Republican Party chairman Steele's remarks under fire
WASHINGTON -- Michael Steele's rocky start as chairman of the Republican National Committee just got rockier.
Some conservatives are openly mulling whether the party's first black chairman should keep his job in the wake of a provocative interview he did with GQ magazine.
In a February interview released late Wednesday, Steele said abortion is an "individual choice." He said a few minutes later that he meant states should decide.
Steele also told GQ he believes homosexuality is "your nature" and he doesn't like "mucking around with the Constitution."
By contrast, socially conservative groups and Republicans such as Exodus International and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin say being gay is a choice. And conservative groups, including the GOP, have long sought constitutional bans on abortion and same-sex marriage.
Steele, who has made a series of verbal missteps during his six weeks on the job, did not return a call for comment Thursday. He said in a statement that he supports the party platform's call for a human life amendment to the Constitution, which would outlaw abortion. "I am pro-life, always have been, always will be," he said.
That was not enough to avert some tough responses.
Republican and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who ran last year for president, said Steele's abortion comment violated GOP principles and "the most basic of human rights." Even with Steele's clarification, Huckabee said on his website, "the party stands to lose many of its members and a great deal of its support in the trenches."
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group, called Steele's comments "cavalier and flippant" and said social conservatives will leave the party "if such a visible Republican leader continues in this same vein."
Former Ohio secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who competed with Steele for the chairmanship, was among several who raised the idea of Steele leaving.
The chairman "needs to re-read the Bible, the U.S. Constitution and the 2008 GOP platform. He then needs to get to work — or get out of the way," Blackwell told the website Townhall.com.
