Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Michael Steele, in an interview with Al Sharpton last week, opined that if he is not reelected as chairman of the Republican National Committee, it will be for no other reason than racism, because the GOP will be letting “the brother take the fall.”
Playing the race card is one thing; playing the preemptive race card is another beast entirely. Statements such as these do nothing but largely discredit Steele’s appeal as a candidate- he is not making his case for reelection on the basis of merit, but rather employing a cheap trick that amounts to little more than base provocation.
Furthermore, Steele’s declaration reveals a remarkable lack of faith in his own party, as if he expects to be ousted. How about this, Mike? Perhaps you’ll be canned for that $2,000 stripper party held for the RNC under your watch last March. Or maybe for the loads of other senseless expenditures. Or maybe for your declaration that the war in Afghanistan is “a war of Obama’s choosing.” I would wager that you would sooner lose your position as a result of the incessant pot-shots at the GOP in your book than for anything regarding your race.
Michael Steele’s assertion of racism in the GOP is not only misguided and unfounded, but indeed most certainly offensive. By preemptively calling foul he is merely attempting to assuage the uncertainty of his political future and formulate a way to rationalize his defeat before it has even come to pass.
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Jul '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Michael Steele is a product of Maryland single party politics, a liberal that had to register Republican to pursue a political career in a state where the offices are held by lifelong Democrat incumbents. In one month, he proved he had never listened to Rush Limbaugh by concurring with the usual baseless liberal groupthink condemnations of Rush and that he was clueless on matters Tea Party by announcing that he had met with the director of the Tea Party. The only way to further puncture his credibility would have been to announce meetings with the Tooth Fairy.
The plus with Steele is supposed to be his talent for coordinating fund raising efforts and distributing the result. Anecdotally, I do not know of actual people, as opposed to the institutional creatures of habit, contributing to GOP funds directly these days. Candidates, yes. Specific philosophically aligned organizations, yes. Is there a breakout somewhere of the differences in donation patterns the last two election cycles?
Jul '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
So the guy presides over the one the greatest Republican victories in decades and this is the treatment he gets? Nice.
I'd take the occasional Michael Steele gaffe with results like that.
May '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
I have trouble believing Steele had much to do with those victories. The Tea Party movement was obviously the primary factor. And local candidates are ultimately responsible for their own campaigns.
Jun '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
It was his appointment that was racist, a cynical attempt to off-set President Obama with an African-American face of the Republican party. His dismissal will be a color-blind evaluation of performance.
May '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Michael Tee: So the guy presides over the one the greatest Republican victories in decades and this is the treatment he gets? Nice.
I'd take the occasional Michael Steele gaffe with results like that. · Nov 13 at 9:43am
I'm with Aaron - Steele rode a wave not of his own making, and avoided pulling his party under. Not a terrible performance given the left's powerful dedication to undermining any black man to the right of Hugo Chavez, but I have trouble seeing a way Steele deserves much credit.
Aug '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Dang Pilgrim, you beat me to the punch.
I had a little sympathy for him when he first emerged, they pelted him with Oreo cookies for God's sake.
He absolutely squandered the opportunity he was so cynically given.
If he had performed this poorly for the DNC then Obama would have tossed him under the bus long ago,
May '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Talk about making a story out of nothing. The left does this all the time. For those interested in hearing what exactly Steele said -- instead of reading a post based on an article based on the interview -- the full interview is here. He actually defends the Republican Party, explains how, where, and why they should not compromise, and so forth. Steele also spends a large chunk of the time explaining how the GOP needs to make inroads into the black community. Only at the tail end of the interview does this "let the brother take the fall" business surface -- and it is Sharpton who brings it up as they are winding down for commercial break.
Sep '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
And THAT is just one of the reasons why Steele has to go.
Jun '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
"Harlech..."
I didn't listen, Harlech, but if I take your assessment of the interview, Steele supports his party throughout, but ends by throwing the race card as a threat against his firing. And that's OK because he didn't do it until the interview ended? Here's my race card. Color me unimpressed.
Nov '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
If you criticize a black person for any reason at all, you are, ipso facto, a racist. We can thank Obama for that pernicious notion — which is grotesquely racist itself because it implies that blacks are a superior species – infallible and above criticism (even above the law, if you listen to Eric Holder). Still, that particular Race Card is beginning to look more than a little dog-eared. By now, I am sure that most people are wise to it.
