GOP chief Michael Steele had to repeatedly correct FOX News this morning that the focus of the two-day special session of the RNC was not on a resolution to rename the Democratic Party the "Democrat Socialist Party".
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Exasperated Steele to Fox News: No, I don’t support Socialist resolution
By Jimmy Orr | 05.19.09
Book GOP chief Michael Steele on Fox and Friends. Check.
Remind Steele to promote his big speech at today’s RNC meeting. Check.
Let Fox know that the focus of RNC meeting is not on renaming Democrats, “Socialists.” Oops…
No help
If embattled GOP chair Michael Steele wanted to get his message out this morning — on the friendliest of news networks — he had to do it without any help from his staff. It appeared that he had to work around his staff to get it out.
Steele has repeatedly said that he doesn’t support a powerless resolution that — if passed — would ask the Democrats to rename their party the “Democrat Socialist Party.” (Read more about this resolution here).
He says the way to rebuild the Republican party is through the discussion of policy differences between the GOP and President Obama’s agenda. Steele also likely understands that the resolution, because it’s incendiary (one of Steele’s favorite words), threatens to eclipse any other topic of discussion during the two-day special session of the RNC.
“I’ve been very clear that I don’t think that that is an appropriate way to express our views on the issues of the day,” he said of the resolution on Meet the Press Sunday.
Oops
Someone didn’t let Fox know. Not only were three of the four questions posed to Steele themed around the resolution, but the omnipresent text bar on the TV screen rotated between two messages:
1. New GOP strategy: Rebranding the Democrats
2. RNC rebrands the Dems: The Democrat Socialist Party
Correx
Right out of the gate, Steele had to correct host Steve Doocy when greeted with, “Essentially you’re going to do your best to rebrand your opponents, the Democrats?”
“Well not so much,” Steele said. “This is less of a focus on Democrats and more of a focus on the [Republican] party.
“It’s time to talk to folks in our respective communities and lay out an agenda that looks toward the future,” he added stating the Republican Party needed to “pull their heads out of the sand.”
More
Even after Steele said the focus was not on the pointless resolution, Doocy pushed him on it. “You’re going to rebrand them the “Democrat Socialist Party. They’re not going to like that,” he said laughing.
“I don’t know how that resolution will turn out,” Steele replied, appearing to cringe.
“Are you for that resolution?” Doocy asked.
“No, I am not for that at all,” Steele said. “I’ve mentioned that to folks inside the party and said we need to be smart and strategic about that.”
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2. joseph marcucilli | 05.19.09
I was a former president of my local young republican club.I worked locally for former state senator Anthony Gioffre when in high school. I now am a democrat due to hyperbolic labeling such as this; and your party will self destruct if you keep pushing moderates out of your party.The country right now is left of center so your brand does not appeal to most Americans.
3. Gene | 05.19.09
Republicans making a serious effort to re-brand Democrats. The GOP is in more trouble than I thought. JOY!
4. Sal | 05.19.09
First two comments here pretty much sum it up. The GOP is done if this represents their tact for a new and brighter future in our country. It’s kind of sad.
5. lance | 05.19.09
“How about we rename the GOP the Republican Nazi Party or the Republican Fascist Party”
… that is just a bunch of hyperbole. On the other hand, if you named it:
“Republican Fundamentalist Christian Party”
then you would be more realistic. However, that would be Politically Incorrect, but it would certainly bring to a boil why a Republican president went after an innocent nation of Muslims (Iraq).
6. Suzy Q | 05.19.09
This is ridiculous! Instead of focusing on what the Republican party can bring to the country, they focus on name calling and attacking the opponent. Did you guys get it the first time. Rovian tactics don’t work.
If the Republican party wants to move forward it going to have to do it WITH IDEAS, not petty attacks.
7. Stephanie | 05.19.09
The right thing to do for citizens is to change their voter registration to Independent Party, from Democrat and Republican, to send a clear message to the two party corruption, that The People are in charge of the Country, not the Government dictating to the people.
Republicans and Democrats have become a swing between corruption for the voter. This round we have a unique opportunity to demand better, and be heard.
The refusal by Congress to listen to “no” on bailouts and porkulous,requires a stand against both of their electoral colleges. Independent Party is already on the ballots, and is a place to show the numbers of the people who are demanding the voice be the People’s will.
They squabble over red and blue, so let them have neither, until they stop corrupt dictatorships towards us.
8. Kona | 05.19.09
Rename the Republican’s. Let’s call them…Democrats. Let’s face it, we haven’t had a REAL republican in the white house since Reagan. Folks that’s what’s wrong with the GOP pure and simple. NO DOUBT our opportunity awaits when we have to start PAYING for all this absurd govt interventation.
