Steele’s Communication Skills Will Serve GOP Well
The more I think about the election of Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee, the more hope I have for the future of my party.
Not only is the former Maryland Lieutenant Governor a bright man with a natural charisma and personal warmth, but he also conveys an image of a broader-based party than one to which the media has made us accustomed in recent years. And it’s not just his race. It’s the way he communicates conservative ideas.
Like Ronald Reagan, he can communicate conservatism to a diverse audience rather than satisfying himself by only offering up red meat for the party faithful.
As Thomas Sowell put it in heralding Steele’s election, “One of the huge and perennial handicaps of the Republicans is that they seldom have anybody who can articulate their case to the public“
Too many Republicans don’t even seem to understand the need to talk. They seem to think it is something you have to go through the motions of doing but, really, they would rather be somewhere else, doing something else.
. . . .
Steele not only knows how to talk, he seems to understand the need to talk. In his appearances on television over the years, he has been assertive rather than apologetic. When attacked, he has counter-attacked, not whined defensively, like too many other Republicans. And when criticizing the current administration, Steele won’t have to pull his punches when going after Barack Obama, for fear of being called a racist.
Assertive rather than apologetic indicates he understands and appreciates our party’s principles. Like Ronald Reagan, he doesn’t whine about the failure of the media to convey our message. He just figures out a way to convey it with confidence.
As we prepare to celebrate the Great Communicator’s ninety-eigth birthday tomorrow, it is fitting that we now have a good communicator at the helm of our great party.
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Some have said that the only way to save to achieve victory again for the Republican party is to purge the moderate (that’s a much more polite word that what I have seen) voices and take a more hard line right approach. From what I’ve read it seems that Steele, at least on LGBT issues, has a more rational attitude. I’m not at all saying is not rational on other things, I honestly have not read enough about him. With him in this position are we likely to see the party move further to the right as some want?
Comment by a different Dave — February 5, 2009 @ 9:57 pm - February 5, 2009
Let’s hope he moves to the right on fiscal, foreign and judicial issues and veers center on everything else,
Comment by GayPatriotWest — February 6, 2009 @ 2:26 am - February 6, 2009
Breaking news on TownHall.com – Steele has ordered the entire RNC board to resign. All 100 of them.
You go, Michael! Clean house now!
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — February 6, 2009 @ 10:34 am - February 6, 2009
I like Michael Steele, always have. He should have won his Senate seat. Can anyone even tell me who the outgoing chairman was? I can’t and I’m pretty tuned in to these kinds of details.
Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — February 6, 2009 @ 12:18 pm - February 6, 2009
Peter, just a clarification… the RNC Board is made of the elected representatives from each state (usually the state party chair, a male and female representative elected by the respective state central committee, maybe the state party’s executive director) or territory.
Steele is asking for the resignations of the RNC’s staffers. He may reappoint or rehire some, let others go on to greener pastures… it is his call. I think ScreaminHowieDean did something similar with his DNC tenure… didn’t Howie close a couple of gay outreach offices and fire a few gay staffers over at the DNC?
At least Steele isn’t starting off by doing the same thing with gays inside the GOP’s national agency.
Comment by Michigan-Matt — February 6, 2009 @ 12:18 pm - February 6, 2009
#5 – MMatt, thanks for the clarification.
And yes, you are correct – to my knowledge, Steele is trying to do more gay outreach than Howlin’ Howie did. But of course, if Steele even tried to do half the stuff that Dean did to the gay communities in terms of exclusion, we wouldn’t hear the end of it from the DNCMSM.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — February 6, 2009 @ 12:26 pm - February 6, 2009
While I disagree with Michael Steele on a number of issues, I think he is an excellent choice to head the Republican Party. He is indeed a good communicator. His problem will be getting his voice heard above the noise made by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
Talk to the independents the GOP needs to win and way too many will tell you they think Limbaugh and Hannity speak for the Republican Party. And they don’t like the message.
Comment by Jack Allen — February 6, 2009 @ 3:08 pm - February 6, 2009
LOL..of course, Jack Allen, you want Hannity and Limbaugh silenced because they regularly humiliate liberals. They were the ones who broke the news about Obama’s tax cheat nominees. They were the ones who hammered the point home that Obama was hiring lobbyists after he claimed he would never do so. They were the ones who called out the fact that Obama was still allowing torture and extraordinary rendition.
Do you think “independents” support Obama’s belief that tax cheats should be high government officials? Do you think “independents” support Obama’s obvious lies about hiring lobbyists? Or are you simply trying to claim “independents” when you really mean “Obama Party shills like yourself”?
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — February 7, 2009 @ 6:50 pm - February 7, 2009
#8: Yeah, NDT, what sage advice Jack Allen has offered to the GOP. All along, the solution to the Republican Party’s problems has been right under our noses! All we need to do is…wait for it…wait for it…BE MORE LIKE LIBERALS! Why didn’t we think of that before?! Clearly, it wasn’t enough that we allowed the New York Times to select our Presidential candidate for us. Next time, we should just go straight to the Daily Kos and solicit their recommendations, not only on acceptable candidates, but a complete overhaul of the GOP platform. Thanks, Jack, for your brilliant plan.
Comment by Sean A — February 7, 2009 @ 9:14 pm - February 7, 2009
Filtered! Curses!
Comment by Sean A — February 7, 2009 @ 9:14 pm - February 7, 2009
Actually Hannity, Limbaugh and the rest of the sh*t throwers so worshiped by the right only humiliate those who drool and follow them.
Comment by a different Dave — February 8, 2009 @ 1:39 am - February 8, 2009
Actually Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow and the rest of the sh*t throwers so worshiped by the left only humiliate those who drool and follow them.
There, ADD – fixed it for you. And it also makes more sense. Not to mention truthful.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — February 8, 2009 @ 12:09 pm - February 8, 2009
#11: “Actually Hannity, Limbaugh and the rest of the sh*t throwers so worshiped by the right only humiliate those who drool and follow them.”
ADD, once again you’re too obtuse to see the irony in your own dim-witted comments. At least with regard to Hannity and Limbaugh, you can only accuse them of being “sh*t throwers” metaphorically. In contrast, if I refer to the liberal “shoe-throwing” media, it’s a LITERAL reference.
Comment by Sean A — February 9, 2009 @ 1:06 am - February 9, 2009