Michael Steele

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)

Laura Ingraham took on Mike Allen Monday for his most recent Sarah Palin hit piece published at Politico Sunday.

Somewhat surprisingly, Allen actually defended himself claiming, "This is helpful to Sarah Palin" (YouTube audio follows with partial transcript and commentary):

 Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday cajoled Republican National Committee Chairman into agreeing that a GOP victory on Tuesday wouldn't be validation for the Republican Party, using half of a "startling" quote by Jeb Bush as proof.

Stephanopoulos began, "...The Republican Party, even though they do seem poised for pretty big gains, is no more popular than the Democrat Party." He continued, citing the former Florida Governor: "And even Jeb Bush, son of the former president had a pretty startling comment in The New York Times. He said tomorrow's results will not be a validation of the Republican Party at all. Is he right?"

Of course, the morning show host didn't read the very next sentence from Bush's NYT interview: "It’s a repudiation of this massive overreach by President Obama and his supporters in Congress." Stephanopoulos could have easily pressed Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, who appeared with Steele, on this point.

Vanity Fair’s attacked conservative men with its latest political satire: a soft-core pornographic, borderline homosexual and obviously photoshopped “Official 2010-2011 Republican Beefcake Calendar.”  Humorous perhaps, but also an attack on those candidates and certainly not the magazine’sfirst jab at Republicans and conservatives.

In an effort to possibly shift “GOP tidal-wave” dialogue or to simply make depressed Democrats laugh, Vanity Fair has showcased a racy, crotch-shot-laden calendar of headline-making GOP men just one week prior to the important 2010 midterm elections. While only a few of the photographs actually improve the image of the Republican men, by making them look extremely masculine with rippling muscles, most of the photos mock the men by photo-shopping their heads onto men in arguably “gay” poses.

MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell profusely apologized last night for calling the Republican Party RNC Chairman Michael Steele's "master." O'Donnell had made the following statement before rolling a previously-recorded interview with Steele on Tuesday night:

As the first congressional election during his party chairmanship approaches, Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee.

On Wednesday night, O'Donnell made a passionate apology to Steele. "Those of us who are not descendants from slaves," O'Donnell said, "can never know the full impact of the word master in the ears of an African-American man." (Video and trasncript below the fold.)

Update: O'Donnell issued a heartfelt apology on his show Wednesday night. Video below the fold. 

Did Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC's newest prime time talker, effectively call RNC chairman Michael Steele a black minstrel dancer? It sure seems that way.

I, like Mark Hemingway, am not a fan of "reading racial tea leaves just for political gain," but O'Donnell's statement, made Tuesday night, leaves very little room for interpretation:

As the first congressional election during his party chairmanship approaches, Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee.

So a black man is dancing to appeal to voters while still miniding his Republican masters? I'll have to check with Rev. Sharpton, but that sure sounds racist (video embedded below the fold).

So Allah has a couple of theories about why Sarah Palin would sign a fundraising letter for the RNC:

Fast-forward to today and suddenly she's signing letters on their behalf. What gives? Two theories. One: She's turned out to be such a good soldier and is so favorably disposed to Michael Steele that she's willing to do a fundraising favor for an organization that desperately needs one right now to prepare for the midterms. Two: She really is eyeing a presidential run and wants to build a line of political credit with establishment types who aren't big fans of hers at the moment.

How about this? Sarah Palin has finally recognized her friends in D.C. They ain't the NRSC or the NRCC, that's for dang sure. Palin's endorsements have been in direct odds with the NRSC's and NRCC's more often than not. Moreover, the NRSC and NRCC have worked overtime to undercut Michael Steele both publicly and privately and then gone to donors and asked them to donate there. This insanity is self-destructive, of course, because the RNC has the mechanism to get the vote out. The leadership in the House and Senate, though, are more about accumulating power and rewarding buddies than transforming the party. In fact, party transformation and reinvigoration, would probably hurt their incumbent arses, so what's the motivation to change?

Back in April, as ABC's Jake Tapper took over as interim host of This Week (pending the arrival of ex-CNNer Christiane Amanpour in August), the show asked the fact-checkers at PolitiFact to evaluate the truthfulness of statements made on the show.