9. Nunya Bidness | 05.19.09
True Republicans need to rebrand THEMSELVES first. Leave the socially right-wing crazies (*cough* Jim Dobson *cough*) to the Republican Nutjob Party, and rename themselves the True Conservative Party. I’m all for fiscal conservatism, but I’ll never be a member of the Republican Party as long as their true agenda revolves solely on abortion and squashing equal rights for ALL citizens in the name of the Bible.
10. Jack | 05.19.09
A resolution to rename the democratic party????!!! Are you kidding me? Is this what the Repugnants, I mean, Republicans have been reduced to? Childish, useless, name calling? We are in the midst of the worst economic crisis (caused by Republicans) since the great depression and this stupid name labeling resolution is the focus of a major party in the US??? If this isn’t the sign that this worthless, useless party is DONE, I dont know what is. To his credit, Mr Steele understands the absurdity of the resolution, but apparently his cohorts at the Repugnant party and the Faux News Network or Fake News Network are too stupid to realize this. I wish these stupid repugs will just go away…Good riddance to the Repugnants, and to the Faux News Channel….
11. Lynnmariethe pea | 05.19.09
Hey, when the republican party uses it’s ineffective schoolyard tactics on its own leaders, it’s over. I say, let the Republicans swallow their own tails, bite their own backs and eat their young. They are officially irrelevant.
12. Axon | 05.19.09
Michael Steele is a stranger in a strange land, at this point. Kinda feel sorry for him.
13. Mike Johnson | 05.19.09
Thank you Steele, I have been extremely frustrated with the new two party system: The Democrats & the Anti-democrats. I particularly hope that we see a real resurgence of fiscal conservatism from the Republicans, because currently we have two parties that both like to spend lots of money with little consideration on how to pay it back. Heck, I’d be just fine if an independent group made a push for fiscal responsibility, just to have some group trying to bring solutions to our national debt problem.
14. nowukkers | 05.19.09
Successful leaders from both sides of the spectrum preach the politics of the possible over rigid ideology. Right now, for the sake of balance in this country, the GOP needs such a leader. Their current crop of party spokespeople would not have been out of place in the Politburo so wedded are they to their own doctrine over reality. While I sympathise with their argument that a country without ideals is not worth leading, the inevitable reality is that the country simply does not agree with their ideals right now, no matter how hard they try to sell them - it’s not as if they are those espoused by the founding fathers - they are a knee-jerk wish-list from a bunch of reactionary hypocrites. A dozen years of largely unchecked ideology, compounded by a spineless Democratic Party, allowed the true ideals of our country - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - to be corrupted to concentrate the reins of power in a secretive, paranoid, conspiracy-obsessed cabal. If the GOP doesn’t wake up, the same could happen again in the hands of a cabal from the other side of the spectrum.
15. A. Nonny Mouse | 05.19.09
I think it’s hilarious to see the two sides of the Republican party… the soundbitey Karl Rove/FoxNews ‘rebranding’ side of the house, and Mike Steele representing something a little more reasonable. I’m still not a fan of Steele, but as the two sides go, at least Steele comes off as relatively intelligent.
16. thebob.bob | 05.19.09
Name calling and slogans is the best approach if you’re the anti-government party. If Government is the problem and you propose government policies, what kind of message does that send? Only talk about big government and taxes, get elected to run the government and then destroy it from within. Better yet, claim that you’re the best for defense and security and then line up all the grandmas and make them take off their shoes before getting on airplanes. Brilliant.
The pro-torture is doomed.
17. TexasJohn | 05.19.09
The GOP needs to get rid of this liberal concession to try and bring the wrong element into the our ranks. Steele represents the worst sort of person to be in charge of the GOP purse. He will hire his liberal croonies and cause an unacceptable dilution of GOP conservative purity.
It is time to dump Steele and bring in a real conservative to save the GOP from these liberal, urban know-nothings.
Rush is right!
19. Ron Greiner | 05.19.09
The RNC agenda on health care is portable individual insurance and tax free HSAs. There have been thousands of articles on health care reform and the RNC can’t get their agenda in one American newspaper for the last two Sundays. Steele can’t even get Rush Limbaugh to discuss Republican health care reform. That’s weak leadership.
20. Irma | 05.19.09
Martyr are always few. We are at an era where evil is kissing good. (Besides, Where is BHO birth certificate)?
21. Russell Utoft | 05.19.09
Keep up the good work RNC keep Rush, Dick, Newt all the good old extreme right wing they are doing a great job for the party. At least they will keep your 28to30% base, won’t win many elections but that is ok. Keep it up we in the Democratic party like this.
