GOP chairman: Afghan 'war of Obama's choosing'

[Casino67]

AP:

By PHILIP ELLIOTT (AP) – 49 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Republican chairman Michael Steele drew criticism from within his own party Friday, including calls to resign, after saying the 9-year-old commitment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan was a mistaken "war of Obama's choosing."

As criticism swelled, Steele issued a statement stressing his support for U.S. troops, but he 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. A senior official in Bush's administration said it would be impossible for the Republican National Committee to speak with credibility on foreign policy if Steele remained chairman.

For Democrats, looking at a difficult environment ahead of November's midterm elections, the gaffe was an opportunity to test their strategy of attacking the GOP with its members' own words.
Conservative Bill Kristol, writing for The Weekly Standard, was among the first to say Steele should resign.

"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."
In remarks captured Thursday on camera and posted online, Steele criticized President Barack Obama and his handling of the Afghan war and suggested the war cannot be won.

"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 Connecticut fundraiser, which was closed to the news media. The remarks, at odds with members of the Republican Party, were caught on camera and posted on the Internet.

"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."

Cont'd

[AceRimmer]

Either he's come totally unhinged, or just gone nuts, but Michael Steele needs to step aside as head of the RNC. ASAP

 

I'm all for passionate defense of ones goals, but this is getting down to "The Three Stooges" level of discourse.

[Casino67]

Hopefully he will get his last paycheck next week.

[Argyle58]

There must be something about the national chairman's position that attracts nut jobs!!

 

 

[Valin]

WASHINGTON — Republican chairman Michael Steele drew criticism from within his own party Friday, including calls to resign, after saying the 9-year-old commitment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan was a mistaken "war of Obama's choosing."

 

Worst case of ODS I've seen this side of TOS.

Give the guy some credit, for at least fighting this battle in the face of opposition from his base.

[Valin]

RE: Steele

Hugh Hewitt

/2/10

 

 

Unless Michael Steele has an explanation for his astounding statement concerning Afghanistan, then Bill Kristol is correct and Steele should resign. He would not have been elected chair of the RNC had he said anything remotely like this before the election. Steele's view on Afghanistan is a position of the far left and isolationist right, not of the conservative movement and certainly not of the GOP. Not one GOP senator took such a position during the Petraeus hearings, nor am I aware of any House GOP member with the exception of Ron Paul who holds this view. It is impossible to lead the GOP when you take a position diametrically opposed to one of its central tenets: Victory in Afghanistan, and no forced timetable for withdrawal there.

 

Update: Andrew McCarthy weighs in at NRO. The very able Doug Heye, RNC Communications director, tries to explain Chairman Steele's statement but makes little sense in the attempt. That is because the statement is simply indefensible. The chairman should step up and announce that his view has zero to do with the GOP's position on the war.

[NCTexan]

What possible benefit to the GOP is Micheal Steele as party chairman?

 

I've not seen him contribute anything positive to "the cause" since he took office... and he continues to dribble out these boneheaded comments on a routine basis.

 

He has to go now. I won't give a nickle to the party until he is gone.

[Valin]

I was just over at TOS, the best comment on this....

 

Steele is the Joe Biden of the GOP.

 

28 posted on Friday, July 02, 2010 6:05:55 PM by lonestar

[AceRimmer]

What possible benefit to the GOP is Micheal Steele as party chairman?

 

I've not seen him contribute anything positive to "the cause" since he took office... and he continues to dribble out these boneheaded comments on a routine basis.

 

He has to go now. I won't give a nickle to the party until he is gone.

 

I'm with you. I'll send a check to Dino Rossi in WA(nothing would make me happier than to see Patty Murray go down)and maybe Pat Toomey in PA, but not a dime to the RNC until Steele is letting the door hit him in the arse on the way out.

[NCTexan]

I'm with you. I'll send a check to Dino Rossi in WA(nothing would make me happier than to see Patty Murray go down)and maybe Pat Toomey in PA, but not a dime to the RNC until Steele is letting the door hit him in the arse on the way out.

Acerimmer!

 

I refused to give to the RNC in the run up to the 2008 elections. Then when McCain chose Palen I made a reasonable donation the next day... it was my way of sending a message.

 

Unfortunately the 'message' didn't get through. The RNC and especially Steele are an embarrassment. What's worse is they have me on the "hot prospect" list and I've been getting a bunch of calls from the RNC lately.

 

This one just on Friday...

 

"Hello Mr. XXXX. Do you agree that we need to defeat Nancy Pelosi and Harry this year."

 

My long pause with much anticipation.... "Yes"

 

"Then can we put you down for $375?"

 

"No, not until the RNC gets their act together."

