Michael Steele: Republicans "Screwed Up"
Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele offers a simple explanation for why the GOP all too often lost touch with typical Americans since the Ronald Reagan era: "We screwed up," he claims in a new book offering a blueprint for the party's resurgence.
That "we" includes the last two Republican presidents and the most recent Republican candidate for president.
In "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," released Monday by Regnery Publishing, Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.
"We must support Republican officials who assert these principles," he writes. "When elected Republicans vote against Republican principles, the voters must withhold their support - withhold it vigorously and consistently."
On Tuesday, Steele accused the Obama administration of pursuing an inconsistent policy toward terrorism.
Steele said on NBC's "Today" show the administration is wrong in putting terrorism suspects on trial in civil courts, saying "the public doesn't view them as having rights in the criminal system."
The GOP chairman also defended former Vice President Dick Cheney's harsh criticism of President Barack Obama, saying that he, too, believes Obama tries to avoid directly acknowledging a war on terror.
Does Obama's Rhetoric on Terror Matter?
Steele focuses much of the book on familiar GOP denunciations of President Barack Obama's overall policies ("a roadmap to failure"), the $787 billion stimulus bill ("a reckless, wasteful, pork-laden spending spree"), liberal views on manmade global warming ("A threat to life on Earth? Depends on whom you ask") and other issues.
To regain the public confidence, Steele says the GOP should, among other things, expose the "reign of error" inherent in liberal policies, contrast conservative and liberal principles, and highlight the damage caused by Obama's policies while explaining conservative solutions.
More surprising, the GOP chairman directly or indirectly criticizes:
President George H.W. Bush for raising taxes two years after President Ronald Reagan left office, though Steele ignores the fact that Reagan raised taxes too.
President George W. Bush for not vetoing any spending bills during his first five years in office. He calls Bush and other Republicans "enablers for big government" and derides the Bush administration's Troubled Asset Relief Program as "a massive government slush fund."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the party's 2008 presidential nominee, for backing censorship of political speech through the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Steele says the GOP erred in allowing itself to be associated with "a national political speech code."
Republican lawmakers in general, who allowed spending to rise from 2001 to 2004, went along with TARP and McCain-Feingold, and supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.
"We must quickly learn our lessons, return to our principles and move on," Steele concludes.
One Republican who escapes Steele's intraparty criticism is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate. Then again, judging from the book's index, Palin is not mentioned at all in what the publisher calls Steele's "call to arms for grassroots America."
AP That "we" includes the last two Republican presidents and the most recent Republican candidate for president.
In "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," released Monday by Regnery Publishing, Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.
"We must support Republican officials who assert these principles," he writes. "When elected Republicans vote against Republican principles, the voters must withhold their support - withhold it vigorously and consistently."
On Tuesday, Steele accused the Obama administration of pursuing an inconsistent policy toward terrorism.
Steele said on NBC's "Today" show the administration is wrong in putting terrorism suspects on trial in civil courts, saying "the public doesn't view them as having rights in the criminal system."
The GOP chairman also defended former Vice President Dick Cheney's harsh criticism of President Barack Obama, saying that he, too, believes Obama tries to avoid directly acknowledging a war on terror.
Does Obama's Rhetoric on Terror Matter?
Steele focuses much of the book on familiar GOP denunciations of President Barack Obama's overall policies ("a roadmap to failure"), the $787 billion stimulus bill ("a reckless, wasteful, pork-laden spending spree"), liberal views on manmade global warming ("A threat to life on Earth? Depends on whom you ask") and other issues.
To regain the public confidence, Steele says the GOP should, among other things, expose the "reign of error" inherent in liberal policies, contrast conservative and liberal principles, and highlight the damage caused by Obama's policies while explaining conservative solutions.
More surprising, the GOP chairman directly or indirectly criticizes:
President George H.W. Bush for raising taxes two years after President Ronald Reagan left office, though Steele ignores the fact that Reagan raised taxes too.
President George W. Bush for not vetoing any spending bills during his first five years in office. He calls Bush and other Republicans "enablers for big government" and derides the Bush administration's Troubled Asset Relief Program as "a massive government slush fund."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the party's 2008 presidential nominee, for backing censorship of political speech through the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Steele says the GOP erred in allowing itself to be associated with "a national political speech code."
Republican lawmakers in general, who allowed spending to rise from 2001 to 2004, went along with TARP and McCain-Feingold, and supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.
"We must quickly learn our lessons, return to our principles and move on," Steele concludes.
One Republican who escapes Steele's intraparty criticism is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate. Then again, judging from the book's index, Palin is not mentioned at all in what the publisher calls Steele's "call to arms for grassroots America."
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I was not blind to the brazen impeachment of Clinton by a Republican Congress that ignored the overseas threats posed by bombings of our US EMBASSIES, the USS COLE, and the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. FAILED in their duty to declare war and were more interested in a partizan battle to destroy the Presidency over a PRIVATE intimate affair President Clinton was engaged in.
It was Republicans who used every bit of their influence and intelligence to embarass the President...rather than allow him to prosecute a proper military response to the threat of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Ladin....all before 9/11. I did not forget, Mr. Steele.
What a pimp.
The public also doesn't view people of his complexion as having rights in the criminal system, So for him, I suppose that means that we don't.
Yo, Uncle Richard, Harriet Beecher Stowe called, and said come home.