Katon Dawson, Former Member Of Whites-Only Club, Is Leading Charge For No-Confidence Vote In Steele (Updated)
Katon Dawson, Former Member Of Whites-Only Club, Is Leading Charge For No-Confidence Vote In Steele (Updated)
After taking over as chairman of the RNC in late January, it appears Michael Steele hasn’t quite lived up to the Republican Party’s expectations — from saying no one should trust the GOP and threatening to pull campaign funds from GOP members of Congress to making absurd and contradictory claims while bowing down to Rush Limbaugh.
Last week, in a memo to her fellow RNC members yesterday, Dr. Ada Fisher said Steele is “‘eroding confidence’ in the GOP and that members of his transition team should encourage him to step aside.” Now, it appears Steele will face a no-confidence vote and South Carolina GOP leader Katon Dawson — Steele’s former rival for RNC chair — may be leading the charge:
Republican insiders tell Political Wire that a no confidence vote on RNC Chairman Michael Steele is likely to be called after the NY-20 special election on March 31 — regardless of whether Republicans win the seat or not.
Katon Dawson, who came in second in the January RNC vote, is said to be quietly organizing a vote and is getting the support of several state party chairmen who want to dump Steele.
The RNC won praise following Steele’s victory for electing its first African-American chairman. Former Bush aide and RNC chair Ed Gillespie said his election “injected a shot of adrenaline into the party” and that Steele can open the GOP “to minorities and white moderates.” But now, in going with Dawson, the GOP appears to be heading back to what it knows and ditching its first African-American chairman for someone who, until recently, was a member of a whites-only country club, as TPM noted:
Back in September, when Dawson was first quietly laying the groundwork for his RNC run, The State newspaper reported that he resigned his membership in the nearly 80-year-old Forest Lake Club. Members told the newspaper at the time that the club’s deed has a whites-only restriction and has no black members.
Dawson claimed to the paper that he’d actually been working since August to change the club’s admission practices after reading about them in the press.
While Dawson did send a letter to the club calling for it to open its doors to minorities, he did so only after reports of the club’s racist membership rules appeared in the The State newspaper.
I support Michael Steele. Our Committee elected him knowing that he can lead us during this critical time for our Party. The people behind this anonymous rumor are clearly intent on dividing the Republican National Committee and our Party at a time when we need to be united.
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shorter Dawson on Steele: He’s uppity
March 11th, 2009 at 10:57 amSo every troll that screamed “racism” whenever condi or colin were criticized will now rise to the defense of steele, right?……ahhh, trolls? backup? archie? anyone?
March 11th, 2009 at 11:01 amTo quote Deliverance: “you got a purty mouth boy”.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:02 amKaton Dawson, Former Member Of Whites-Only Club, Is Leading Charge For No-Confidence Vote In Steele
– - And really, shouldn’t the modern GOP/Dixie Party have someone like Dawson heading the Confederac – - uhh, I mean, the RNC?
March 11th, 2009 at 11:02 amThe trolls will be coming here and blaming Democrats for Steeles downfall. They will say we played the race card and its all the Democrats fault.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:03 amOh, this is gonna get ugly. Elect an African-American to be head of the party, put him on a long leash, let him bloviate on talk show after talk show, have a big fat pasty-faced white guy blowhole go after him, and then decide you have “no confidence” in the guy. In a matter of weeks.
That ought to attract the very people you were seeking to your fringe insurgent movement.
PEACE
March 11th, 2009 at 11:06 ampopcorn anyone?
March 11th, 2009 at 11:08 amBut now, in going with Dawson, the GOP appears to be heading back to what it knows…
Yeah getting their a@# kicked in elections.
and ditching its first African-American chairman for someone who, until recently, was a member of a whites-only country club
That’s sure going to put the party in a positive light. Now the GOP is going from CRAZY change to MORE of the same.
Seriously, going to Dawson just establishes to GOP’s racist image. Not to mention its just embarassing to change your RNC head after just ONE MONTH. Oh well, they’ll feel better after Steele gives them some “Slum Love”!
March 11th, 2009 at 11:09 amThe Republicans have really boxed themselves in. Steele is an obvious token, like Sarah Palin was, put in his position to make the Republican Party appear to be a big tent and not an exclusive club itself. However, it is unlikely that Steele’s competence level was ever considered an issue in his being chosen for the position and to fault it now just makes the Republicans look even more bigoted. Compounding that appearance is having someone with Dawson’s bigoted background seemingly leading the charge against Steele.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:11 amDawson who was a member of ‘Whites Only Club’ thinks that Steele should not be a chairman of a ‘GOP Whites Only’ party.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:11 amThat’s why a colored man recall is needed.
