GOP shelves resolution labeling Dems ‘socialists’

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — Republican National Committee members on Wednesday seriously tempered language labeling national Democrats a “socialist” party, shelving a proposal that could have caused the GOP embarrassment.

The RNC’s Standing Committee on Resolutions instead approved a resolution calling on the American public to insist Democrats “stop pushing our country towards socialism and government control.”

{mosads}The new measure, along with three other resolutions, passed a special session of the RNC, the first type of meeting called in recent memory.

Earlier language, pushed by a group of conservative committee members, had caused heartburn among many Republicans who saw the resolution as an unnecessary attack that would have invited ridicule.

But after a series of negotiations during this week’s meeting just outside the Washington Beltway, language urging the Democratic Party to rename itself the “Democrat Socialist Party” was dropped.

“Resolved, that we the members of the Republican National Committee call on the Democratic Party to be truthful and honest with the American people by acknowledging that they have evolved from a party of tax and spend to a party of tax and nationalize and, therefore, should agree to rename themselves the Democrat Socialist Party,” the old language read.

Two paragraphs accusing Democrats of “proposing, passing and implementing socialist programs” and “restructuring American society along socialist ideals” stayed in the resolution, but the final language was altered in committee.

“Resolved, that we the members of the Republican National Committee call on the American people to urge the President, the Congress and the Democratic Party to remember what made our country great and to stop pushing our country towards socialism and governmental control,” the new paragraph reads.

The substitute language “helps unify our party,” said Henry Barbour, the chairman of the resolutions committee.

The move was a win for new RNC chairman Michael Steele. Presiding over his first meeting of the committee, Steele won a compromise after saying for more than a month that the earlier language would have been unhelpful.

“I believe these proposed resolutions will accomplish little than to give the media and our opponents the opportunity to mischaracterize Republicans,” Steele wrote in an April 8 memo to committee members.

On Sunday, Steele said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “My role, as chairman, however, is to have a conversation with the American people without the name-calling, without the noise-making. And that’s my focus. And I’ve been very clear that I don’t think [the resolution] is an appropriate way to express our views on the issues of the day.”

Other members of the committee, largely from the more pragmatic and centrist wing of the GOP, had voiced skepticism about the resolution. Most expected alternate language, which Barbour said was adopted unanimously by the committee.

“I am pleased that the committee adopted a resolution that focuses on the Democrats’ policies and their destructive effects on America’s economic engine rather than attempting to rename our opponents,” Steele said in a statement after the vote.

Three other resolutions made it through, including a resolution commending GOP members of Congress for voting against bailout legislation; a resolution urging members of Congress to abandon earmarks; and a resolution honoring the life of ex-Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), who passed away May 2.