22. Mikel | 05.19.09
One last thing, look at all the posts and one thing will stand out, the name calling, vial nature, detraction from the actual issue at hand to divert real dialogue will come from 90% of the Dems posting. Before posting a response actually look. Not just try to discredit any Republican and Fox News because they do not agree with you. Interesting, my brother in law is a liberal democrat and a couple years ago we had a discussion on the death penalty. He said how can you be ProLife and for the Death penalty. I followed one of the seven habits, “seek first to understand” and thought about it for a while. I came to the conclusion that I was no longer for the death penalty as it is not a person or courts job/authority to decide when like ends, or when it begins. I personally decided if I were to make an error on either position it is better to error on the side of like.
23. AdamG | 05.19.09
He (Steele) added stating the Republican Party needed to “pull their heads out of the sand.”
Well, that’s one way to say it 
Republicans have to prove that they can produce better solutions than the Democrats, that’s the best way to sway public opinion. With so many ailments in our nation, people want answers, not partisanship.
24. Michael | 05.19.09
Fox News has become a total joke as they get more and more desperate to wave the GOP flag. Its a shame some people consider them a actual news information source, and not just the propaganda organ for the Republican Party.
25. cynthia | 05.19.09
This is the Republican answer for a return to glory?
They are playing in the ‘mud’ all by themselves in a swampland of their own making, not realizing the blood-sucking mosquitos that are biting them are of their very own invention.
Somebody get the bug spray.
26. Dan Rains | 05.19.09
What I find amusing is that FOX News can’t adapt on-the-fly and actually listen to what Mr. Steele has to say. But then, FOX News has its own agenda, now doesn’t it? The Republicans are doomed because they have one, outdated idea: facism.
27. Mikel | 05.19.09
BTW, for those that believe water boarding is torture, tell it to my family members that had real torture committed on them. Broken bones, burns, you do not want to know, that helped provide the freedoms you take for granted. Water boarding is done in survival training in our military as well as some of our military institutions as a form of hazing. We have Doctor’s present, you name it. I tell you what, let’s get every person you love or our new President loves (up to about 3 thousand innocent family members, spouse’s, children, friends, good people you love) anyone you hold dear to your heart. Let’s put them in a building and give you or our President a limited amount of time to prevent them all from dying. Can you honestly say that you would not water board them to save those lives? Right. Let’s be fair, release the other side of the documents that showed how they had exhausted conventional techniques and how many lives the enhanced interrogation techniques saved. That provides each of us with ALL the information to come to an informed position. I would be embarrassed acting like a Monday morning quarterback when lives are at stake. Sure you want to evaluate and so you can eliminate mistakes that may have been made or improve wherever you can, however to act like this after being safe for 7+ years like Pelosi is shameful to all Americans, Dems, Reps, Indies, ALL.
28. CanWeGetSomeCommonSensePlease | 05.19.09
For Jack’s comment that the Republicans caused the current economic crisis…silly boy..you must follow the real news a little more closely Jack.
The current economic crisis that started with Freddie and Fannie is a direct result of then Pres. Bill Clinton pressuring the lending companies to pass out dead end loans for the appearance of growth on paper during his terms. When the clock struck 12 the shoe came off and prosperity on paper turned back into a rotten pumpkin. Unfortunately there are many in both parties that have exhibited ridiculous notions about this nation. But the current administration has taken its agenda way overboard. It is the people who will speak and hopefully loud and clear in the 2010 elections.
31. Nate | 05.19.09
Fox News and Rush Limbaugh should start their own political party, call it the American Fascist party, take all the fundamentalists and neo-cons with them, and then the GOP can get back to being the party of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and non-interventionism and start winning elections again.
32. davee | 05.19.09
Two cents from a Maryland Democrat; You know the GOP is in trouble when M. Steele is the ‘reasonable’ one.
And what would the point of this ‘rebranding’ be? Anyone who used it would be readily identifiable as not only desperate, but also at the least, idiotic. I don’t know too many people in politics or the media that want to have THAT branding applied to themselves.
33. ApostasyUSA | 05.19.09
“Nature abhors a vacuum, and there is no vacuum in nature as empty as the leadership of the Republican Party today.”
Conservative columnist Richard Viguerie
“A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as ‘losers.’ With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence – exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party.”
David Frum, editor of NewMajority.com
34. My Vox | 05.19.09
“How about we rename the GOP the Republican Nazi Party or the Republican Fascist Party!”
That would be an insult to Nazi’s
35. Michael | 05.19.09
Waterboarding is not torture huh? Guess the Khmer Rouge was only using it to get info to “keep their county safe” Likewise the Kempetai and Gestapo. Guess if it happened to your son or daughter in the military you would have no problem with it? The worst torture here is your logic “Mikel”.
36. lisa | 05.19.09
How about ‘The party that keeps on kicking our butt? That pretty much defines the Democrat-Republican situation right about now.