May be ‘Joe The Plumber’ will be the Republican’s party only option left to fill the GOP chair vacancy.
Steele was always just window dressing for a party committed to No Change.
I’d believe the Devil (if there was one) before I’d believe one of these creeps.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:13 amWWRD? (what would rush do?)
March 11th, 2009 at 11:13 amI’m not going to automatically assume Dawson’s motivation in leading an effort to dump Steele is racist, although it could be — coming from somebody who has absolutely no problem belonging to a racially segregated organization.
It’s entirely possible that Dawson’s motives stem from bitterness that Steele got the job and not him.
OR — could it be? — Dawson might have some legitimate complaints about Steele’s performance, and neither race nor sour grapes are factors (yeah — a long shot, but still possible).
Let’s just pretend for a moment that it’s that last scenario that’s the correct one. Even if that’s the case, Dawson would do well to find some other Republican to lead the charge. He apparently has enough baggage dragging him down that he’s not going to build up enough speed for takeoff.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:14 amDawson replacing Steele? Please let this happen.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
March 11th, 2009 at 11:16 am“eroding confidence” – how can you erode something that does not exist?
March 11th, 2009 at 11:18 amYea, let the GOP put their ‘whites only’ leader in power and see how well that goes over with voters.
Keep it up GOP, this just keeps getting better and better.
Dawson looks like someone who’s spent some time running around with a sheet(s) on. Must have been torture for him to quit that whites-only club. Another genius move for the GOP: oust your first African-American chairman and replace him with a Confederate. Truth IS stranger than fiction.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:21 ammisshussienmolly,
A rational, well thought-out post, as always. But what’s the fun in rational in a case like this? It wasn’t rational to put Steele in this place in the first place. Just like it wasn’t rational to make Sarah (Queen of the Tundra) the VP canditate. This is the bed they made. The republican playbook is to make the charge, true or not, and let the charged refute. Everyting a repubilcan say’s they’re not racist, the party is not racist, the charges of racism are unfounded, all the public hears is Blahblahblahrepublicanblahblahracism.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:21 amI find it so unbelievable that there are STILL in this country, in this day and age, ANY institutions that still overtly discriminate against African Americans.. I wonder if they also discriminate against African Americans in hiring.. because that WOULD BE illegal….
so these stupid Repugs will ditch their first African American chairman and replace him with a racist guy… gee, these guys are really in great shape…. yeah, get out the popcorn, by all means…
March 11th, 2009 at 11:25 amwait a minute, wait just a minute…
i got an idea that i really
think can work here.
mike and katon,
co-chairmen.
**
well?
*
March 11th, 2009 at 11:28 amLook, I think Steele is off to a shaky start. But what white Republican hasn’t said something supid? This is racist.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:31 amangels81 Says:
The trolls will be coming here and blaming Democrats for Steeles downfall. They will say we played the race card and its all the Democrats fault.
Well yes. That, and they’ll say we threw Oreo Cookies down the aisle at him.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:33 amWitnessed by “many”, documented by none!
Bobwurst Says
March 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
It wasn’t rational to put Steele in this place in the first place.
____________________________________________________________
No, of course not. Not by our standards of what constitutes “rational”, anyway. But I’m sure that the powers that be at the GOP probably employed their usual rationale by saying “the Dems did well because they have a black guy — therefore, we have to have a black guy, too.” They are clueless and totally incapable of understanding that Obama was not elected because he’s black. If it was important just to put a black guy in charge, Jesse Jackson would have been elected back in 1988. Obama was the best candidate running (and considerably better than the incumbent), and he happened to be biracial.
Now the GOP is falling all over themselves trying to put a black face on their party, to the point where competence and ability are irrelevant. Steele and Jindal are both recent examples of the Republicans crowing, “See! We got people with dark skin, too!”
March 11th, 2009 at 11:35 amMy vote goes to Rush Limpballs to be the next RNC chairman. He’s running the party anyways, so lets make it official.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:35 amThe function of a national committee chair is to actually work on a coherent election strategy.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:36 amInstead Steele has spent most of his time on camera spouting facile rhetoric.
The GOP certainly has good reason to replace him.
The trouble is, with whom?
First, the Republicans need someone who will actually do some work and can organize.
