As Steele Rebrands the GOP, Silence on 'Values' Issues

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

As GOP Chairman Michael Steele spends the day pressing reset on his leadership and trying to usher in a new, forward-looking era for his party, with an address to Republican bigs, a Politico op-ed, and TV appearances, he's conspicuously ignoring "values" issues.

For instance, this is the closest his Politico op-ed gets to articulating a policy agenda for the GOP:

We may be America's minority party at the moment, but Republicans represent the views and concerns of a majority of Americans. Republicans across America—from our national and state leaders down to our local activists and grassroots supporters—have to get about the business of telling families how Republican principles of less spending, lower taxes, responsive and responsible personal freedom and strong national defense stand in stark contrast to the reckless policies we've seen from the president and Congressional Democrats in four short months.

Notice something missing? Steele gives props to economic conservatism. He lauds national defense conservatism. Libertarian conservatism? That's there, too.

But there's not a whiff of social conservatism. No mention of abortion, even though a new poll shows most American's call themselves 'pro-life" for the first time in nearly 15 years. Ditto for marriage. Religious freedom. Embryonic stem cell research.

How soon before religious conservatives renew their attacks on the party boss?

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