According to the website Fivethirtyeight, Sharron Angle and Ken Buck were on course to win as senators in their respective states. Mike Castle was supposedly a solid shoe-in for the Delaware general election over the Democrat, had not Christine O’Donnell upset him in the primaries. But because of tea party extremism (which should probably more appropriately be called Republican extremism), the Republican Party only won the House of Representatives and lost the Senate in the 2010 midterm elections; in otherwords, they should have won both houses -- if Michael Steele had managed the tea party side of the Republican Party correctly, particularly in Nevada, Colorado and Delaware.
That is why this PolitiFact (PF) ruling on a statement by Michael Steele on having "won more elections than any chairman since 1938" merits attention.
That is why this PolitiFact (PF) ruling on a statement by Michael Steele on having "won more elections than any chairman since 1938" merits attention.
In addition, there is Steele’s kowtowing to Rush Limbaugh and what Rush had to say about him, shortly after Steele became chairman of the RNC. (emphasis added):
On March 1, 2009 in response to a question on CBS's Face the Nation as to who spoke for the Republican Party, President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said it was Rush Limbaugh because "whenever a Republican criticizes [Limbaugh], they have to run back and apologize to him, and say they were misunderstood. He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party. And he has been upfront about what he views, and hasn't stepped back from that, which is he hopes for [President Obama's] failure. He said it. And I compliment him for his honesty, but that's their philosophy that is enunciated by Rush Limbaugh."[46][47][48]
In remarks aired by the CNN program D.L. Hughley Breaks the News on March 1, 2009, Steele said he, rather than Limbaugh, is "the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly." On March 2, 2009 Limbaugh said on his radio show that Steele is not fit to lead the Republican Party, asking of him "Why do you claim to lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it President Obama succeeds?"[49] After the show Steele called Limbaugh to apologize, saying "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. I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking. It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he's not."[50] Steele later issued another statement to say that Limbaugh "is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice. I truly apologize."[51]
