Steele Adviser: "The Empire Struck Back"
One of Michael Steele's top advisers, Curt Anderson, has a new op-ed piece in the Politico arguing that Republicans are attacking Steele for one reason: he's shaking up the party's organization, and the entrenched powers don't like it.
"Steele's election as chairman of the Republican Party was a shock to the system for many of the Republican ruling class, the old guard in Washington," Anderson writes. "Over the past week, countless anonymous sources have brought out the long knives. Indeed, over the past week, the empire has struck back."
Anderson does concede that Steele has made mistakes, but also says that Steele's detractors were waiting for his beginner's errors as a pretense to pounce.
But come on, the empire struck back? The GOP is supposed to represent old-fashioned values, but not so old-fashioned that we're a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
Will these Republicans go out of their way to make sure Steele fails. Sabotage anything new he tries in order to be proven right rather than hoping he succeeds, even if it destroys your party?
Let me guess, the mantra will be "I want Chairman Steele to fail, not the Republican Party".
March 9, 2009 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, so they've admitted it was an empire?
March 9, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love it, love it! And today we see the insurgent leader for the party is Joe the Plumber!
March 9, 2009 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not sure I agree. Many Republicans sound to me like they are stuck in a galaxy far, far away...
March 9, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Six hours later, Steele formally apologized to the Empire, stating the party's entrenched powers have "great leadership ability".
March 9, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
March 9, 2009 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Joe the Plumber: "You can't sell principles, but you can totally be a racist shitfuck. Also, how pathetic is it that everyone who criticizes Steele is actually more right about what we say than he is? First time in history I get to be correct when I make a statement! Joe the Scholar!"
March 9, 2009 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steele and his advisers really really stretch to get the constant popular culture reference. If this gig fails, they could at least work for Family Guy.
March 9, 2009 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is almost as bad as that time I was chairman of the Republican National Committee...
March 9, 2009 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh heh, I remember McConnell saying "What the hell is a gigawatt?" and you saying "Exactly!"
(kind of going back to 1985 for that reference....)
March 9, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is this not surprising. He is off the hook and going hip hop. The problem is that it's the same old stale republican policies that have been proven to be failures. Same old, same old. Just because your spokesperson is "off the hook" with a minority face doesn't change the fact that your policies screw everyone other than the well connected, trust fund babies.
Incidentally, I really am tired of the class system in our country. When will we get rid of it? The king went to yale? He wouldn't have qualified to get into a community college. However, he went to yale???????? Gotta love the us class system, which is coming out in spades with the meltdown. People are sitting there finally going, wait a minute, why are all these well connected, trust fund babies getting all this cash? It doesn't make sense. They are idiots and just because they can get into harvard or yale based on heredity, doesn't mean that they should make millions and millions for f*cking up everything royally. Hopefully, people will really wake up.
It really is pathetic that the us professes to be this alleged meritocracy. You can get ahead just if you work hard. Anything can happen, and they point to the one anomaly to justify the class system for the thousands who do nothing and get paid a ton of money because of class. For the rest of the hundreds of millions, they work their asses off and get screwed. They do the same song and dance bullsh*t with taxes, and people used to be so stupid that they bought it. Hopefully, not any more.
March 9, 2009 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can somebody please write slash fiction about Michael Steele and Armstrong Williams? Can Joe the Plumber stumble into the party drunk screaming about who wants the plumber's snake?
March 9, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, if you follow this analogy out, Rush Limbaugh does fit quite well (as he is often portrayed) into the Jabba the Hutt role, being someone who is sort of ideologically on the side of the Empire (not least because he makes a lot of money off of it) but acts in a rogue manner; and of course Dick Cheney made a good Darth Vader as the second-in-command who had the real power. The thing is, there's no Emperor, nor was there even for the last 8 years (although McCain is starting to physically look like him).
March 10, 2009 6:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
That is very funny when you think about it. Steele's rep uses the starwars analogy, which has been repeatedly applied to the republican party. Was it by design? Like he copied the daily show for his new marketing strategy. This guy may really be off his rocker.
On the emperor, I don't remember the movies that well, but wasn't the emperor kind of behind the scenes and you really didn't know who he was? Darth vader was the big cheese reporting to some basically unknown higher authority. That kind of applies as well.
March 10, 2009 8:43 AM | Reply | Permalink