I’M SORRY RUSH

It seems that every time someone in the Republican Party publicly criticizes talk show host Rush Limbaugh they come back in a few hours to apologize. Check out these high ranking Republicans flip-flopping on previous statements.

Congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia: "I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don't have to try to do what's best for your people and your party."
I'm Sorry, Rush: I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments and I just wanted to tell you, Rush, [...] that I regret those stupid comments.

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina: "Anybody who wants [President Obama] to fail is an idiot, because it means we're all in trouble..."
I'm Sorry, Rush
Sanford’s Communications Director, said that "the governor was not referring to anyone" in particular.

And now even the supposedly Republican National Committee Chairman comes crawling back to Limbaugh with his tail between his legs.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele: Rush is not the head of the Republican Party. He's an "entertainer" whose show is "incendiary" and "ugly."
I'm Sorry, Rush
"My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh [...] I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. [...] There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."

This is why the Republicans have lost so many seats and now the White House in elections since 2006. They have no leadership or worst their leader is a talk show host who is more interested in his own agenda instead of the good of the Party or the people of the United States. And yes Rush Limbaugh is the Republican Party leader. Most Republicans will say no he isn’t but, why is it that the keynote speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference was Limbaugh and not the RNC Chairman or some other “party leader”?

Michael Steele’s criticism makes him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and divisive talk show host. In an interview on CNN with D.L. Hughley, Steele assured that he, not Limbaugh, was in charge of the party before saying that he wanted to put the right-wing talker “into context.”
“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” Steele said. “Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes it’s incendiary, yes it’s ugly.”

But the new RNC chairman’s comments didn’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject. Limbaugh, asked to respond, said he’d save his counter-attack for his listeners. “I’ll handle it on the radio,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Yes, Rush Limbaugh is the face of the Republican Party and dares anybody in the party to separate themselves from him. It seems that Republicans face repercussions for criticizing Limbaugh.

To highlight why I say the Republican Party has no leadership just look at the silliness in the past few months. First their presidential candidate, showing absolute poor judgment, picks Sarah Palin to try to off Hilary Clinton, who they thought would be Barack Obama’s choice for vice-president. Even if they picked a woman, do you mean to tell me that there isn’t a better Republican woman than that? Now they appoint a Black chairman as an answer to President Obama. They are just too out of touch. They don’t realize that it is not about gender or race. It is about ability to lead.

Michael Steele says his party is going to launch an "off the hook" public relations campaign that will update the Republican Party’s image by translating it to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings." He added, that “we need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.” This guy is so out of touch…

I guess he thinks that by speaking “hip hop” he will reach the young people …wow! Trying to reach the youth is not about speaking slang or trying to use hip hop, because I doubt that Mr. Steele has some Jay-Z bumping while driving to work, so if you’re phony with your message young people will see right through that. Just be honest is what anybody wants, young or old. Can you imagine him at the BET Awards or the Source Awards? Dick Cheney with bling; "getting jiggy with it". All the mavericks in the house, put your hands up! All the plumbers in the house, pull your pants up! We’ll get in there and trick out the White House and bring thugz life all up in there then we be ballin'!!!

Most modern-day Republicans just had their hips replaced. Urban suburban hip hop settings will really play well in the rural Kentucky, West Virginia, Nebraska, West Texas and Western Pennsylvania, won't it?

Very Few Minorities on Republican Podium

A Native American color guard, a Black preacher and video footage of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was all that the Republican Party could muster up as a picture of diversity at their convention. What it hasn’t offered is many minorities speaking from the podium in prime time, or sitting among the delegates. Where are Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice? They are leaders in the Republican Party and they are nowhere to be seen.

The convention has a decidedly White look to it, coming on the heels of a Democratic convention where minorities were prominent on the podium and in the crowds.

Republicans have not been deliberately denying exposure to prominent party members from minority groups — there just aren't that many. They had hoped to showcase Louisiana's Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, the country's first elected Indian-American governor. But he stayed home to help coordinate the state's response to Hurricane Gustav. The Republicans have no Black governors or members of Congress to put on stage.

It's a problem for the Republicans that goes deeper than the challenge of coming up with a diverse speaker's lineup. Even one of the few Black faces at the podium can not find anything positive in the situation. Michael Steele, Maryland’s former lieutenant governor and the first Black elected to statewide office there said, "You can't sugarcoat this stuff."

Steele, who chairs GOPAC, the Republican political action committee (PAC), which recruits and trains Republican candidates for elected office, (read they have no natural leaders just trained puppets who are trained to say the right thing versus do the right thing), got 10 minutes. Earlier in the evening, when the cameras were not on, a number of Blacks and Hispanics had a chance to address the convention, although briefly. Among them: a nurse from Pennsylvania, a California state senator, the head of a Hispanic medical organization.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who is Black, also spoke. He alluded to the historic significance of Senator Barack Obama's breakthrough as the first black presidential nominee for a major political party. (There in lies my grievance with the Republican Party and its relationship with Blacks -- their fascination with Black and athletes and those in powerful positions and not give a care for the everyday Black citizen).

The predominance of White faces on the podium in St. Paul, Minnesota was reflected in the faces staring back from the audience in. This from the group which calls itself the party of diversity. The Republicans say they “look forward to continuing (?) and expanding relationships with minorities and nominating Senator McCain, who values the diverse backgrounds of all Americans and will lead on issues important to them” – yea right.

Just a few years ago McCain led the charge against the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in his home state of Arizona and only relented when forced by monetary losses. We bought that stale bread before, now we want fresh out of the oven bread.

The Republicans say about 13% of their party are minorities, which is double of what they had in 1996 (whoopee). They love to leave out some of the “minor” details; minority representation in the Republican Party is down from 2004, when about 17 percent of delegates and alternates were minorities. Joseph Wood, a Black delegate from Arkansas and treasurer of the state Republican Party, said there are more important things to consider than how many minorities are standing on the podium (I for one like to see people who look like me once in a while, “brother”). Fellow Arkansan Robert E. Smith Jr., another Black delegate, labeled it "a short-term problem." (This Negro has been drinking too much kool-aid).