Edited on Nov 13, 2010 at 4:37pmJul '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
I listened to the interview, this is nonsense. You don't like Steele? Fine. He didn't play the race card. Sharpton did, as is his wont. Steele could have reacted in a manner more helpful to the party. He didn't, and there's room for criticism. But I never heard him preemptively suggest that a dismissal would be the result of racism.
Hey, guess what we actually have here? Another 90% misleading Daily Caller story like the one about National Review and the pledge, that's what.
Jun '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Harlech, Palaeogolus, I am glad he didn't play the race card. I still think he is weak as RNC Chair.
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
I actually think its racist in a different way Lady K. It's racist not because it implies blacks are superior and above criticism, but because it patronizes blacks, implying they are inferior and cannot handle criticism. As usual, those who lecture the loudest against "racism," are the ones who act racist and refuse to honor color-blindness. These same people -- mostly white liberals, but also the black race hustlers like Sharpton and Jackson -- are also exploitive of blacks. That is, in their minds it probably has nothing to do with the inferiority or superiority of blacks, but just using them to demonize others in order to prop themselves up.
Jul '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Agreed.
May '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Detecting racism is their means of production.
Jun '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Palaeologus: I listened to the interview, this is nonsense. You don't like Steele? Fine. He didn't play the race card. Sharpton did, as is his wont. Steele could have reacted in a manner more helpful to the party. He didn't, and there's room for criticism. But I never heard him preemptively suggest that a dismissal would be the result of racism.
Hey, guess what we actually have here? Another 90% misleading Daily Caller story like the one about National Review and the pledge, that's what. · Nov 13 at 4:44pm
There you go again. Messing up a perfectly fine discussion by going to the source material and inserting facts.
Sep '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Palaeologus: I listened to the interview, this is nonsense. You don't like Steele? Fine. He didn't play the race card. Sharpton did, as is his wont. Steele could have reacted in a manner more helpful to the party. He didn't, and there's room for criticism. But I never heard him preemptively suggest that a dismissal would be the result of racism.
Hey, guess what we actually have here? Another 90% misleading Daily Caller story like the one about National Review and the pledge, that's what. · Nov 13 at 4:44pm
I listened to the whole interview myself and I... agree.
I don't like Steele and want to see him go. But I won't criticize him for this interview.
Um, that is a hatchet job. I didn't know that about the Daily Caller. There's a difference between covering the news that supports your agenda, and making it up, How many Daily Caller readers actually listened to the full 10 minute interview?
I don't like this when either side does it. I will pay more attention to the DC now.
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Harlech- it's true that Steele's admonition came at the end of the interview and Steele's race was not the focus of the entire conversation. However, this doesn't detract from the fact that Steele's race was brought up, albeit by Sharpton, as the potential reason for Steele's unseating, a point to which Michael Steele explicitly agreed.
Again I stress one of the most important things to take away from this interview: the RNC chairman's shocking lack of faith in the Republlican party. Not only does he allow Al Sharpton's assessment that his race would be the reason for his loss, but enthusiastically agrees with the cheap shot when Sharpton condescendingly professes, "I don't even understand how [Steele's unseating] could even be in the air, but, it is the Republicans."
I maintain that this is a serious misstep by Michael Steele, who should be promoting the GOP instead of entertaining and, as I said before, explicitly agreeing with claims of racial bias and, in so many words, shortsighted incompetency.
May '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Michael Tee: So the guy presides over the one the greatest Republican victories in decades and this is the treatment he gets? Nice.
I'd take the occasional Michael Steele gaffe with results like that. · Nov 13 at 9:43am
More like "in spite of" then "because of". Most of the GOP establishment was in that category.
Oct '10
Re: Michael Steele's Preemptive Strike
Adam, I think you might need to retract your post, rather than continuing to defend it. I listened to the interview and did my best to transcribe the end of the feed, which I offer in subsequent posts. Having listened to the interview, I'd like to make the following observations:
1. Steele sounds great. Sharpton doesn't really press him, just lets the chairman respond to obvious questions about "the possibility of compromise" and the inability of Republicans to win black votes. Steele's responses are measured and matter-of-fact. This interview isn't anything like watching Rubio's interview with that Miami paper, but Steele comes off (in the interview) as competent and forward-looking.
2. There's no evidence here of "shocking lack of faith in the Republican party." Again, Steele keeps talking about the need to connect with black voters.
2. I don't hear how Steele "enthusiastically agrees" when Sharpton says "it is the Republicans." He's just laughing the way you laugh at a friend who keeps blurting out his cockamamie political analysis ("It's Reagan's fault!" "Ha ha, yeah, OK, who's buying this round?")
Come on, man, lighten up.