Will Michael Steele Still Be RNC Chairman When He Keynotes Financial Forum in Irvine?

Despite Republicans gaining 63 House seats and six Senate seats in the November elections, its National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, the USA Today says, had a worse year than President Barack Obama, MSNBC and the National Review agree Steele is a buffoon and all indications are he will lose his bid for a second term next month.

But that has not stopped Steele from being invited to be the keynote speaker at a financial summit being held in Irvine in March.
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The 64th chairman of the GOP National Committee, who announced he'll seek a second term four days ago, is scheduled to give the March 11 keynote address at the 2011 London International Financial Summit, which will feature “a distinguished list of political and business leaders who have been instrumental in shaping the global economy and public policy.” London International Group is a business management consulting firm with offices in Irvine, Seattle, Beijing and Shanghai.

Among the most-embarrassing controversies to hit Steele this year involved the disclosure that the RNC spent $1,946.25 at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.

When reports linking Steele to the expenditure came out, the RNC fired back, “The chairman was never at the location in question” and “had no knowledge of the expenditure.”

As the Washington Post reported the time, the RNC found its fall guy in Orange County.

It was, rather, the work of a “non-committee staffer” who was later identified as Erik Brown, a direct-mail executive from Orange County who has been active with the Young (and evidently restless) Republicans.

The biggest shock there, of course, was an Orange County Republican was in a club featuring topless women dancers.

A day before Steele's scheduled speech in Irvine, keynote addresses will be given by two former George W. Bush Cabinet officials who have been battered by press and pundits nearly as relentlessly as the chairman: his Treasury Secretary during the economic meltdown, Henry Paulson; and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who somehow managed to break the record for protecting the fewest living things while in the office that had previously been held by Reagan's James Watt. (With Kempthorne, what else would you expect from a San Gorgonio High School graduate? Go Pacific Pirates!)

Others coming to speak in Irvine at the summit (near odious all) include: former House speaker Dennis Hastert; former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Richard Myers; former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Edward Paul Lazear; former director of the Office of Management and Budget Jim Nussle; two-time National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft; former House Majority Leader Dick Armey; former U.S. Ambassador to Rome Tony Hall; former McDonald's CEO Edward Rensi; and Wall Street Journal senior economist Stephen Moore. Panel moderators will be FOX News business and financial journalist Stuart Varney and Global Managing Director of London International Group Jack Hu.

The latter says, “While we are seeing signs of recovery, the uneven nature of this recovery calls for more partnerships and collaboration.”

“Partnerships” and “collaboration,” of course, are buzzwords for more soaking of the poor and middle classes so the super-rich can reap more wealth. God bless America!

But if you wanna go check these turkeys out, don't let me stop you: www.londoninternationalgroup.com or www.facebook.com/financialsummit.