Tom Cole Calls For Steele's Resignation

Congressman Tom Cole today called on Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to resign.

Steele's remarks last week on the war in Afghanistan were assailed by members of his own party; Cole's statement today is the latest manifestation of anger.

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"Frankly, I find Steele's remarks totally unacceptable," Cole, the former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and ex-chief of staff at the RNC, said. "He should apologize and resign. He undercut American forces fighting in the field, politicized further a war that two presidents of different parties have deemed in the national interest and embarrassed the party he purports to lead. It is time for him to go — quickly."

The statement is the most serious such demand to date, as Cole has wide-ranging influence within both the party apparatus and conservative political circles.

The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Politico and other news outlets.

The new resignation calls stem from a video that went viral Friday showing Steele suggesting during a Thursday fundraiser in Connecticut that the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.

"Everyone who has tried over a thousand years of history has failed, and there are reasons for that," Steele said. "There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan."

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