Second, they need someone who isn’t such an extreme ideologue that they can actually conceive a platform that will appeal to all the moderate voters they have lost.
Given that they all closed ranks around extremism over the past 8 years and that, if Congress is anything to go by they’ve been largely purged of moderates by their own doing, they’ve no reserves, no pinch hitters.
Their best bets, on paper anyway, might be Newt Gingrich or Pat Robertson!
Steele was always just window dressing for a party committed to No Change.
– - Out-of-date window dressing at that. It’s as if the GOP had no idea what they were getting. Geeze, did any GOP’ers EVER see Steele on Bill Maher’s show?
March 11th, 2009 at 11:38 amYou be da man Dawson, You be da man…so much for Hip Hop Republicanism, looks like thier getting back to thier Teutonic roots..
March 11th, 2009 at 11:40 amAt this stage of GOP plans to end Steele’s leadership they are still hypothetical ones.
However, should Republicans get rid of Steele, it will be the beginning of the end of their party.
If Republicans cannot tolerate a black man to be their party leader, which I believe they appointed to begin with to demostrate to public how tolerant Republicans are,then they are in very bad shape to attract people from any minority groups.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:40 amOn and of course, the Steele debacle is the sort of thing that happens when you think you can fool all of the people all of the time.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:42 amUnfortunately, this is what Steele gets for joining the Republic Party in the first place. Show me a black member of the Republic Party and I’ll show you someone who’s been brainwashed.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:44 am>This is racist.
I think they’re starting to realize that without thier “white bigot” vote they are pretty much doomed as wholly baseless..their only hope is to stick to what their good at, which is electronic voter fraud, suppressing minority turnout, and smearing the other side so as to make them look competent by comparison..not saying its much, but its all they’ve got..without thier nazi/kkk/skinhead “joe the wifebeating non-plumber” base they are totally scroooed
March 11th, 2009 at 11:45 amIs this how a fascist party is born? I have my differences with Republicans, but it seems … problematic that their leadership appears so intent on returning the country to 1910.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:46 am…..and now for another installment of Republicans eating there own.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:47 amdeebaser says:
popcorn anyone?
I’ll have extra pour-over butter with mine. please.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:53 amThe GOP base and their true ideological leaders, men like Tom Delay,have tolerated having Michael Steele and J C Watts in their party but the reality is they will always have an impulse to purge all who do not fit their narrow vision of a theocratic, class dominated society ruled by a capitalistic gentry committed to keeping the rabble in it’s place.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:57 amDawson to Steele: “Get back in the kitchen, boy, and fetch me a Mint Julip. After that, get your shoe shine box and buff up my sh*tkickers. Oh, and while you’re down there, go ahead and kiss my @ss!”
March 11th, 2009 at 11:58 amIt should be remembered that it was Dr. Ada Fischer ( a black woman) who first called for Steele to step down. The race issue will continue to be a problem within the GOP for years to come. That is if the GOP is still around. But I suspect Mr. Dawson is seeing an opportunity due to the leadership void and directionly handicapped the GOP is now.
The feeding frenzy will continue……..
March 11th, 2009 at 12:06 pmChocolate Jesus Says
March 11th, 2009 at 11:45 am
I think they’re starting to realize that without thier “white bigot” vote they are pretty much doomed as wholly baseless.
____________________________________________________________
They may want to rethink their “base” if this is what it is, since it’s toxic. A base is something that can be built on, not something that poisons everything it comes in contact with.
What would happen if they quit kowtowing to the rather unsavory elements in their party? Would these people switch over to the Democrats in droves? Hardly likely. Would they break away and try to form their own party? Yeah — good luck with that. Or would they just stay home and not vote? That’s possible, but it appears to be a risk worth taking, since the bigots and dittoheads aren’t helping draw anybody else into their tent.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:10 pmRun, Sarah, Run!!!!
Stir that hater party cauldron to a froth!!
I want the GOP locked in a permanent Itchy & Scratchy Show loop forever.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:26 pmtarazan Says: “If Republicans cannot tolerate a black man to be their party leader, which I believe they appointed to begin with to demonstrate to public how tolerant Republicans are,then they are in very bad shape to attract people from any minority groups.”
Indeed.
