Michael Steele Book: Republicans 'Screwed Up' After Reagan

You think?:

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele offers a simple explanation for why the GOP all too often lost touch with typical Americans since the Ronald Reagan era: "We screwed up," he claims in a new book offering a blueprint for the party's resurgence.

That "we" includes the last two Republican presidents and the most recent Republican candidate for president.

In "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," released Monday by Regnery Publishing, Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.

"We must support Republican officials who assert these principles," he writes. "When elected Republicans vote against Republican principles, the voters must withhold their support – withhold it vigorously and consistently."

On Tuesday, Steele accused the Obama administration of pursuing an inconsistent policy toward terrorism.

Steele said on NBC's "Today" show the administration is wrong in putting terrorism suspects on trial in civil courts, saying "the public doesn't view them as having rights in the criminal system."

Republicans are especially running away from George Bush's legacy:

When he first took office as governor, Rick Perry acknowledged, "I'm not George Bush." And in the decade that followed, he has sought to prove it.

As the 10-year incumbent, Perry is the dominant force in the campaign that formally began Monday, and in Texas politics in general. And one way he got there was by studiously separating himself from George W. Bush.

If Bush reflects the rise of the Republican Party in Texas, Perry represents its political dominance and recent populist shift.

"There's no doubt that psychologically, Perry has tried to step away from the shadow of George W. Bush," said GOP political consultant Matt Mackowiak, a former aide to Perry's Republican challenger, Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Monday was the deadline for candidates to file to run in March 2 primary, setting off a ferocious two-month sprint for offices around the state. No race will attract more attention than the battle between Perry and Hutchison, the Republicans who have dominated state politics since Bush went to Washington.

Perry, who succeeded Bush in 2000, has become the state's longest-serving governor and has charted his own course. He has replaced all Bush appointees with his own. He tells voters he's a fiscal conservative and Bush was not. He has abandoned his predecessor's bipartisanship and pressed his own distinct agenda.

Last month, Perry rejected national English and math accountability standards in public schools – rebuffing a signature Bush theme as governor and president.

"His populist, anti-government definition of himself is one that has more in common with Sarah Palin than it does with George W. Bush" by resonating with the emerging tea-party movement, said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan.