Over the past week, it is hard to escape the political soap opera involving Republican Committee Chair Michael Steele and conservative radio jock and pill-popper Rush Limbaugh.

To provide a brief background, this all began when Steele appeared recently on CNN’s D.L. Hughley Breaks the News and disagreed when host Hughley called Rush the de facto leader of the GOP. Steele replied by calling Rush Limbaugh a mere “entertainer” with an “incendiary” talk show. Steele said “Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.”

This didn’t sit well with Rush and he quickly fired back. He used his talk show as a bully pulpit to unleash on Steele.

“Why are you running the Republican Party? Why do you claim you lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds? … I would be embarrassed to say that I’m in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that it’s in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it’s in, I would quit.”

Soon after being taken to the woodshed, Steele apologized to Rush and even went to so far to call him a “national conservative leader.”

As a Democrat, it is easy for me to say who cares because partisan infighting is not uncommon in politics. In fact this can be seen as a good thing. This just part of the Republican revolt and they are starting to eat other alive. In fact, Rush Limbaugh is feeling pretty much cocky and has even attacked another high Republican mucky muck – Newt Gingrich.

However, as a minority, the way the party responded to this little soap opera it very telling and only confirms what many of us already knew. Instead of rallying around Steele, the GOP has either taken the side of Rush Limbaugh or remained silent. Sadly, the Republican Party doesn’t just have a Latino problem, they have a general minority problem.

Although Steele is the first African American to lead the party, he is the second minority as Chair of the GOP. The first minority to be elected chair came in wake of Republican defeat in 2006. FL Senator Mel Martinez, a first-generation Cuban American, was named Chair of the Republican National Committee and making him the first Latino to lead the GOP. The goal was to reassure Latino Republicans nervous about the direction of the GOP, but it didn’t work.

Sadly, there was strong opposition to have Mel Martinez as the face of the GOP. Prior to be name as chair, GOP nativist went on a campaign to prevent Mel Martinez from becoming the General Chairman of the GOP. Rooted in their fierce anti-Latino bigotry, they even set-up an anti-Martinez website – Stop Mel Martinez.

Although Martinez was able to overcome the xenophobic rhetoric, nine months later, he decided to step down. Led by Tom Tancredo, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, they immediately attacked Martinez, even suggesting that a Latino immigrant should not be their party’s leader. After Martinez stepped down, many Latino Republicans felt disheartened. Robert de Posada, president of the Republican-leaning Latino Coalition, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying, “The message that it sends is Latinos are not welcome. The radical conservative base has a temporary victory right now.”

Unfortunately, the “radical conservative base” just won another temporary victory when Michael Steele quickly apologized to Rush Limbaugh. Despite GOP’s attempt to expand the party’s tent and boot the bigots from its ranks, the GOP continued to show they would rather shelter all sorts of bigots and racists. This is a clear message to people of color, they may try to get the right person to try to sell the party, but the simply fact is, they are unwilling to welcome people of color with open arms.

Like Martinez, who tried to redirect the GOP, many of the Republican ruling class don’t respect Michael Steele’s views on the political future of “their” party. As long as there is a brick wall of intolerance, nobody from the GOP upper ranks will ever decry the things Rush Limbaugh says. The fact is, Limbaugh’s message seems only to be amplified.

Speaking at a meeting of conservative activists in Milwaukee, media darling Joe (Not a Real) Plummer took a jab at Steele’s to be more inclusive:

“Unfortunately we have a chairman up there who wants to redefine conservatism; he wants to make it hip hop, put it in a new package and sell it….

“You can’t sell principles; either you have them or you don’t,” he added, to applause from an audience of 800 people.”

Steele could have used Martinez’s early resignation as teachable moment, but he didn’t. If Steele was hoping to bring more people of color into the fold, forget about it, he had his chance and he lost it. His credibility lost.

Michael Steele is now perceived as indecisive and wavering. D.L. Hughley expressed his disappointment at Steele for not sticking to his comments about Limbaugh. Over the weekend, he became fodder in a biting sketch on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Keenan Thompson who portrayed Steele had electrodes in his head to prevent him from criticizing Limbaugh.

According to The New York Times, some Republicans leaders have already called for Steele to resign. Will Steele do what Mel Martinez did; step down before the GOP train wreck crushes him? It’s just a matter of time.

As long as the GOP continue to defer their message to the steward of its most vile, ignorant, and bigoted constituency, they will not just have a Latino problem, they continue to have a minority problem.

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Tags: Mel Martinez, Michael Steele, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh |  Print This Post |
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