Republican Party Picks Pro-Life Former Lt. Gov Michael Steele as New Chairman
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 29, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The national Republican Party has selected a new chairman who will become one of the main spokespeople standing up to President Barack Obama. Republican leaders chose pro-life former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele as the new standard bearing, putting another African-American on the national political scene.
“This is awesome,” Steele told party members after his victory. “It is with a great deal of humility and a sense of service that I accept and appreciate and thank all of you for the opportunity to serve.”
Steele won is chairmanship victory after a battle that spanned across six voting ballots because of the number of candidates seeking the position.
Current Republican Party chair Duncan, South Carolina Republican Party Chair Katon Dawson, Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis, and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, all of whom are pro-life, also sought the top GOP position.
Steele eventually won the race on the sixth ballot, picking up 91 of the 168 votes against finalist Dawson.
In Steele, the Republican Party gets a fresh national face and an African-American with experience in government who also hails from a state that is not normally dominated by Republicans.
The party also gets a leader who takes a pro-life position on abortion.
Although Steele was questioned about his commitment to the pro-life perspective during the campaign because of his former involvement in the Republican Leadership Council, a group that features a large number of pro-abortion Republicans, Steele said his only reason for participating was his desire to grow the party and that he remained solidly pro-life on abortion.
In a previous interview with CBN News, Steele said he had adopted a pro-life position since the beginning of his political career.
"When I came out and got politically involved I was an advocate for pro-life issues," he explained.
"I was endorsed by National Right to Life. I don’t think they would endorse me if I were squeamish or squishy as some have called me on this issue," Steele added, referring to the endorsement he received during his Senate campaign in 2006.
“Roe versus Wade was wrongly decided. It should be overturned in my personal view," Steele said about his position on the Supreme Court case that allowed for virtually unlimited abortions.
Steele says that if he is elected as the new Republican Party chairman that he will direct the GOP in a pro-life heading.
"We value life born and unborn and we will fight for that and I will fight for that as an individual and I will fight for that as chairman of the party," he says.
Steele said Barack Obama is getting a free pass from criticism from the media and that pro-life Republicans need to hold him accountable.
"As long as the media loves him, he’ll have [a long honeymoon] and I’m anticipating two years. I kid you not. I kid you not," he told CBN.
"Let me tell you why because they have too much invested in this guy. This is their creation. He is their creation. Not vetted. Not challenged and now he’s President. You think they’re going to undo that? You think they are going to expose the warts after the fact?"
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