Colin Powell seemed as qualified as anyone to be Sec. State, but then he was shut-out for being a ‘wimp’, which he then validated by his UN sales pitch about Iraq. UNDERPERFORM/FAIL
Condi Rice was given NSC because of her oil business connections ( at that point oil meant SECURITY, not Al Qaeda groups. FAIL
Condi then got Sec State to replace Powell because Foreign Policy was all about oil, still, and loyalty and token minority representation. FAIL
Palin was tapped as VP candidate as a diametric to Obama and to stick-it to Hillary—the Dems have a young black guy? We’ll ’see’ that that bet with a young woman! FAIL
Jindal was picked as the post-election counter-Obama, a young dark-skinned male that by GOP standards was ‘bright’–but a strong loyalist. FAIL
With the racist anti-Obama campaign a failure, the GOP/RNC figured they’d better start appearing more non-racist at the least, so they pick Steele as their new ‘face’. But as Steele appears to have no other practical qualification (and a desire for the limelight, rather like Palin) THAT choice is now a FAIL also.
If you don’t have the tools and a gullible audience to maintain a facade, it will collapse.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:31 pmNo confidence vote: Probably secret ballot, so they won’t need to wear their hoods.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:35 pm> What would happen if they quit
> kowtowing
> to the rather unsavory
> elements in their party?
I dont see that happening..those people are vicsious, vindictive, and angry, and I honestly think that alot of the GOP elite know that if they cross the mob, thier going to be malkin-ized by having thier home addresses posted, getting stalked, having death threats made againsts them…etc etc…
The republican congressman who compared his parties current role to that of the Taliban was pretty accurate, actually, and I think this viscouus scorced earth policy is what we continue to see from them…I think they will try to destroy the country for political gain, and in only pray they implode before they succeed..
March 11th, 2009 at 12:38 pmWTF kind of name is Katon? I thought it was a girl, seriously.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:40 pmJust goes to show you, how much the Republicans are truly the “Good Ole (For Whites Only) Boys Club!!
March 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pmmisshusseinmolly @ #40 “A base is something that can be built on, not something that poisons everything that it comes in contact with.” That would be free-base, as in
March 11th, 2009 at 12:48 pmRichard Pryor and Ricky Nelson. After watching the Limbaugh Party for the past few weeks, it appears that they are all free-basing. What a bunch of whacked-out loons.
Steele deserves it for being a republican. He’s just a token in that party. I don’t feel sorry for him at all.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pmHey Keyton…you will do anything you can do to keep Steele away from that country club won’t ya…even if it means flushing his career. Don’t waste any time there big guy…I hear he is heading for the first tee…
March 11th, 2009 at 1:57 pmNO WAY BABY! I don’t think they’ll vote Steele out as RNC chairman – it would be too embarrassing and just prove all over again that Steele was a token tool and that they are seriously divided. Katon Dawson is an idiot and is probably fitting for the RNC chair! LOL
TTYL – going to get me some buttered popcorn as I watch this soap opera unfold – ROTFL!
March 11th, 2009 at 2:00 pmIf steeley damn leaves the rnc what will become of hip-hop?
March 11th, 2009 at 2:29 pmI suppose they could dig up Strom Thurmond…
March 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pmThe truth is coming out. The dying party who has been trying to promote itself as diverse (propping up Palin & Steele) are once again showing their true colors. It didn’t take long did it. I mean how many out there truly believed that the reich would be happy with a black man as the head of their party? This little stunt is the equivalent of the Nazi’s in 1930’s Germany putting posters up all over Gerrmany with a photo of a Jewish person on it and the headline “Unity & Tolerance” on it.
March 11th, 2009 at 2:40 pmAmerica at its retrograde…nice.
March 11th, 2009 at 5:37 pmsteele gave the rethugs a shot of adrinaline?? more like a shot of some badly cooked meth
March 11th, 2009 at 6:53 pmI’m starting to like Steele.
If any member of Forrest Lake is against you, you can’t be all bad.
Not to mention, getting Katon Dawson against you is a special badge of honor.
March 11th, 2009 at 8:42 pmWhatcha think? If they vote Steele out will they use a secret ballot, or just a card check vote?
March 11th, 2009 at 9:40 pmI admit it, to me Steele is an Oreo.
Crusty and flat on the outside, gooey and soft in the middle.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:06 amWhat does it say that to guide elections they might be “forced” to use the same old 45-60 year-old white male from the South? They need to do that to hold onto that base?
Here’s to a blue Alabama and Georgia in 2012. Who’s with me?
March 12th, 2009 at 11:09 amGOP The grand old party, too bad you’re not on the guest list. I always wonder if minorities and the poor join because of a seriously twisted case of self-loathing. No popcorn for me I want some nachos, and a cold beer.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:54 pm