It was an anyone-but-Steele RNC chair election today, and the victor was one Reince Priebus. (CNN):
The Republican National Committee tossed out controversy-plagued chairman Michael Steele Friday and tapped Wisconsin GOP Chairman Reince Priebus to lead the debt-ridden party organization into the 2012 presidential election cycle.
Priebus managed Steele’s successful campaign in 2009 and went on to serve as RNC General Counsel, but he resigned the post in December to launch his own bid for the chairmanship after some arm-twisting by Steele critics eager to find a competent committee insider to replace their gaffe-prone leader.
Upon his election, Priebus was modest and promised to forge ahead for 2012:
“I am here to earn the trust and support of each and every one of you,” Priebus said, addressing the RNC following his win. “I am going to start working right now as your chairman. We all recognize that there is a steep hill here ahead of us, and the only way we will be able to move forward is if we’re all together.
My guess, however, based the rhetoric he used during a recorded conference call in 2010, is that the new call for civility is unlikely to be honored by Mr. Priebus, who earned himself Keith Olbermann’s Worst Person In The World on 10/08/10, dabbling in an endorsement of the execution of the President. And it wasn’t a slip of the tongue, as Keith points out.
The video is below the fold. The fun begins at 2:16 in.