The Roundtable: Should Steele Resign?
EmailIn a fiery discussion on ABC’s This Week, a powerhouse panel debated the merits of RNC Chairman Michael Steele stepping down after making controversial remarks about the war in Afghanistan.
“It’s one thing for him personally to have that point of view, but for the chairman of the party…to advance that point of view, is indefensible,” Dan Senor, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, said. “What’s striking about Steele is how fundamentally unserious” he is.
“This Week” anchor Jake Tapper asked Senor whether he thought Steele should step down.
“I don’t think the Republican Party can seriously engage in foreign policy with credibility if its chairman is engaging in this kind of rhetoric,” Senor said.
Al Hunt of Bloomberg quipped, “First of all, I think Michael Steele, I wonder if he is a Democratic mole. If he had to resign every time he said something silly, he’d be gone about 15 times by now.”
“There’s a larger point here,” Hunt said, turning serious. “Many Democrats and more Republicans than you think – there is tremendous anxiety, nobody thinks this war is going well right now. No one sees the light…at the end of the tunnel.”
“Michael Steele is a self-aggrandizing, gaffe-prone incompetent who would have been fired a long time ago were he not black,” Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal Constitution said. “Of course the irony is he never would have been voted in as chairman of the Republican party were he not black.”
Watch the debate here:
Mitt Romney's Full Speech at CPAC 2012 
Romney Makes His Case to Conservatives at CPAC
Steele should resign. He places the Republican party in danger of losing all the good we have accomplished. We have gained ground since Obama- and I don’t want to lose it because of Steele’s careless comments that are even true.
Posted by: Teresa | July 4, 2010, 10:46 am 10:46 am
So sorry. Typed really fast. I meant to say that Steele’s comments were not even true.
Posted by: Teresa | July 4, 2010, 10:47 am 10:47 am
“I don’t think the Republican Party can seriously engage in foreign policy with credibility if its chairman is engaging in this kind of rhetoric,” Senor said.”
Why not? Harry Reid stood up in the Senate and declared the war in Iraq is lost. He wasn’t forced to resign.
Understand, I don’t condone EITHER statement, but it’s not right to criticize one and not the other.
Posted by: Dell | July 4, 2010, 10:54 am 10:54 am
Very good discussion on Steele this morning. Someone said that the GOP is stuck with that idiot, because they made such a big deal about him being the first black chairman of the republican party. That is 100% spot on. Steele is more than incompetent, he’s stupid.
Congrats republican party.
Posted by: Tony | July 4, 2010, 10:54 am 10:54 am
I love this quote: “What’s striking about Steele is how fundamentally unserious” he is.
This is the line you get when you step outside the bounds of allowable discourse in the USA. There are certain issues that, despite the agreement of a majority of the population, are not allowed to be discussed by the US Politburo.
This obvously is one of those. Steele’s comments are well within the mainstream opinion of the American public, and they are only contraversial within the FCM.
Posted by: Flash Override | July 4, 2010, 10:56 am 10:56 am
The ‘unserious’ critique is another way of saying “who are you going to believe, the Afghanistan ‘experts’ or your lying eyes?”
Posted by: Flash Override | July 4, 2010, 11:01 am 11:01 am
“Very good discussion on Steele…..” by radical lefties. A fair and balanced panel – could ABC find more extreme liberals?
Posted by: Jim Lennon | July 4, 2010, 11:01 am 11:01 am
Jake,
I realize that you are in a business dominated by liberals, but how about considering the radical proposal of balance on your roundtable segments. Four liberals to one conservative is not exactly balance.
Posted by: John | July 4, 2010, 11:06 am 11:06 am
Steele is representative of what the Republican party is today….They choice style over substance by making someone who could not even win his state’s governorship as chairman…
Posted by: indy_voter | July 4, 2010, 11:30 am 11:30 am
Yes.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | July 4, 2010, 11:30 am 11:30 am
That Roundtable was disgraceful. Five lefties and ONE Republican?? Thank goodness Tapper had the sense to keep his mouth shut, but honestly, where’s the balance?
If you didn’t know anything about politics and you watched that, you would probably be thinking there was concensus on these issues – EVERYONE thinks there should be more ‘stimulus’ spending! EVERYONE thinks that there should be amnesty for illegal aliens!
That was a complete afront to intelligent political discourse. Thanks for the echo chamber, keep up the good work, that’s the last time I’ll be watching This Week. Good luck.
Posted by: JameN | July 4, 2010, 11:30 am 11:30 am
Cynthia Tucker said “Of course the irony is he never would have been voted in as chairman of the Republican party were he not black.”
Hey Cynthia, the same goes for Barack Obama being voted President. The liberals in the media gave him a pass on his gaffe prone incompetence b/c they wanted the black guy to win.
I agree with above poster, 4 liberals to one conservative isn’t a balanced roundtable.
Posted by: fiestamom | July 4, 2010, 11:31 am 11:31 am
Gee, Cynthia, while I happen to agree with your points about Steele, the irony is you could say the same things about Obama — yet you don’t see the hypocrisy in your own words.
