There's just no way that Steele can survive Bondagegate.

[trumad]

I'm having a blast watching this unfold.

[gmoney]

1. Of course he can... he's a Republican.

It's always OK if you're a Republican. Larry Craig, Mark Sanford, etc...

[LynneSin]

2. David Vitter too

:grr:

[SpiralHawk]

21. The Republicon Senate gave adulterer Diaper Dave Vitter a Standing O

for his diaper-clad family-value hijinks with a hooker.

Unforgettable.

[anigbrowl]

26. Yeah...but that was private. With this, there's other people's money involved

I don't really care about Vitter's sexuality, although I am offended by his hypocrisy. But what turns him on is not illegal and frankly nobody else's business, except maybe that of his wife.

But taking people's money for a political cause and then using it to visit a sex club is going to cause RNC donations to plunge.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. ..and that's the truth....pffffft.

[catbyte]

14. Nah, he probably will survive

The scandal is heterosexual, and anything goes just as long as you're not a "homo". :puke:

[arbusto_baboso]

3. You'd be surprised at the behaviors repugs can justify and/or explain away.

Now, it may end up that Steele has to go, but if that happens, it will only be because he is African-American. After all, "Diaper Dave" Vitter is still in the senate after a much worse scandal. We can go down a VERY LONG list of rethugs whose careers are all seemingly okay, even after more extreme behaviors than bondagegate.

[SpiralHawk]

4. You mean they're not calling it Family ValuesGate?

Because his bondage club thingy is soooooo republicon family values.

All the wide-stance, diaper-clad way.

The Republicons should give Steeley Mike a Standing O -- they way they do for for all their other White Republicon Kinksters.

[goclark]

5. The spin is already in ~

" It was not Steele that used it to go to the club, it was someone else."

Heard that this morning.

[arbusto_baboso]

9. Yeah, but he signed-off on it, or at least knew.

No way he can claim ignorance on this. If he does, then he outs himself as utterly incompetent.

[goclark]

20. The spin masters are forgetting that part

the "no way part."

[veganlush]

6. they may just leave him in for now..

..as conduit for criticism until they come up with a plan. as long as he's still there, critics can't start in on his successor, who will undoubtedly be just as clueless. (who would want the job, head of the party of nothing?)

[opihimoimoi]

7. RePigs have a funny way of REASONING.......Starting from NONE..they stop at FLAWED

Unable to advance due to negative traits, they flounder when encountering Sanity, Reality, and Clarity..

The answer lies in the direction of reducing Flawed Reasoning by addressing with BETTER REASONING....thru Effective ways ....Humane ways...avoid

Draconian.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. Forget Steele and Bondagegate.

This is the sort of bright shiny diversion that can shift focus from real issues.

On the other hand, it is fun to watch.

:hi:

[emulatorloo]

11. The limos and the high-end hotels are the real scandal - that's what he outta be fired for

But somehow he is going to wiggle out of it because he wasn't at the stripclub.

[ecstatic]

12. Vitter and Craig survived... if Steele doesn't survive

that would be an interesting double standard for the GOP. :)

[bobthedrummer]

13. Armchair Subversive.org has been tracking GOP rapists, pedophiles and other scum for years

Armchair Subversive
http://www.armchairsubversive.org/

[itsrobert]

15. Looks like Sarah Palin can easily take over his job

She would be perfect.

[damntexdem]

16. Just remember: his survival is irrelevant -- drawing it out longer is the important thing.

The longer the controversy lasts, the more damage to the Repukes.

[KharmaTrain]

17. You Don't Want To Dump Your Token

Mikey was chosen as the "anti-Obama"...to show the world that a black man can exist in today's racist and corrupt rushpublican party. He sure fit into the corrupt...and he's their "silver bullet" about the corporate media calling them on their racism. The party "establishment" tolerates him as he's been on a short leash...with no power in policy decisions and not much of a budget and he still found a way to screw it up. There are times I think he's a closet Democrat. :rofl:

[inna]

18. I'd rather have him keep his job. He's a gift that keeps on giving.

[jberryhill]

19. Color me stupid

But since when did entertaining large donors at a nightclub of any kind become a shocker.

Yes, there's "adult entertainment" of a sort there, but I guess I'm just surprised that anyone is surprised.

[trumad]

22. LOL---

It's the combination of huge expenditures with the bondage club that will do him in.

[jberryhill]

27. I guess

But "huge" is a relative term.

If someone donates 100K and you spend 2K taking him out to a strip joint for a night of ogling and drinking (and 2K is peanuts in this context), what's the problem, so long as it was legal entertainment?

[trumad]

28. Come on---

it's the image thing....

[jberryhill]

29. Oh, I get that...

But I'm inclined to just let them eat their own. Since they don't understand the meaning of the word hypocrisy, the comeback remains "But Clinton got a blowjob".

My primary hope here is that it chills prospective donations.

[ChicagoSuz219]

23. He already has. Fired a staffer. n/t

[walldude]

24. They are asking him to resign.. per C&L

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/gop-brass-want-steele-resign

On Monday morning, the Daily Caller reported that the RNC spent thousands of dollars on high-end travel arrangements, swanky hotels and, most remarkably, "meals" at a lesbian-and-bondage-themed nightclub in West Hollywood. The latter expense, naturally, grabbed most of the attention and the cleverest of headlines -- prompting the RNC to simultaneously state that it would investigate the expenditures and that it wasn't Steele who went to the club.

But the damage had already been done. While several GOP strategists are willing to grant Steele a pass -- under the rubric that one has to spend lavishly to raise lavish amounts of money -- several big donors and party officials are completely baffled.

"For those donors who truly believe in conservative values, this latest news about Steele has to be very disturbing," said Douglas MacKinnon, former press secretary to Majority Leader Robert Dole. "No matter which side of the aisle you find yourself, if you are giving a political party your hard-earned money, you should have no doubts that it is going to be spent as advertised and not to provide a spoiled, egocentric, out-of-touch chairman with frivolous luxuries which are out of reach of the vast majority of the American people. Michael Steele needs to resign and let the RNC vote in a man or woman who understands that his or her needs do not come before the needs of the nation or the party."

[Brewman_Jax]

25. He probably will

G.W.Bush* got away with desertion, so an evening in the Adult Dungeon is baby shit compared to that. However, that doesn't mean that Steele will win any more respect from his fellow repubs.

[KittyWampus]

30. I think you underestimate the power of Mediawhoredom to ignore Republican malfeasance

and scandal.