservatives

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Renowned author, Amiri Baraka, had harsh words for the Republican party and words of praise for Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick and President Barack Obama at the Black Writer’s Conference at Medgar Evers College last Saturday.

Baraka revealed that he had recently been in the presence of Deval Patrick. Baraka said that he knew Deval’s father, Pat Patrick, who played saxophone with Sun Ra and his Arkestra as well as John Coltrane. Baraka could go on to say how Obama and Patrick were descendants of the Black creative movement that he was a part of.

He would talk about the need for African Americans to be supportive of Obama, bringing up Hannity and Beck as those who opposed him. He also had a harsh criticism for Michael Steele, who he called a “Real, Public Coon.”

Toni Morrison also spoke at the Writer’s Conference and she revealed some interesting stories about when she was an editor for Random House and published books by Angela Davis and Muhammed Ali. Former honorees, Sonia Sanchez and Cornel West also addressed the crowd in Brooklyn.

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From The Daily Caller:
FEC filings suggest Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.

[...]

According to two knowledgeable sources, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele also once raised the possibility of using party money to buy a private jet for his travel.

“I know that … regular ongoing use of planes was something that was looked at,” says one person with direct knowledge. “I can’t speak to how serious those inquiries were.” Both sources say Steele considered purchasing a plane outright, or buying fractional ownership in one, through a company such as NetJets.

GALLERY: Black Conservatives

Steele’s spokesman, Doug Heye, did not deny that such discussions took place, responding that the RNC never had a “plan” to buy a plane. “I don’t know what somebody might have discussed or might not have discussed.”

While Steele has not purchased a plane, he continues to charter them. According to federal disclosure records, the RNC spent $17,514 on private aircraft in the month of February alone (as well as $12,691 on limousines during the same period). There are no readily identifiable private plane expenses for Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine in the DNC’s last three months of filings.

The RNC explains that Steele charters jets only when commercial service is unavailable, or when his tight schedule requires it. “Anytime the chairman has taken any private travel has been a either to a route that doesn’t exist or because of connections and multiple travel to where he just wasn’t able to do so,” Heye said. Yet Steele’s office repeatedly refused to explain in specific terms the circumstances of the February charter flights.

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From Color Of Change

Tell the GOP: Stop inciting and supporting hate

This weekend, anti health care protesters shouted racist and homophobic slurs at Black and gay members of Congress. It’s not the first time we’ve seen such hatred. For over a year, the Republican Party has done little to stop the violent rhetoric, racially charged imagery, and paranoid conspiracy theories emerging from their grassroots supporters. Worse, Republicans officials have even contributed to this atmosphere, and have actively courted this element of their party.

It’s time that Republican leadership is forced to address what it’s helped to create.

Join us in calling on RNC Chaiman Michael Steele, House Minority Leader John Boehner and House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to make it clear that bigotry, hate, and the fear-mongering that leads to it have no place in their party.

To Tell The GOP To Stop Inciting Hate Click Here

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From WashingtonIndependent.com:

Well, this isn’t going to soothe the GOP’s internal critics of Michael Steele, who worry that his celebrity distracts him from the party’s message. He stars in a new 60-second ad — he’s onscreen for 30 second of it, and narrates the rest — telling viewers to visit a new RNC website. (Hat tip: Peter Hamby.)

This is all ahead of Steele visiting cities in Florida, Oklahoma and North Carolina; TPM reports that the DNC will run ads ripping the RNC “fear” presentation in those cities.

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WATCH the ad here:

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Michael Steele Names His Blog “What Up”

Michael Steele Interview Appears On Daily Show

From the Washington Post:

About 50 leaders of the grass-roots “tea party” movement will meet in Washington on Tuesday with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele and other top GOP operatives to discuss campaign strategies and conservative principles.

The afternoon meeting on Capitol Hill will mark the first time that a broad coalition of tea party organizers — who have railed against both the Democratic and the Republican establishments — will sit down with GOP leaders. Top Republican leaders have been openly courting the organizers, looking to marshal grass-roots energy heading into November’s midterm elections.

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Karin Hoffman, founder of DC Works For Us, a tea party group in South Florida, said she initiated the meeting by approaching Steele last month and asking him to sit down with a range of tea party organizers. She said her goal is to open a civil dialogue with the GOP leadership, but she dismissed any suggestion that tea party groups might merge with the Republican Party.

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From HuffingtonPost.com:

RNC Chairman and designated GOP sparkplug Michael Steele finds himself the center of attention once again this week — this time for an interview published in February’s issue of Washingtonian magazine in which he charges his critics with racism.

Near the end of the story, called “Up In The Air” by Paul West, Steele implies that he and the RNC face more scrutiny because he is black:

Steele acknowledges that at times he has a tendency to take things too far. “And I get checked on that, just as when I was a young boy and I pushed the envelope too far and my Mama was there to check me.”But there’s an edge to his voice when he talks about a double standard that he believes has been applied by his critics, and he posits racism as the cause: “I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation. Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?”

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This is, of course, the same Michael Steele who had previously vowed not to play the race card. The GOP chairman said last October he didn’t take part in race politics in an interview with Univision, during which he declined to condemn Glenn Beck’s assertion that Obama is a “racist.”

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Steele Says GOP “Screwed Up”

Open Letter To Michael Steele: Drop The Slang And Stand Up To Racism

From ThinkProgress.com:

Michael Steele’s tenure as Republican National Committee chairman has come with considerable controversy, particularly his frequent verbal slip-ups that have even angered many in his own party. In fact, Steele recently said he didn’t think the GOP could win back majorities in Congress this year, which led one top congressional Republican aide to quip in response that the GOP wants to keep him “out of sight, out of mind.” But it appears that Steele doesn’t seem too concerned about making any future gaffes:

“Sometimes it’s deliberate. Sometimes it’s accidental,” he said of discussing his penchant for pushing the rhetorical envelope. “I’m a very passionate guy. Sometimes I’ll push the envelope because I want to get a rise, I want to see if you’re paying attention. But then I realize, oh gee, they’re more focused on me as opposed to the problem I was trying to highlight. [...]

When asked if he would work to avoid the sometimes accidental rhetoric that causes him and his aides occasional heartache, he said, “Oh, no. Accidents happen, baby.”

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Steele Says GOP Is “Screwed Up”

Steele Names His Blog “What Up”

From TheHill.com:

House GOP Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) took a shot at Republican Party chairman Michael Steele Thursday for holding a GOP retreat in Hawaii.

Cantor, who has differed with Steele over Republican chances to retake the House in 2010, indicated he wasn’t crazy about the idea of RNC members relaxing on Hawaiian beaches when asked whether it was the right kind of image for the party to project.

“Chairman Steele has a role to play in these elections,” Cantor began. “Obviously, I have said that I disagree with his statement that we can’t take back the House. So, do I want voters to think that Republicans do nothing but go to beach resorts in January? No.”

The Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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