Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (9203)	3/13/2009 10:47:41 AM
From: pompsander	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

Surely you jest!

To: longnshort who wrote (9203)	3/13/2009 11:13:31 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 103300

White House Cheat Sheet: Five Reasons Why Steele Stays The Fix by Chris Cillizza Washington Post voices.washingtonpost.com Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele made a bad situation worse on Thursday when comments he made during an interview with GQ magazine several weeks ago about abortion as an "individual choice" gained wide circulation. As we noted in a story in today's paper, Steele's comments to GQ's Lisa DePaulo drew harsh rebukes from leaders in the social conservative movement from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state and the man who may have put Steele over the top by eleventh-hour endorsement in the RNC race, was particularly stinging in his criticism. "Chairman Steele needs to reread the Bible, the U.S. Constitution and the 2008 GOP Platform," Blackwell said. "He then needs to get to work or get out of the way." So, is Steele's chairmanship over before it ever really started? No. And here are five reasons why: 1. No More Drama: The Republican Party is reeling from a disastrous 2008 election and a race for party chair that publicly exposed the fissures between its warring factions. The last thing the party needs now is further chaos at the top, which is what would almost certainly ensue if Steele was ousted. 2. Symbolic Suicide: In the after-action report of the 2006 and 2008 elections, Republican operatives concluded that one of the party's biggest problems was that they were viewed as the party of old white men. Putting Steele atop their party infrastructure was a move greeted with a sigh of relief by the GOP's professional political class. Pushing Steele aside just over a month into his tenure would send the exact wrong message about who the Republican Party is and where it's going. 3. If Not Steele, Who?: The field for RNC chair was roundly panned as lacking any real star power. Among a group of largely unknown party chairs from around the country, Steele was the only candidate who could make the case that he could be a star thanks to his personal magnetism and charisma. While that bet hasn't paid off to date, there's not an obvious candidate who could step into the void if Steele was knocked out. 4. Procedural Problems: National party committees are ruled by a series of arcane rules and procedures for doing just about anything. (Ask anyone who attended the RNC chair election; it seemed to go on forever.) Removing a party chairman, not surprisingly, is not something that can be done quickly or easily. 5. Positive Movement: After a month occupied by a huge internal review led by a committee of 10 RNC members, the senior staff is starting to fall into place. Ken McKay, a former chief of staff to Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri, was named executive director on Thursday, and today Trevor Francis, a managing director in Burson-Marsteller's media practice, will be announced as communications director. Putting the senior staff in place should quiet some of the chatter that the committee is off the rails....