Racist "Sambo" Swipe at Steele Reported in Post -- On B-4

Matthew Mosk of the Washington Post today reports on a racist attack lodged by a liberal blogger on Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele (R), an African-American, who is the front-runner in the Republican primary for US Senate in 2006. Mosk also notes how this controversy has touched a Democrat seeking statewide office in Virginia.

A racially charged image of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele on the Web site of a liberal blogger brought recriminations from both Democrats and Republicans yesterday.

The doctored photo of Steele (R) as a minstrel, and accompanying slurs, prompted Virginia gubernatorial candidate Timothy M. Kaine (D) to pull an ad from the site, stevegilliard.blogspot.com . Kaine's campaign had purchased the space through a broker that put his advertising on numerous liberal-leaning blogs.

Mosk notes that Maryland state Democratic leaders have decried the blog post by Steve Gilliard as "extremely offensive and distasteful" but notes that Daily Kos editor Markos Moulitsas, among some other liberal bloggers, are more concerned with Democrats like Kaine pulling ads from the sidebar of Hilliard's blog. Moulitsas's objections close out the article, saying: "I don't want bloggers to be afraid to say things because they don't want to offend an advertisers."

For the Gilliard post in question, click here. For takes on this post by Robert George and Michelle Malkin, click here and here respectively.

I have delivery of the paper to my humble abode in the Old Line State and in the Maryland edition, the article is found on page B4. There is also a Virginia angle to the story with Kaine's campaign, but I haven't seen where the article was placed in the Virginia edition. Earlier this week my colleague Tim Graham noted that Mosk's article on Steele's official campaign kickoff was buried in the Metro section in the Virginia edition. In my edition, it was below-the-fold on the front page.