Michael Steele

Chris Matthews and former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele got into a heated debate Tuesday over the Hardball host painting the GOP with "one brush."

At the end of the segment, Steele said, "You're not having a broad-based discussion any longer. You're becoming a cartoon of the cartoon" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On today's Morning Joe, asked by substitute host Willie Geist how much of the tough talk by Republicans and Dems over the fiscal cliff was posturing, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that 80% was posturing, then added "a lot of it is, let's see how big yours is versus mine."

Steele was careful to suggest he was simply talking about the size of the two parties' respective . . . plans.  But between the smirks, raised eyebrows—and an immediate intervention from Geist—it seemed obvious that Steele was making a macho allusion to something else. View the video after the jump.

"There were moments where you were slightly objective."

So marvelously said former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to MSNBC's Chris Matthews concerning his reporting of the just concluded presidential campaign (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

During his special post-debate Hardball,  Chris Matthews's panelists -- with the exception of Republican Michael Steele -- praised moderator Bob Schieffer’s ability to get Romney “to be quiet.”  Apparently it’s the job of the moderator to keep the Republican docile during debates in the minds of liberals. 

Matthews also liked the format of Monday's debate because it denied Romney from being exhibiting "flagrant disrespect" towards President Obama.

During the Today's Professionals panel segment on Tuesday's NBC Today, attorney Star Jones predicted that if Todd Akin continues his Senate run in Missouri, the entire Republican Party will be branded with his controversial remarks: "If he doesn't [get out], the Romney/Ryan ticket is going to be tarred with this feather for the entire campaign. They sponsored bills together that pretty much echo this sentiment." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Moments later, advertising executive Donny Deutsch struck the same tone, warning: "As far as the GOP, this is going to be devastating if he stays in. Because they have two big issues, the Hispanic vote and the female vote, and it gives them the ultimate poster boy. They're in trouble."

Since President Obama flip-flopped on his position on same-sex marriage last month, NewsBusters has reported extensively on how the media cover such policy changes differently when made by Republicans such as Mitt Romney.

On MSNBC's Now with Alex Wagner Thursday, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele gave the perilously liberal David Corn a much-needed education in this very fact (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

We at NewsBusters have been calling MSNBC's Chris Matthews a sycophant for Barack Obama since at least February 2008 when the so-called journalist bragged on the air about getting a thrill up his leg at the sound of the former junior senator from Illinois' voice.

It was therefore quite pleasing to hear former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele tell the Hardball host that to his face Thursday during a contentious exchange about the current White House resident's economics policies and who should be blamed for their failure (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On his "PoliticsNation" show last night, the Rev. Al Sharpton was indignant -- then again, when is he not? -- that Mitt Romney did not immediately reject a statement by a woman at a rally in Ohio that President Obama should be "tried for treason."

Romney answered the woman's question about restoring balance between the three branches of government but ignored her remark about Obama as treasonous. Approached by a reporter after the rally and asked if he agreed with the woman, Romney said "I obviously don't agree he should be tried." (video and audio clips after page break)

An unhinged Chris Matthews on Monday excoriated Republican primary voters as racist, deriding them as the "Grand Wizard crowd." Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele fought back,  slamming "this Grand Wizard nonsense." "Don't go there with me," he warned. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

After Steele informed the Hardball anchor that subjects such as climate change weren't big issues in the GOP primary, Matthews slimed, "It certainly was in the Grand Wizard crowd over there." The liberal host tried to move on, but his guest stopped the conversation dead: "Wait, I resent that! No. Come on. What is this Grand Wizard nonsense? Are you saying that we're Ku Klux Klan?" "Give me a break," the former RNC chair dismissed.

In the wake of the Ann Romney-Hilary Rosen stay-at-home mom dustup, Salon's Joan Walsh on Thursday predictably made the totally false claim "being able to stay home with your children [is] a choice for the wealthy only."

Fortunately, former RNC chairman Michael Steele was also on MSNBC's Hardball to set the record straight saying, "This isn’t about just rich women. There are a lot of middle class women out there who stay at home with their kids too" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Salon editor Joan Walsh said Friday that conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is "a secret Democrat."

Speaking with MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball about the debate over who should pay for contraceptives, Walsh said of Limbaugh, "He is leading [the Republican] party off a cliff on this issue" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On the February 7 edition of MSNBC's Now with Alex Wagner, panelist John Heilemann, who writes for New York Magazine, thought it appropriate to equate the gay marriage debate in California to racial bigotry experienced by African-Americans in the 1960s. 

During an interview with openly gay former Lieutenant Dan Choi, Heilemann asked former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele the following bigoted and offensive question: “Michael I’m curious about whether you think it would be okay in modern America, for there to be some states where black men could not marry white women?  If local standards where that were unacceptable.” [MP3 audio here. See video below.]

With Mitt Romney winning the Iowa caucus and on track to do well in New Hampshire, conservatives should just give up and rally behind the former Massachusetts governor, MSNBC host Alex Wagner suggested at the open of today's Now with Alex Wagner.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele was having none of that:

Christopher Hitchens, RIP, would likely have loved the rough-and-tumble of today's Morning Joe.  The first half-hour was a jolting fix for political junkies.  

