Steele: 'I've Made Mistakes'

In damage control mode, GOP national chairman Michael Steele on Saturday sought to quell the furor over his management of the Republican National Committee by acknowledging errors and vowing to learn from them.

"I'm the first here to admit that I've made mistakes, and it's been incumbent on me to take responsibility to shoulder that burden, make the necessary changes and move on," Steele told GOP activists and party leaders in New Orleans, drawing a standing ovation.

"The one mistake we cannot make this November is to lose," he added, and the crowd cheered in agreement.

Saturday's speech to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference was Steele's first public appearance since the disclosure of questionable spending — including a $2,000 tab at a sex-themed California night club — resulted in top advisers cutting ties with him and North Carolina's state party chief calling for his resignation.

Normally a bombastic showman, Steele struck a contrite tone before the supportive audience in the half-full hotel ballroom. He did not address the specific complaints. And even though he acknowledged his errors, he also blamed others.

"We can't coast into the majority, nor can we assume it's a sure thing. The liberal media are looking for any possible alternative narrative to tell," Steele said. "They are looking for those distractions, and Lord knows I've provided a few." He added: "The Democrats also know that they have some explaining to do, and they'd love nothing more than for us to keep pointing fingers."

Outspoken and brassy, Steele is not a traditional buttoned-down GOP chairman and he's been a target of criticism since he was elected last year. The complaints reached a fever pitch over the past week, causing both embarrassment and distraction for a GOP looking to take advantage of a troubling political environment for Democrats ahead of this fall's midterm elections.

Still, for all the angst in the GOP over Steele, it's unlikely he will be fired. Ousting a chairman is a complicated, messy process that requires votes of two-thirds of the 168-member RNC. And, while there are both hard-core Steele opponents and fierce Steele allies, several Republican officials at the New Orleans conference said that most committee members and party chairman simply seem to want to move on from the controversy so Republicans can focus on November.

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