Steele Backs Off Remarks on Abortion

Chairman says he has a slimmer margin of error because he's black

(NEWSER) - Michael Steele says he won’t be stepping down as the chairman of the RNC, and thinks the concern over his spending has been blown out of proportion. “A lot of our major donors are used to a particular type of event. We’ve been scaling those back,” he told Good Morning America . “The bottom line is, I hear my donors, I hear our base. We’re taking steps to make sure we’re even more fiscally conservative in our spending.” More»

Alaska gov. needs time to sort out the current 'financial mess'

(NEWSER) - A Sarah Palin presidential run in the next election is “off the table,” Michael Steele tells Fox News. "Not having talked to the governor, I take 2012 off the table right now simply because (of) everything she's going through personally,” said the Republican party chief. Palin's busy “dealing with the financial mess that all these ludicrous investigations have put her in. At the moment, I think she's trying to focus on getting her personal house in order.” More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Steele told fellow Republicans to go after President Obama himself instead of lesser Democrats, the Washington Post reports. "If we have the courage of our convictions, and we do, then we will and we must stand up against disastrous policies, regardless of the president's popularity," the RNC chairman said in a speech. He called Obama's first 100 days a "reign of terror" and said the president has ceded his agenda "almost entirely to radicals like Nancy Pelosi." More»

Not even 'conservative issue' for older generation: Goodman

(NEWSER) - Abortion has become “the purity test for remaining in the GOP’s inner circle,” writes Ellen Goodman in the Boston Globe: The Republican Party is shedding and shunning abortion-rights supporters it once called its own. But it wasn’t always that way—even “Mr. Conservative” Barry Goldwater supported a woman’s right to choose, saying it wasn’t “a conservative issue.” More»

Infighting tearing up committee

(NEWSER) - A bitter fight is raging within the Republican Party after an attempt by an RNC faction to limit Michael Steele’s powers, the Washington Times reports. The “good governance” resolution would put new controls on the chairman’s ability to spend money and award contracts. Its backers, who include the RNC's treasurer, need signatures from 16 states to force a vote. More»