Cross Posted at Josh LeGuern On Politics

Ronald Reagan is the greatest President of the 20th century. His presidency and policies brought about three decades of unprecedented success, peace (at home for the most part), and prosperity this country has ever known. There is something that people forget about Reagan though, he was at one time a Democrat who voted for FDR and as a Democrat, he believed he was a great President.

Reagan, of course, would later renounce the Democratic Party and not only embrace conservatism, but become the leader of the conservative movement.

Michael Steele isn’t likely to become the next leader of the conservative movement, but he can’t seem to escape that he once worked with former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, an infamously liberal Republican, on the Republican Leadership Council. In fact, following his criticism of Rush Limabugh during an interrogation by CNN’s resident comedian D.L. Hughley (who, by the way, has no business hosting a news show), Erick Erickson referred to Michael Steele was a “Christine Todd Whitman-Republican” when listing a group of “so-called conservatives” who criticize Rush right here on RedState.

With all due respect to Mr. Erickson, I am going to have to disagree with this assesment. Michael Steele has had a tough week, there’s no doubt about that, but I have no reason to doubt Mr. Steele is a conservative. He  articulated what conservatism is all about week after week on “Hannity & Colmes.” While there is some confusion with whether or not he is a moderate on some issues, throughout the campaign for RNC Chairman, Mr. Steele gave a point-by-point, issue-by-issue summary of where he stands. There are defintely a few minor differences (For example, Mr. Steele is opposed to gay marriage, but also opposed to a federal amendment to ban it), but overall Steele fits comfortably into the 80% conservative bracket and a past link to Christine Todd Whitman is pretty silly, considering Reagan actually voted for FDR in the past, and the RedState editor’s choice for RNC Chairman, Ken Blackwell actually voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1976. (For the record, I also think Mr. Blackwell would have been a fine RNC Chairman.) Michael Steele is sufficiently conservative, and he believes conservative principles are what is going to bring the party back as he’s said many times. The “hip-hop” comments were nothing more than his effort to try and take the conservative message to people it hasn’t been taken to before. Which is smart and refreshing, I’ve heard party activists in the past say minority voters are unwinmnable because we don’t believe in giving out handouts. This is the most condescening and ignorant comments I’ve ever heard, as Rush Limbaugh has said, most people live their lives conservatively in one way or another, we need to at least present our argument to everyone, that is what Steele was saying.

What’s really bad is the Democrats are accomplishing what they want accomplished. They’re turning the party heads on Rush, and then pitting the party heads against the bloggers: divide and conquer. That is the Democrat’s goal, they want to make sure we destroy ourselves by fighting amongst ourselves. A rift between conservatives and moderates? Mission accomplished. Now their goal is to create rifts within the conservative movement. This is straight out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” Now there is talk that party activists want Steele dumped. The guy’s been on the job for a little more than a month, I think we can give him a little bit of time before we start the excommunication process. Besides could you imagine the field day the Democrats would have with the Republicans dumping their first black chairman? While I would absolutely support dumping Steele if he was not sufficiently conservative, damn the consequences, it would be a terrible PR move for the GOP. But I don’t think that’s a problem, because I think Steele is sufficiently conservative and I think it’s a mistake for bloggers and party activists to call for his head because he used to work with Christine Todd Whitman as a conservative voice on a moderate Republican council and made a gaffe about Rush Limbaugh. Let’s not forget, we’ve all made mistakes, even Ronald Reagan voted for FDR.