I haven’t seen the clip, so I am giving it to you cold, as I am getting it here:
The Story:
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was caught on video at a fundraiser in Connecticut on Thursday raising doubts about the war in Afghanistan.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) pushed out the video, which shows Steele saying that the war is of “Obama’s choosing” and that it is nearly impossible to win a land war in the Central Asian country.
“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,” he said. “But it was the president who was trying to be cute by half by building a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he 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?”
Democrats pounced on the statement, saying it was Steele’s latest gaffe in a long line of misstatements.
“This clip puts him at odds with about 100 percent of the Republican Party,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse said
via RNC chairman: Obama pursued Afghanistan war ‘trying to be cute’ – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
Um, Did Chairman Steele have a brain relapse and forget about Bush? Wow. 😯
Bill Kristol over at the Weekly Standard sets it out:
Dear Michael,
You are, I know, a patriot. So I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican party.
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. 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?”
Needless to say, the war in Afghanistan was not “a war of Obama’s choosing.” It has been prosecuted by the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama. Republicans have consistently supported the effort. Indeed, as the DNC Communications Director (of all people) has said, your statement “puts [you] at odds with about 100 percent of the Republican Party.”
And not on a trivial matter. At a time when Gen. Petraeus has just taken over command, when Republicans in Congress are pushing for a clean war funding resolution, when Republicans around the country are doing their best to rally their fellow citizens behind the mission, your comment is more than an embarrassment. It’s an affront, both to the honor of the Republican party and to the commitment of the soldiers fighting to accomplish the mission they’ve been asked to take on by our elected leaders.
Unconfirmed report, there was fax sent to Weekly Standard offices from the GOP Headquarters that read:
Dear Bill Kristol,
F*** You Honkey Jew-Boy…
I got this bitch and ain’t a damn thing you can do about it cracker!
Signed,
Michael Steele
Wow. Just….Wow….
Update: Okay, first off, the crack above about the Fax, is a joke. I’m posting this before some idiot media person sees this and runs with it. Second of all. I watched the Steele clip; and admittedly, he does have a point about Afghanistan, because historically other countries HAVE tried to fight there and had to pull out. However, this goes against the Bush doctrine and the talking points of the G.O.P.; not to mention the talking points of the Wilsonian Conservative crowd, like Bill Kristol and Co. So, yeah. ouch. Steele is going to get nailed on this one hard. Also, he was quite DUMB for saying that Afghanistan was Obama choice war or whatever. It was actually Bush’s war, that Obama inherited. So, Kristol saying he should resign is quite spot on, as he is making the G.O.P. look like a group of dolts at this point. Between Steele, John Boehner and Lindsey Graham, the G.O.P. has a big image problem on its hands.
Update#2 : G.O.P. Spins:
The RNC said that Steele did not say the troops should not be in Afghanistan, instead that he was calling for a better war strategy.
“The chairman clearly supports our troops but believes that success of the war effort in Afghanistan requires the ongoing support of the American people,” RNC Communications Director Doug Heye said. “The responsibility for building and maintaining that strategy falls squarely on the shoulders of the president. Like so many Americans, Chairman Steele wants to hear an explanation from President Obama on what his strategy is for winning the war in Afghanistan. The Petraeus hearings were an opportunity – a missed opportunity – to do that. Instead, all we hear from the president is criticism of his predecessor for doing exactly the same thing.”
“There is no question that America must win the war on terror,” Steele said. “During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama made clear his belief that we should not fight in Iraq, but instead concentrate on Afghanistan. Now, as President, he has indeed shifted his focus to this region. That means this is his strategy. And, for the sake of the security of the free world, our country must give our troops the support necessary to win this war.
AllahPundit makes a darned good point:
Two grand ironies to this clusterfark. One: It’s high-larious to see the idiots at the DNC turning super-hawk on Steele for wanting to “walk away from the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban without finishing the job” and for daring to “undermine the morale of our troops when what they need is our support and encouragement.” After year upon year of screeching at Bush over every setback in Iraq, with Democrats as prominent as Harry Reid declaring the war lost, the sheer balls needed to call him out in those terms are astounding. And am I mistaken or aren’t there an awful lot of liberals who oppose the war and might not care to have the DNC describing them in those same terms? Good work, hypocrites: You’ve done your job of distracting attention today from our pitiful president’s pitiful economy. Make sure to bookmark their statement too, because we’ll be revisiting it — repeatedly — next year when The One inevitably gives his order to start a massive drawdown.
Two: This is actually a rare case of Steele saying something stupid that arguably — I stress, arguably — makes the public better disposed to the GOP. Hawks may hate it, but (a) 58 percent of the public supports Obama’s withdrawal timeline next year and (b) prominent conservatives are growing bolder about speaking up against the war. George Will has been against it forever, of course, and just this morning Byron York hint-hinted that it’s time to go; in Congress, Ron Paul (of course) and Jason Chaffetz are big-name Republicans who oppose continuing the mission. It’ll be awfully interesting to see who else comes out of the woodwork in December, when the Pentagon conducts its review of operations, and then again next July, when Obama has to decide on his next step.
I hate to admit it; but when AllahPundit is on point; he is really on point Amazing how Democrats can turn on a dime. It almost gives a man whiplash.
I guess I should have titled this, “Michael Steele channels his inner Ron Paul.” 😯 😮
Update #3: Erick Erickson is a bit more direct:
I have heard Michael Steele’s comments regarding Afghanistan and the President.
I have read the RNC’s statement on the matter.
The RNC statement is indecipherable in the context of what Michael Steele actually said.
The war in Afghanistan is not a war of Barack Obama’s choosing. It is a war of Al Qaeda and the Taliban’s choosing. We responded.
Michael Steele must resign. He has lost all moral authority to lead the GOP.
Update #4: This here is the reason why Conservatives and Republicans are so steamed over this. This from Democrats.com:
A number of Democrats and “liberal” pundits are smugly attacking GOP chairman Michael Steele for telling the “inconvenient truth” about Afghanistan:
“Keep in mind again, [GOP] federal candidates, this was a war of Obama’s choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.”…
“It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping the script demonizing 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 don’t 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 to engage in Afghanistan without committing more troops…”
Steele is exactly right.
[..]
The cheapest form of counter-terrorism is drone missile strikes, where targeting relies on cameras in the drones. Unfortunately those cameras often mistake wedding parties for terrorist gatherings, resulting in bloody massacres that undermine Afghan and allied support for the pointless U.S. occupation.
The next step up in counter-terrorism is “special forces” – boots on the ground – who theoretically collect human intelligence from locals so their targeting of terrorists is more precise, resulting in fewer wedding party massacres.
The problem with “boots on the ground” is the heads and hearts attached to them, which die when hit with bullets, which in turn produce casualty reports in U.S. newspapers, which undermines U.S. public support for the pointless U.S. occupation.
Apart from “counter-terrorism,” the “other way to engage” in Afghanistan is through regional diplomacy. That means working out a deal among all interested parties so all the fighting stops.
The inconvenient truth for the U.S. is that we simply cannot afford $100 billion per year forever in a futile effort to “stop the Taliban’s momentum.” Sooner or later we will need to find “other ways to engage,” as Michael Steele said.
So Michael Steele is right. And the sooner we begin a serious discussion of those “other ways to engage,” the sooner we will find a way to bring our troops safely home and end the pointless, disasatrous, unaffordable occupation of Afghanistan.
Steel is giving the Democrats their talking points and very sadly agreeing with them as well. He needs to go.
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