The Falling of Michael Steele

In January, the Republicans elected Michael Steele to become the chair of the Republican National Committee. After getting crushed in the 2008 elections, the Republican party needed a new direction. Michael Steele was their choice, the first ever National Committee chair for the Republicans. However, he was not vetted thoroughly and has been on a down-hill slide every since being selected.

Many people credited the selection of Steele to being solely because of race. Larry Wilmore, senior black correspondent on The Daily Show, said it best, "The Republicans are just copying the democrats. When the democrats had Hillary Clinton, the Republicans said 'here's your women', and gave Sarah Palin. When the democrats had Obama, the Republicans said 'here's your black, he's more black!' Though Wilmore is on a comedy show, his point was serious. Steele has been wounded deeply now, and many of the wounds have been self-inflicted.


Steele first got under attack for calling Rush Limbaugh "an entertainer" and then apoligizing the next day, allowing the democrats to say Limbaugh and not Steele was the leader of the republican party. Then he got in major heat for saying abortion should be a "choice" for a woman. This went against a fundamental pro-life belief for many conservatives. Steele has since been in trouble for many remarks including recently saying Obama was not vetted enough. It seems clear which of the two has really been the one who was not vetted enough, as Republicans now are forced to try to dissociate from their party's committee chair.