RNC Chairman Michael Steele on MSNBC’s Hardball With Chris Matthews

November 5, 2009 by Publius

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RNC Chairman Michael Steele on MSNBC’s Hardball With Chris Matthews

 
From an RNC Press Release 
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let's start with the Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele. Mr. Steele, thank you for joining us.

RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE: Hey, Chris.

MATTHEWS: I’m going to warm you up with some accolades first of all. Two great candidates, in terms of the way they ran their race, Virginia and New Jersey. Positive candidates, they didn't run to the far right. They ran to the center right. They knew what they were doing. Their opponents ran negative campaigns, fearful campaigns and your side won. Will that be the mode for next year's elections? Are you going to run down the center, center right rather than the hard right?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Well, we are going to run where our candidates find themselves. What you saw in Virginia and New Jersey are two candidates who translated throughout their state. They reflected the communities they come from. It is the new frontier really for the RNC right now as we embark upon the elections in 2010. We have an opportunity to run and win in areas that we haven't traditionally run or won, if we get candidates who come from those communities. I think that’s what you saw in those two instances. They are conservatives who translated the conservative principles and message in terms of the policies and the issues that they’re going to encounter and deal with as governor. So I was very happy last night. It was a great night.

MATTHEWS: Yeah, except --

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Except what?

MATTHEWS: Except Upstate New York. Let me ask you this, if Bernie Sanders the socialist independent from Vermont, tried running in Utah, he would get his butt handed to him. If these wing nuts start running around the country like this person that knocked off your candidate in upstate New York 23rd, this Doug Hoffman, you start getting a lot of candidates like that coming out of the woodwork you are going to lose a lot of elections aren’t you?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Chris, what kind of hangover did you have last night?

MATTHEWS: Doug Hoffman beat your candidate and then got beaten by a democrat in a district that’s always voted Republican. You were smart. You picked the right candidate maybe, but the other side, the right wingers blew it.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Well, no. Chris, I’m not going to go there on that. Let me tell you what the problem was in 23, it was a flawed process. You had individuals who handpicked this candidate. She did not go through a primary process.

MATTHEWS: You were part of the hand picking. You endorsed her.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: No I was not. No again, that is a wonderful Democrat talking point.

MATTHEWS: You didn't hand pick her? You didn’t endorse the Republican candidate in New York 23?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: There is a difference between supporting the nominee of the Party and hand picking that nominee. It was timing.

MATTHEWS: Once she was handpicked you endorsed her. Come on that’s laughable you endorsed the hand picked candidate. You mock the system and then you supported it.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Do you understand how politics work in this country? People make their choices. Party bosses no longer do this.

MATTHEWS: You are a Party boss.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: And we did not --

MATTHEWS: You are Party boss.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Chris, I’m the Chairman of the Party.

MATTHEWS: You endorsed the candidate in upstate New York and you got beaten.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Chris, do you want to listen to what I’m telling you.

MATTHEWS: I’m trying to communicate with you.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Just chill for a second.

MATTHEWS: I think you are trying to chill the viewers out of knowledge here.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Let me tell you what happened. The local party selected her. They have the process. They didn't run the primary. They had a process. She became the nominee through that process they chose.

MATTHEWS: At the bottom end of that process the Democrat won. So what is wrong?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: It was a flawed process because she didn't reflect the community in which she was running and the people there spoke and you saw that primary played out. Will not happen when we take the seat back in 2010.

MATTHEWS: Not blaming you. It was hand picking. It was the New York state system. Let me ask you this, if you have wing nuts coming in from the far right.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Why are you calling my people wing nuts? Excuse me. What about the left wing nuts who won't let the president get his agenda through? What about all the left wing nuts are the reason we don’t have health care reform right now? You have 60 votes in the Senate. You have a 78-seat majority in the House and I don't see anyone talking about the left wing nuts stifling the health care for my mother, my family and my community. Don't give me the name calling. That was a political process. Now we are talking real things here when you talk about the Democratic Party the division is real because we don't have health care. The division is real because we have still have unemployment climbing. The division is real because they’re not solving the problem.

MATTHEWS: Interesting. The president would be better off if he didn't have a left and could push a more moderate health care bill.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: I don't know. That’s a choice the Democrats have to make.

MATTHEWS: You are making it for me. You are saying something smart. That the president of the United States has to make a tough discerning decision to find the kind of bill that will pass and pass it, instead of being hung up by his far left?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: That is the challenge for both parties to bring within their own before they can reach out and bring others in. The consensus around certain values and core principles. What are the core principles of the Democratic Party when it comes to the agenda on health care, the economy and government involvement in my life and business? Is it a left wing agenda? Answer the question.

MATTHEWS: I accept the fact that the Democratic Party is hung up by people on the far left in many cases, especially on health care, I can accept that. But in your Party since you are the Party spokesman and leader, let me ask you, are you happy with what happened in upstate New York where people came in like Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, Rick Santorum came in from the outside and got involved in the process. Is that wrong?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: It is wrong if they get into the process before the nominee is selected. Once they have the nominee is selected, they are Americans. It is still America, right? We can express our opinion. So if they have a view or have a point of view contrary to those in the community, people need to fully understand, they don't live there.

MATTHEWS: Let's listen to what you said today about the 23rd district.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: if you don't live in the district you don't vote there, your opinion really doesn't matter much.

MATTHEWS: Your opinion doesn't really matter much.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: True.

MATTHEWS: You said you welcome them to come in after the nominee’s been picked and in that quote drop dead, basically, for coming in.

CHAIRMAN STEELE: Wait a minute, Chris, it doesn't matter because you have no vote in the district. You can express your opinion. That is the freedom the constitution allows you to do. If they have opinions as political figures, as leaders, that is fine. It doesn't shape the process to the point where the outcome is determined.

MATTHEWS: Is there room in the Republican Party for the far right, yes or no? Far right?

CHAIRMAN STEELE: There is room in the Republican Party of anyone who wants to be part of the values we espouse, when it comes to role of government, free enterprise, free markets. Look, Chris, I’m in the business of multiplication and addition, not division and subtraction. My job as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee is to build a governing majority with our leadership in the House and the Senate and our Republican governors.

MATTHEWS: Thank you very much. Michael Steele. Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Thanks for joining us.

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