Steele Blew It With His Romney Comments

by John Hawkins | May 12, 2009 10:32 am

I supported Michael Steele when he ran for Chair, support him now, and think it would be a big mistake to try to dump him as Party Chair. Furthermore, as anyone who read RWN during the primaries knows, I am not a fan of Mitt Romney — at all.

Still, these comments from Steele about Romney were completely inappropriate for the Chairman of the Republican Party[1],

[R]emember, it was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life, from pro-choice to pro-life. It was the base that rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism. It was the base that rejected Mitch, Mitt, because they thought he was back and forth and waffling on those very economic issues you’re talking about. So, I mean, I hear what you’re saying, but before we even got to a primary vote, the base had made very clear they had issues with Mitt because if they didn’t, he would have defeated John McCain in those primaries in which he lost.

If I don’t like Mitt, I can trash Mitt. That’s because I’m a blogger and I don’t work for the Republican Party. But, if you’re the Party Chair, you don’t say things that reflect badly on Mitt Romney — or for that matter, Rush Limbaugh. You don’t say things like, “the base…rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism.” Setting aside the fact that Mitt’s Mormonism probably hurt him a little bit, but didn’t appear to be a deal breaker, hearing those sort of comments from the Party Chair drives a small, but completely unnecessary wedge between the GOP and Mormons. You also don’t talk about Mitt’s “waffling.” That’s not because he didn’t waffle — he did constantly — but, the RNC chair shouldn’t be highlighting that for the general public.

As a side note, this is something that a lot of people who work for the Party need to learn. For example, there were RNC members[2] who were demanding that Steele publicly denounce Collins, Snowe, and Specter (when he was a Republican) for their stimulus votes.

Bad idea. Leave that to bloggers, columnists, and radio hosts. The Party Chairman should, publicly at least, be the best friend and spokesman every Republican in the Party ever had.

Moreover, when people like John Cornyn at the NRSC say that they’re going to get involved in Republican primaries, that’s a bad idea. Now, because I am a blogger who doesn’t work for the Republican Party, I can take sides in Republican primaries. I can say Charlie Crist is Florida’s version of Arlen Specter and that every Republican in that state should support Marco Rubio[3] instead.

But, John Cornyn? Michael Steele? They shouldn’t have anything at all to say about that race other than that they think both men are excellent candidates and that they look forward to working with whoever wins. Why the difference? Because they represent all Republicans and because they’re asking people from all over the country to give them money to help the GOP win.

Long story short, Steele and these other Republican heavies need to keep their job descriptions in mind before they talk to the press.

Endnotes:
  1. were completely inappropriate for the Chairman of the Republican Party: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0509/Steele_Romneys_problem_was_Mormonism.html
  2. RNC members: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/04/03/its-on-rnc-members-want-resolution-condemning-specter-for-stimulus-vote/
  3. Marco Rubio: http://marcorubio.com/bio.php

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