Posted by: kaybee | July 4, 2010, 11:39 am 11:39 am
Cynthia Tucker: “They elected him Chairman because he is black … can’t get rid of him because he is black”.
Isn’t that also true of “you know who” Cynthia?
And ABC is that what you consider a balanced panel?
Posted by: Roberto | July 4, 2010, 11:43 am 11:43 am
Steele should stay and continue to share his true feelings rather than take the party line all the time. He has been a successful chairman in getting Republicans elected
Posted by: GJKOTW01 | July 4, 2010, 11:49 am 11:49 am
ABC should be ashamed-if they were real journalists. Five leftists and one conservative. And you make fun of Fox News? You liberals are so stupid it has to be five to one. More stimulus? what you don’t get is that the American people are smarter than the Krugmans of the world and you will get the message this November.
Posted by: Joe | July 4, 2010, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm
New network forming: MSABC. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!
Posted by: JameN | July 4, 2010, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
I’ve been a staunch republican for over 40 years. If the GOP does not get rid of this buffoon, they will be in serious trouble. These mid-terms should be a cake walk for the gop, and they are going to blow it, if they keep this clown Steele around.
Posted by: Hector | July 4, 2010, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
“Very good discussion on Steele…..” by radical lefties. A fair and balanced panel – could ABC find more extreme liberals?
Posted by: Jim Lennon
======================
What exactly did this “liberal panel” say about Steele that was incorrect?
Posted by: Jane | July 4, 2010, 12:18 pm 12:18 pm
There are a lot of competent black people, unfortunately, Steele and Obama do not belong into that group!
One sticks his feet too frequently in his mouth, the other has too many teleprompters poking his eyes! Take their props away and both suffer from the same disease: megalomania idiots!
Posted by: von Rochow | July 4, 2010, 12:26 pm 12:26 pm
Jim Lennon, you’ve got to be kidding. A panel of lefties would have pointed out that Steele was correct. This is why lefties arent allowed on the FCM.
Posted by: Flash Override | July 4, 2010, 1:26 pm 1:26 pm
“Cynthia Tucker: “They elected him Chairman because he is black … can’t get rid of him because he is black”.
Isn’t that also true of “you know who” Cynthia?” – Roberto
Of course it is Roberto.
There are enough racists out there to get unqualified people like Michael Steele and Barack Obama in positions of power.
Posted by: Noz | July 4, 2010, 1:48 pm 1:48 pm
Cynthia Tucker, I love you. Your assessment of Michael Steele is spot on!
Posted by: Babo | July 4, 2010, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
Yes, Michael Steele should resign. Yes. The answer is yes. He needs to. He is too stupid, too inept to lead the RNC, and he does them repeated harm. Yes. Resign. Now. Go. Immediately. Yes.
Posted by: Kellybelle22 | July 4, 2010, 2:45 pm 2:45 pm
Cynthia Tucker is a progressive American syndicated columnist. -wikipedia
Funny how the country has run from the “liberal” label. Progressives should be running towards the liberal label not away from it if what pmama says is true: that the Founding Fathers were liberals. (lol)
Posted by: MM | July 4, 2010, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
It’s the first time I have ever agreed with Michael Steele. Why should he be fired for telling the truth EXCEPT that he conveniently or STUPIDLY forgot George Bush actually began Afghanistan…remember Michael shheeesh!
Posted by: Natalie | July 4, 2010, 5:18 pm 5:18 pm
A common tactic shows like this use to stack the deck in favor of liberals is to use a declared conservative, a declared liberal, and then one or more clearly liberal journalists (such as Al Hunt and Cynthia Tucker), as journalists are supposedly neutral observers.
Posted by: John | July 4, 2010, 5:21 pm 5:21 pm
Take their props away and both suffer from the same disease: megalomania idiots!Posted by: von Rocho
***************************************************
Hmmmm, Bush had the same symptoms. Must be in
the political air
Posted by: spacerook1 | July 4, 2010, 5:55 pm 5:55 pm
I had to laugh at Cynthia today when she spoke of how badly the GOP needed Steele because of color. They are just so not white/I guess Condi Rice and Colin Powell in a position of power was done by what POTUS???? I could go on and on but it seems all of these people are forgotten or they do not count because they are conservatives
Posted by: Karla | July 4, 2010, 10:30 pm 10:30 pm
Cynthia Tucker made a comment about Michael Steele being “gaffe” prone, and that was one reason that he should not head the RNC. Isn’t our current vice President, Joe Biden, also gaffe prone? Does that lessen his ability to be our Vice President? Perhaps…..
Posted by: Jane | July 5, 2010, 10:54 am 10:54 am
I also found it disturbing that the Roundtable group consisted of only 1 conservative and 4 liberals. When will we be seeing 4 conservatives and only one liberal on a panel?
Posted by: Daisy21 | July 5, 2010, 10:57 am 10:57 am
I assumed that Steele would be gone soon, he’s just looking for his next lobbying job. I like him, but he’s outlived his usefulness.. it’s an unforgiving job, particularly when the ship has been taking on a lot of water.
Posted by: Dontget818 | July 6, 2010, 8:51 am 8:51 am