If the goring of Newt Gingrich was predictable, there was much that was not.  Michelle Bachmann's debate performance was roundly praised.  Lefty Jeff Sachs put himself to Ron Paul's right on the Iranian threat.  Joe Scarborough and Donny Deutsch reported that normally-Dem New York CEOs have deserted Obama en masse.  Video after the jump.

Martin Bashir's campaign to prove Herman Cain really isn't a black man continued Monday when he accused the Republican presidential candidate of skipping the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument in Washington, D.C., Saturday because he "really doesn't want to be overtly associated with African-Americans" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

You really have to wonder what debate Mark Halperin was watching Thursday evening.

Appearing on Friday's "Morning Joe," the Time magazine and MSNBC political analyst declared former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney the winner of the Republican presidential debate in Iowa, and actually gave former House Speaker Newt Gingrich - who many thought stole the show - only a C+ (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):

As the prospects for Barack Obama's reelection decline, American media are getting more and more cavalier with the truth when defending the object of their affection.

On Friday, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe not only lied about the adminstration's projection that unemployment wouldn't rise above eight percent if its stimulus package was enacted, he also badly misrepresented the timing of job losses during the recession (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters previously reported, Chris Matthews on Wednesday lied about Ronald Reagan's position on taxes in a "Hardball" segment insinuating the late President would oppose the current Republican stance on the debt ceiling.

When Salon editor Joan Walsh said Obama "is actually the Reagan figure here," former RNC chairman Michael Steele bust out laughing (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Updated with video

On Wednesday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Ann Curry fretted over Sarah Palin not sucking up to the press, complaining "[she] seems to delight in having a bad relationship with what she calls the 'lamestream media.'" Curry added that Palin was "angering some Republicans as well, about this tour, by not notifying them ahead of time." [Audio available here]

Curry discussed Palin's bus tour with former Republican National Committee Chairman and newly named MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele. She further pushed the idea that Palin was alienating fellow Republicans: "The Republican chairman of Pennsylvania says the lack of information is irking many GOP leaders in the states Palin is expected to visit. Could not playing well with her team backfire for Sarah Palin?"

View video below

MSNBC's Chris Matthews has for weeks been dishonestly telling his viewers Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) budget proposal would kill Medicare.

On Wednesday's "Hardball," former Republican National Committee chair just-turned MSNBC contributor Michael Steele struck back (video follows with transcript and commentary):

For weeks MSNBC's Chris Matthews has been complaining about the lack of declared GOP presidential candidates.

On Tuesday's "Hardball," former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele exposed Matthews' hypocrisy concerning this matter marvelously demonstrating that once any of the possible candidates formally enters the race, the avowed liberal commentator is just going to trash him or her (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Like most liberal media members, Bill Maher thinks violent political rhetoric only comes from Republicans.

Proving this once again, HBO's "Real Time" host on Friday disputed former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's claim that Democrats used such hostile talk against Republicans during the recent budget battle (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In this week's "Is Bill Maher Really That Stupid" segment, the "Real Time" host on Friday actually said that ending the Bush tax cuts would solve 75 percent of the nation's budget deficit.

This deliciously came before Maher called Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) "an evil liar who insults the intelligence of all living things including mushrooms and mold" (video follows with commentary):

On Tuesday's "Daily Show," liberal comedian Jon Stewart flashed a smirk and wondered why the conservative base of the Republican Party is "so easily ignitable." The comedian hosted former Republican Party chair Michael Steele, who recounted the story of how he had to go about "re-igniting our base" after the party lost the White House and fell further into the minority in Congress in 2008.

"Why is it so easy to ignite your base?" Stewart asked with a smile. Amidst laughter from the audience, Michael Steele played along and quipped "they're an excitable bunch." Stewart kept at it. "They are so flammable, your base," he remarked, and added "so easily ignitable."

The remarks seem to echo Stewart's calls for civility in discourse, where he has focused much of his invective toward what he feels to be inflammatory political rhetoric. Earlier in the show, Stewart mocked "political hypochondriacs" on the Right who fear America will suffer the destructive fates of certain European and African countries; Stewart then lampooned Leftists who try to "cheer the hypochondriac up" by wishing America was in fact like certain European or Asian countries.
 

MSNBC's Chris Matthews honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day by accusing white Republicans of being afraid of black people. During a Monday night Hardball special called "Obama's America," Matthews insultingly asked former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele if, at GOP conventions, black-Americans at those events were told not to "bunch up" because "you'll scare these people" and added: "Did you fear that if you got together with some other African-Americans these white guys might get scared of you?"

Steele, who was the only Republican on the panel, seemed shocked by the question as he responded to Matthews: "No! What are you talking about?" and then proceeded to cite the successful candidacies of Tim Scott, Allen West and others in the GOP field that would suggest white Republicans weren't exactly afraid of, as Matthews put it, "black folk hanging together."

The following is the full exchange from the panel that featured Steele along with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards, as it was aired on the January 17 edition of Hardball:

(video and audio after the break)