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The Spectacle Blog
Something about Bill Kristol’s letter to RNC Chairman Michael Steele struck me as odd:
Your tenure has of course been marked by gaffes and embarrassments, but I for one have never paid much attention to them, and have never thought they would matter much to the success of the causes and principles we share.
Kristol then continued:
But now you have said, about the war in Afghanistan, speaking as RNC chairman at an RNC event, “Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama’s choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.” And, “if [Obama] is such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?”
It’s because of those two quoted passages that Kristol wants Steele out.
Since Kristol’s letter was my introduction to the controversy, and given Steele’s propensity for gaffes and embarrassments, I wondered about the context of his remarks. As it happens, they were delivered off the cuff at a small fundraiser — you can barely hear Steele speaking on what was posted on YouTube. But it’s clearly nothing more than Steele thinking aloud, without prepared text — precisely the sort of moment that’s gotten him in trouble before.
In any case, this was clearly a political gathering and as such Steele seemed intent on scoring a few political points about the other side. Fortunately, the Atlantic’s political blogger Chris Good is young and has good hearing and was able to transcribe Steele’s remarks, thus providing some much needed context.
Here’s the key paragraph from Steele’s ad lib as posted by Good:
Keep in mind, again, our federal candidates, this was a war of Obama’s choosing. This is not, this is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. It was one of those, one of those areas of the total horde of foreign policy…that we would be a background sort of shaping the changes that were necessary in afghanistan as opposed to directly engaging troops. But it was the president who tried to be cute by…flipping the script deomonizing iraq while saying the battle really should be in afghanistan. Well if he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you dont’ do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right? Because everyone who has tried over a thousand years of history has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways that we can engage in Afghanistan without committing more troops…
I’ve highlighted what I think are two very defensible political points. Critics of the war might choose to highlight even more of what Steele said. It just could be that Steele has been reading too many George Will columns.
View all comments (31) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Wlady Pleszczynski
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/07/02/re-kristol-calls-on-steele-to
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Dixie Pixie| 7.2.10 @ 4:31PM
RNC Chairman Steele was hired to reverse the GOP losses in the North-East and Black sectors of the Electorate. As the results of his work can not be known until the electoral season is over, it makes no sense to fire him at this point.
However the conservatives should consider a coup d'etat in the GOP after the electoral season.
Deposing Chairman Steele would be part of any conservative coup. At this point the TEA Party people are the last best hope for the GOP. Chairman Steele is not.
Tripp| 7.2.10 @ 8:12PM
Even Mark Steyn has questioned America's approach in Afghanistan. You can't transplant the Great Society into Afghanistan (or here, for that matter) but that's what we've insisted on doing for almost a decade. Steele is right on this one(!) and this episode should be the least of Republican worries concerning his tenure as RNC chairman.
Dixie Pixie| 7.2.10 @ 10:21PM
Greetings Tripp
My point is a person should be judged on his performance in the job he was hired to do.
Not on any silly statements he said in the heat of a political debate.
The time to consider his performance is after the election season, not before.
Ron Jones| 7.2.10 @ 4:48PM
Great post Wlady. Much needed context. Changes my take on Kristol's letter.
Alan Brooks| 7.2.10 @ 11:29PM
But Steele is still incompetent, he'll screw up again, and make it worse for YOUR side, not the other. Jon Caldara of conservative Independence Institute got it just so: "never underestimate the ability of Republicans to shoot themselves in the feet."
Tim*| 7.2.10 @ 5:20PM
Both Steele & Kristol should hit the pike.
Neither is a Real Conservative.
bill glass| 7.2.10 @ 5:33PM
Kristol, get off Steele's back. Who are you to make such a judgement? A McCain supporter? Yeah! So Steele gives his opinion about something, so what? Riding Steele out of town is one sure component of the Repubs snatching defeat from the jaws of victory this fall.
Michael L. Hauschild| 7.2.10 @ 7:26PM
Got to go along with Tim* on this one, neither Steele or Kristal will contribute or detract from the comming bloodbath of November.
Michael L. Hauschild| 7.2.10 @ 7:29PM
Don't you just hate it when you see spelling errors and they belong to you?
Michael L. Hauschild| 7.5.10 @ 11:05AM
Oh, yeah!
dad29| 7.2.10 @ 8:23PM
"Kristol, get off Steele's back. Who are you to make such a judgement?"
Kristol is the leader of the War Party (albeit he changes places with Dick Cheney now and then.)
He's regarded as a twit everyplace but in his own head and in a few places around DC.
bluecollarbytes| 7.2.10 @ 9:16PM
Steele made good points with regards to Obama's having jumped on the Afghanistan involvement for purely personal political necessity- since he needed to be against all things Bush, including Iraq, but knew he needed to fight that common perception that radical Leftists oppose all wars. Afghanistan IS "Obama's war" every bit as much as "Iraq was Bush's". Of course they are Our wars, because it's the country that goes to war. It's American citizen soldiers that fight them. Steele seems to have skipped over that completely, until he was forced to 'walk it back'.
Greg| 7.2.10 @ 11:05PM
Bill: Come on. Your comments serve no purpose other than to take the heat off where the heat belongs.
CB| 7.3.10 @ 2:35AM
I agree with Liz Cheney, one of my favorite conservative leaders. Michael Steele needs to resign. Republicans were mistaken to select him to begin with. The guy Mitt Romney endorsed was better.
Lane Griffen| 7.3.10 @ 7:44AM
Bill : You are on the mark again. The Republican Party needs to stop eating their own. The laser needs to focus on Obama and the Dems up for election this November.
Samwise| 7.3.10 @ 9:21AM
I don't like Steele but to go after him for this is absurd...look at all the gaffes made by Biden...you could fill a book...let's focus on the real picture - drug cartels crossing our board armed with assault rifles, the economy, job losses, a thoroughly dishonest, manipulative president...etc
JmsA| 7.5.10 @ 11:07AM
Samwise,
Yeah, but bite me...I mean Biden's gaffes are mostly ignored by the media, and Steele's are magnified.
William R| 7.3.10 @ 11:58AM
The hideous Liz Cheney is now calling for Steele to resign. The NeoCons have the long knives out.
Margie| 7.4.10 @ 4:10PM
What a hideous thing to say!
JmsA| 7.5.10 @ 11:10AM
William R,
There's nothing as hideous as an unfounded hideous comment itself. Ms. Cheney is not a neocon, she's a conservative.
Margie| 7.5.10 @ 7:50PM
Doesn't it "depend on one's definition" of Neo-Con? Hmm? To the William R.'s of the country, anyone who backs Israel is a Neo-Con, Israel Firster, Faux-Conservative, etc. etc. etc.
I know that Liz Cheney is a pro-Israel conservative. Uh oh.
And so is Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin, and Sarah Palin, and Michelle Malkin, and David Horowitz, and Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage, and....
Spicy Joker| 7.3.10 @ 9:53PM
Michael Steele is a clown. His remarks were ignorant and laughable. He would resign immediately if he had any honor. Steele is a RINO who the other RINOs at the RNC hired to pander to blacks. But blacks who have even heard of Steele think he's nothing but an arsehole.
owyheewine| 7.6.10 @ 9:30AM
Little Billy Kristol is a beltway creature that still thinks all power should reside in the eastern axis of evil. Michael Steele has not been the kind of leader that many of us hoped he would be, but we are in a mortal battle in this election cycle, and conservatives don't need to form circular firing squads now. Let's concentrate on the elections, and fight the battles later.
We have the First Amendment and everyone is entitled to his opinion, but my vote is for little Billy to sit down and shut up.