GOP Eating Their Own

From the Washington Post - Updated 1:00 p.m.By Philip Rucker

Republican congressional leaders say they did not know that their party chairman, Michael S. Steele, was publishing a book until it was released this week, and they had no input in drafting what Steele is promoting as the blueprint Republicans should follow to win back power.

The release of Steele's book, "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," surprised Republican congressional leaders, some of whom first learned of the book by watching Steele's television appearances this week, three top GOP congressional aides said Friday. The staffers would only describe their bosses' communications with the Republican National Committee chairman on condition of anonymity.

"The book came out and everybody went, 'Whoa, what happened?'" one aide said, adding that his employer, a senior House Republican, learned of the book by watching cable news. "No one in the House or Senate leadership knew he had a book contract."

"He's freelancing," said another top congressional aide.

Steele appeared on a St. Louis radio station Thursday and offered a blistering critique of his Republican critics, going beyond his much-quoted remarks to ABC News Radio. When McGraw Milhaven of KTRS Radio asked Steele if he was a "detriment" to Republican fundraising, Steele said: "I am in this chair. If they want it, take it from me. Until then, shut up, step back and get in the game and help us win -- and stop the back-biting and the name-calling and the finger-pointing."

Steele went on to tell Milhaven: "I hope you play this tape over and over again because these folks are the problem, not the solution. Get with the program. I'm the chairman. Deal with it."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/steeles-book-caught-gop-leader.html?hpid=topnews