After nearly three months, the results show far more Democrats and liberals earning a "False" rating, with most of the "True" ratings going to Republicans and conservatives. The discrepency remains even if you take into account that about two-thirds of the evaluated statements came from Democrats in the first place.

From April 11 through June 20, PolitiFact has handed out seven "False" statements -- six to Democrats/liberals, one to a Republican. During that same time, seven "True" labels were handed out -- four for Republicans/conservatives, just two for Democrats (one, ironically, going to former President Bill Clinton).

Retired General Colin Powell also picked up a "True" for a statement about the number of troops President Obama has deployed to Afghanistan, but it's hard to say which side Powell represents these days.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Cynthia Tucker on Sunday said that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele "is a self-aggrandizing, gaffe-prone incompetent who would have been fired a long time ago were he not black." 

Chatting with ABC's Jake Tapper during the Roundtable segment of today's "This Week" about Steele's recent remarks concerning Afghanistan, Tucker went even further with what many would consider overt racism. 

"The irony is that he never would have been voted in as Chairman of the Republican Party were he not black" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Good Morning America on Tuesday continued to tout the Republican National Committee's (RNC) strip club scandal, now upgraded to "notorious" status by co-host George Stephanopoulos. The other network morning shows have largely lost interest in the subject, but GMA, clearly, has not.

Stephanopoulos, whose previous profession involved working for the sex scandal-plagued Bill Clinton, hyped, "Now, to the latest on the upheaval at the Republican National Committee, in the wake of a notorious visit to a strip club." CBS's Early Show skipped the controversy on Tuesday. NBC's Today hit the subject only within a larger interview with Newt Gingrich.  

Ann Coulter for one has refused to pour gasoline on the Voyeur fire - pledging her full support and offering praise for RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

As Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos so touchingly pointed out to Steele, a few Republican leaders have been publicly highly critical of Steele and according to a "poll of insiders" only 20 percent consider him an asset to the party.

"Everyone seemed to like him and recently it's like story after story after story - is this guy being villainized?" Fox Business Channel's Eric Bolling asked Coulter on the April 5 "Happy Hour."

"I think so, I think he's being attacked because he's very effective," Coulter replied.

She made note how Ken Blackwell had been her original choice for chairman, but said Steele had been more than adequate. "[S]ince Michael Steele got the job, I see him on TV and I think he's very effective on TV. He's smooth, he's cool, he's hip, he always makes solid arguments."

"He was on a plane during this incident at this voyeur club," Coulter reminded Bolling. "But you know the Democrats have the audacity to complain about some low-level staffer doing something stupid by taking ...Young Republican Eagles or whatever to a sleazy club in LA - excuse me! Loretta Sanchez - an actual Democratic Congresswoman who was co-chair of the DNC - had a Democratic gala event...at the Playboy Mansion - which finally had to be cancelled."

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday played up GOP divisions over Michael Steele and even touted a "poll of insiders" that showed party leaders think the Republican National Committee Chairman (RNC) should resign. Stephanopoulos also prompted Steele to blame recent struggles on race.

The former Democratic operative turned journalist related, "The National Journal magazine, respected magazine, did a poll of insiders showing that 71 percent believe you're a liability to the party. Only 20 percent believe you're an asset."

He then breathlessly relayed, "And listen to this. This is from one of those that thought you were a liability: 'Michael Steele is an anchor around the neck of the future of the Republican Party. He needs to go.' Are you going to go?" ABC displayed a graphic of the poll, but didn't explain or dwell on the sample size of such a small, anonymous survey. (It was 104 "insiders.")

Former Time White House correspondent (and Carter administration appointee) Margaret Carlson really wants RNC chairman Michael Steele fired. In her Bloomberg News column on Wednesday, she badly exaggerated: "In the world of fundraising scandals, this one makes former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to a Buddhist temple look as quaint as tea at Buckingham Palace."

Earth to Margaret: the wayward RNC strip-club reimbursement is certainly embarrassing, but it isn't illegal, like the temple fundraiser. As Michelle Malkin explained: 

In the spring of 2000, [Gore aide Maria] Hsia was convicted by a federal jury in Washington, D.C., of five felony counts related to more than $100,000 in illegal contributions to Democratic candidates. The stash included $65,000 in straw donations, which Hsia had funneled through clueless, non-English-speaking monks and nuns the day after Vice President Al Gore's 1996 visit to the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Southern California.