CLICK

[Valin]

Re: Kristol Calls on Steele to Resign…

Wlady Pleszczynski on 7.2.10 @ 3:46PM

 

Something about Bill Kristol's letter to RNC Chairman Michael Steele struck me as odd:

 

Your tenure has of course been marked by gaffes and embarrassments, but I for one have never paid much attention to them, and have never thought they would matter much to the success of the causes and principles we share.

 

Kristol then continued:

 

But now you have said, about the war in Afghanistan, speaking as RNC chairman at an RNC event, "Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in." And, "if [Obama] is 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?"

 

It's because of those two quoted passages that Kristol wants Steele out.

 

Since Kristol's letter was my introduction to the controversy, and given Steele's propensity for gaffes and embarrassments, I wondered about the context of his remarks. As it happens, they were delivered off the cuff at a small fundraiser -- you can barely hear Steele speaking on what was posted on YouTube. But it's clearly nothing more than Steele thinking aloud, without prepared text -- precisely the sort of moment that's gotten him in trouble before.

 

(Snip)

 

Here's the key paragraph from Steele's ad lib as posted by Good:

 

Keep in mind, again, our federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not, this is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. It was one of those, one of those areas of the total horde of foreign policy...that we would be a background sort of shaping the changes that were necessary in afghanistan as opposed to directly engaging troops. But it was the president who tried to be cute by...flipping the script deomonizing iraq while saying the battle really should be in afghanistan. Well if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that's the one thing you dont' do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right? Because everyone who has tried over a thousand years of history has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways that we can engage in Afghanistan without committing more troops...

 

I've highlighted what I think are two very defensible political points. Critics of the war might choose to highlight even more of what Steele said. It just could be that Steele has been reading too many [ulr=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/18/AR2010061803760.html]George Will[/url] columns.

[NCTexan]

I've highlighted what I think are two very defensible political points.

 

Valin!

 

Your point is taken... However we need an RNC leader who won't have to rely on the astute parsing skills of a Valin to separate the pepper from the fly crap.

[nickydog]

"...the pepper from the fly crap."

[Valin]

I've highlighted what I think are two very defensible political points.

 

Valin!

 

Your point is taken... However we need an RNC leader who won't have to rely on the astute parsing skills of a Valin to separate the pepper from the fly crap.

 

 

1 that wasn't me that was Wlady Pleszczynski.

2 I agree. RNC Chairman/woman should been seen and not heard.

 

 

I thought he was a good pick at the time, but it appears his PR and management skills leave something to be desired.

 

Question: How is he doing fund raising wise?

[Argyle58]

I've highlighted what I think are two very defensible political points.

 

Valin!

 

Your point is taken... However we need an RNC leader who won't have to rely on the astute parsing skills of a Valin to separate the pepper from the fly crap.

 

 

1 that wasn't me that was Wlady Pleszczynski.

2 I agree. RNC Chairman/woman should been seen and not heard.

 

 

I thought he was a good pick at the time, but it appears his PR and management skills leave something to be desired.

 

Question: How is he doing fund raising wise?

 

Not so good, apparently. Senior Committee members have been complaining for over a year that his fundraising skills are not really up to par. In March, when he was bragging about the fact that the RNC had raised $11.4 million, it was pointed out to him that the DNC had raised $13 million...DURING the health care debate.

 

I don't think he will be retaining his chairmanship for very much longer.

[Valin]

I've highlighted what I think are two very defensible political points.

 

Valin!

 

Your point is taken... However we need an RNC leader who won't have to rely on the astute parsing skills of a Valin to separate the pepper from the fly crap.

 

 

1 that wasn't me that was Wlady Pleszczynski.

2 I agree. RNC Chairman/woman should been seen and not heard.

 

 

I thought he was a good pick at the time, but it appears his PR and management skills leave something to be desired.

 

Question: How is he doing fund raising wise?

 

Not so good, apparently. Senior Committee members have been complaining for over a year that his fundraising skills are not really up to par. In March, when he was bragging about the fact that the RNC had raised $11.4 million, it was pointed out to him that the DNC had raised $13 million...DURING the health care debate.

 

I don't think he will be retaining his chairmanship for very much longer.

 

 

Thanks

[AceRimmer]

I don't care that he's a total washout as a fundraiser for the RNC, I want him gone, yesterday...

[NCTexan]

This is the same Cynthia Tucker who stated that 45%-65% of Tea Party protesters are racists!

 

 

Newsbusters

 

Cynthia Tucker: 'Steele Would've Been Fired Long Time Ago Were He Not Black'

 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Cynthia Tucker on Sunday said that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele "is a self-aggrandizing, gaffe-prone incompetent who would have been fired a long time ago were he not black."

 

Chatting with ABC's Jake Tapper during the Roundtable segment of today's "This Week" about Steele's recent remarks concerning Afghanistan, Tucker went even further with what many would consider overt racism.

 

"The irony is that he never would have been voted in as Chairman of the Republican Party were he not black"

Hmmmmm.... would she dare say the same about The One?