White House press secretary Robert Gibbs openly mocked RNC Chairman Michael Steele on Monday morning, terming Steele's complaint that he faces extra political hurdles due to his race "silly."
Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America" program, Steele said that he receives less room for error because he is an African-American.
"It just is," said Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, adding: "Barack Obama has a slimmer margin than others."
The White House reacted sharply to Steele dragging President Obama into a debate over racial politics.
"I think that is a fairly silly comment to make," Gibbs told reporters. "I think Michael Steele's problem isn't the race card; it's the credit card."
The RNC has been blasted in recent weeks for lavish spending during Steele's tenure as chairman, including $17,000 for private jet travel, $13,000 for limousines, and $9,000 for a Beverly Hills hotel.
Since Steele took over, the RNC's cash reserves have dwindled from $22 million to less than $9.5 million.
Several high-profile conservatives, including former Bush adviser Karl Rove, Fox News commentator Dick Morris, and Family Research Council chief Tony Perkins, have called for Republican donors to stop giving money to the RNC. This follows revelations that the RNC authorized a $1,946 reimbursement for a party at a bondage-themed strip club in West Hollywood, Calif. —
an expense Steele reportedly did not approve and was unaware of.
On Sunday, GOP Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona warned: "This kind of thing has got to stop or they won't get any contributions."
Republicans as well as Democrats blasted Steele's suggestion Monday that he's being unfairly criticized due to his race.
Former GOP congressman and "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough remarked on MSNBC: "It's just the opposite . . . when I talk to senior Republicans in Washington and I ask, 'Why is Michael Steele still in the job?' they laugh and say, 'What, you think we're going to fire an African-American in the age of Obama? Are you an idiot?'"
Politico's Mike Allen added that Steele's statement on race "is not what people wanted to hear."
Allen said he had received an e-mail from one top-level GOP leader, who commented, "Any of the previous RNC chairmen would have lost their jobs at the winter meeting. But he's held to a higher standard because he's black? Doesn't add up."
RNC officials say the expense at the Voyeur Club was unauthorized, and was not an RNC-sanctioned event. They say the reimbursement request slipped through the normal accounting-review process, adding that the employee who authorized the expense was fired.
It's not the first time that Steele has suggested there are racial reasons for the criticism he's encountered. He recently told Washingtonian Magazine, "I don't see stories about internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation. Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?"
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell tells Newsmax an RNC "insurgency" faction wants Steele replaced, but he does not believe they will muster the two-thirds majority vote required to elect a new chairman.
The larger concern, Blackwell says, is that the RNC's issues are "diverting our attention and making fuzzy our focus at a time when the Obama administration and their power grab is most intense, and in critical need of a coordinated and concerted response by the Republican Party."
Steele said Monday that when he first heard about the Voyeur controversy, "I was very angry."
Steele told GMA's George Stephanopoulos that steps are being taken to rein in the RNC's expenses, but blamed his problems on "unnamed Republicans who don't like me."
He also said that factors other than race are also involved.
"It's more because you're not somebody they know . . . Not old-boy network oriented . . . My view on politics is much more grass-roots oriented . . . so I tend to, you know, come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more street-wise. That's rubbed some feathers the wrong way."
Other highlights from Steele's interview on "Good Morning America:"
- He says he will not step down, despite the growing criticism he is facing within his own party. He denies he has become a liability to the party, despite a National Journal poll last month that found 71 percent of GOP insiders thought Steele is actually hurting the Republican cause.
- The RNC's spending problem is being exaggerated "larger than it needs to be," he said.
- Steele says the RNC has outraised the DNC is seven of the past 12 months, and is maintaining about the same amount of cash on hand as the DNC.
- He is listening to concerned donors and taking the appropriate steps. "The bottom line is, I hear my donors, I hear our base out there, I hear the leadership," Steele told GMA. "And we're taking steps to make sure that we're even more — how shall we say it — fiscally conservative in our spending and certainly making sure the dollars are there when it's time to run our campaigns."
Former Bush advisor Matthew Dowd said Sunday on "This Week" that the RNC has left Republicans vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. "It's not [just] the strip club and all that," he said. "It's Republicans go out there and talk about fiscal responsibility and they talk about family values, and they have a party leader and party officials who go to a strip club."
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is among those GOP leaders still sticking by Steele despite the controversy.
"I think he's a good leader," McDonnell said last week on his "Ask the Governor" program. "People always like to focus on the controversy and not on the good news. Listen, he helped to win the governors races in Virginia and in New Jersey, helped to win the Senate race up in Massachusetts.
That's a pretty good track record. I think ultimately you're judged by your results."
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