37. Buck | 05.19.09
America is still a right-of-center nation. The ‘Republicans’ are, however, so far to the right that unless you’re that far out, you’re not in the ‘new Republican’ party.
I’m perfectly good with that. They should be in charge of ‘rebranding’ everybody and everything, while never ruling anything, and let the Democrats and the new upcoming new party battle over real governing.
I’ve said it before and do again: I love seeing my old party sinking like a stone. Music to my ears!
38. patty’oboy | 05.20.09
is this the new dawn we were looking for - those less willing to do right by themselves and others are using the circumstances to assimilate and concentrate power and push this country into the very thing countless others for centuries have tried and struggled with loss of life and property to destroy - this new dawn is about social elitism, it is about a concentration of power by any means necessary, it is about attaining for a ruling class the control of resources to be doled out to their supporters 0 there is no debate in public and no opposing views offered but for a few as all the others are either afraid or part of the lie and you, my we little ones, follow the music of this pied piper quite merrily without any conscience as to where you go and on whose backs you load your booty…
39. Larry | 05.20.09
It is very obvious to all who read the post that the moderator is a liberal Democrat and will not let Conservatives post their thoughts.
40. Bob Bennett | 05.20.09
Trying to stay on the positive side of all of this, perhaps both the fascist wing of the Republican party, who apparently believe the only reason the people exist is kiss the behinds of the rich and powerful (and fight the wars which make their elites powerful), and the left wing bureaucratic nanny state proponents, who have never seen a tax they couldn’t support, and apparently believe the people should get on their knees and beg to kiss the toenails of every bureaucrat who happens to walk by, will both self destruct, leaving those of us near the middle to honestly and fairly address the many problems that face the nation… and the world.
41. HenriettaHughes | 05.20.09
In response to Joseph Marcucilli:
First, to have been a so-called Republican and switched to Democrat, I don’t believe you ever had any true Republican ideals to begin with.
Second, why should we tolerate moderates in the party who constantly pull our party leftward? I say good riddance. Specter should have taken Collins and Snowe with him. There are two things in the middle of the road: yellow stripes and roadkill. So-called “moderates” I believe are liberals in disguise out to take down the party from within.
It’s bad enough that the mainstream media is in the tank for liberal ideals, or what you euphemise as “left of center”. Even with the MSM, and a liberal stranglehold on the education system this country remains right of center on issues like gay marriage and abortion (51 to 42% prolife vs pro choice).
So Joseph, I have to ask you– I presume you voted for Obama? Tell me honestly– how IS the hope and change working out for you?
Are you pleased with all of the campaign promises broken and the absolute RECORD spending? Where’s that middle class tax cut? I haven’t seen it yet. In fact what I do see are creeping ancillary taxes threatened covertly through **** like Cap and Trade and increased CAFE standards. Then there’s the government ownership of auto companies and banks.
Oh, and for my two sense, I think a resolution to rename the Democrats would be silly– just for the record. I actually think the Democrats are doing a good enough job of this themselves, even with the mainstream media providing cover. The American people are more than smart enough to see through this.
I welcome your intelligent, reasoned response.
42. Shirley McLean | 05.20.09
The chairmanship of Michael Steele is the best thing to happen to the Grand Old Party in a long time. He”s smart, articulate and honest. A man who speaks of treating the Democrats with class instead of ridicule which was their attitude toward well meaning, honest, hard working George Bush during a time of great strife and fears for our safety.
Looking back on the attack on Pearl Harbor and the sudden suspicions and fears that caused us to place thousands of innocent Japanese in internment camps,an act we later realized was inhumane and unnecessary is comparable to our activities after the attack on September 11, 2005. George Bush did exactly what any strong president would do-there were many questions and fears he tried respond to.
My congratulations and best wishes to Michael Steele in his new office.
43. Nikola | 05.20.09
#12 Axon wrote:
“Michael Steele is a stranger in a strange land, at this point. Kinda feel sorry for him.”
Too true. The Republican Party is pathetic, and he’s got a thankless job trying to shape them into a reasonable facsimile of an opposition party. It’s not good for a democratic republic to have only one actual political party.
45. J | 05.31.09
Hmmm…seems to me that “equal rights for all citizens” should include those of the unborn as well. After all, babies who are growing and developing inside a woman’s body are ALIVE, and terminating a pregnancy is murder. It seems like a contradiction that extreme liberals are in favor of abortion, and yet wish to protect the rights of “every citizen”. That is a bunch of hypocracy, and thanks to the slew of looney liberals taking over the white house, abortion may just become a right. Republicans seem to be doing a much better job of protecting the rights of citizens, they are the ones who are against abortion.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. JOE BLOW | 05.19.09
How about we rename the GOP the Republican Nazi Party or the Republican Fascist Party!