A lot of criticism has been leveled at RNC Chairman Michael Steele for his comments that he wants to GOP to go “hip-hop.” While most of the criticism has been leveled by liberals, there has been conservative opposition. My question to conservatives is, have you read EXACTLY what Chairman Steele said?

“We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings”

What is so wrong with this statement? What sounds so silly about it? This is EXACTLY what we SHOULD be doing. The problem with the 2008 election was that we sought to expand our support by reaching out to moderate Republicans and Indepedents. This strategy didn’t work. We need to expand the conservative base of the Republican Party by going to places that we haven’t gone before. This is what Steele is saying. We need to do more than make new Republicans, we need to make new conservatives. As Rush said, most Americans lives their lives in one way or another as conservatives. African-Americans and Hispanics are no exception, conservatism agrees more with the world view of these cultures than you think. A few months back, I was recently at a gathering of young Republicans in Orange County, CA. Everyone seemed nice enough, but the guest speaker, a campaign representative for the gubenatorial campaign of Steve Poizner basically said we need to write off the black and hispanic vote, because if we try and get them we’ll loose our base. First of all, I don’t know what this guy thinks the base of the Republican Party is, does he think we’re a bunch of bigots? That we won’t welcome blacks and hispanics into our party? I don’t think I’ve ever been that insulted in my entire life. Secondly, I thought it was rather condescending of this gentleman to assume that blacks and hispanics can only be won by offering them handouts. The problem with these voters is not that we’re “not giving them hand outs” the problem is we’re not taking our message to them and making it relevant to their lives. School choice, abortion, traditional marriage, entrepenuership, social security reform, these are all things black and hispanic voters care deeply about and are more likely to agree with the Republican Party on, the problem is we haven’t showed these voters we care about them.

As for those conservatives who say they’re embarrassed by Steele’s comments, they’re falling right into the trap of the left. The left set the same trap for Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal, and it’s why we have conservatives moping with their heads down that two of our leading candidates for president in 2012 are “embarrassing.” Palin and Jinal are not embarrasing to me, (I’d like that to be the ticket in 2012, to be honest with you.) they’re good conservatives, and competent people, not based on the way they speak but on the way they have successfully governed their states. The left is laughing at Steele’s comments not because they think it sounded funny, as it did to some conservatives, the left is laughing at Steele’s comments because they genuinely believe that when it comes to issues of race Republicans are ignorant at best, absolutely down and out racist at worst and they lean to the latter. They do not believe the conservative message of limited government, national security, and family values is compatible with the lives of minorities. They, like Jenine Garofalo, believe minorities in the GOP suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. This is all a load of crock, of course and it’s high time the GOP did it’s best and make a genuine effort to  make some inroads with these voters.

We need to  win over minorities, not just because it will help us win elections, but because conservative principles and policies will geuinely make the lives of minorities better. Making a message relevant doesn’t mean principles have to change, Michael Steele is absolutely right, let’s inject some “hip hop” into conservatism and make it more relevant to minorities and young people.