Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Michael Steele Suggests Racism Fuels His Critics

'Is it because a black man is chairman?'

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 9, 2010 5:08 PM CST
Email

(Newser) – Michael Steele suggests his race has something to do with the knocks he's taken since becoming chairman of the RNC in an interview with Washingtonian magazine. The interview isn't online yet, but Greg Sargent of Plum Line has an early peek: Steele acknowledges that he can "take things too far," but then wonders why there is so much media coverage of the internal workings of the RNC.

“I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation," Steele says. "Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?” Sargent notes that the comment seems at odds with Steele's previous assertions that he doesn't "play the race card."

Michael Steele takes questions from the audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010.
Michael Steele takes questions from the audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele addresses an audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University Feb. 3, 2010, in Cambridge, Mass.
Chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele addresses an audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University Feb. 3, 2010, in Cambridge, Mass.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
My TakeCLICK BELOW TO VOTE
28%
9%
4%
6%
4%
50%
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 35 comments
mikecokereke
Mar 10, 2010 7:36 PM CST
Any Black person who finds him/herself immersed in a visibly mostly White milieu, their cotention is always: I dont see White or Black, or that race is not the issue here. But events and goings on in that environment normally do prove, or show things to be otherwise, just like what Michael Steele is going through now. Whites see the Republican Party as their turf or domain, and for them to see a person likeMr. Steele in that domain of theirs is like " what are you doing here?. He should be ready for such volley of attacks. That is reality.
Taking this argument further, I posit that before he is done with his stint in that Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas will eventually change his radical views,because that is reality, at least for him. He does not operate in the realm of reality since being appointed to the Supreme Court, and since he was at the EEOC.
Mike C. Okereke
Pseudonova
Feb 15, 2010 2:53 AM CST
At the risk of incriminating myself, has anyone ever seen Undercover Brother? You know, the white man kidnaps a political black man and implant a chip in his brain that makes him play up his blackness in order to get young "negroes" to start voting Republican. I think of that movie every time I see Steele. We should get that guy an MRI.
ezrider
Feb 10, 2010 12:30 PM CST
His own party talked about diminishing the power of RNC chairman shortly after they picked him,he's just a token haven't realized it.@CHRISTFELD AL Sharpton is the one with a full head of hair

 
African Americans • RNC • racism • DNC • chairman • Michael Steele • Republican Party Chairman

More Newser Stories

Democrats Winning 2012 Money Race (Sort of)

New MSNBC Talking Head: Michael Steele

Michael Steele: 'I Know Exactly How Caesar Felt'

It's Judgment Day for Michael Steele at RNC

Which Politicians Had the Best—and Worst—Year?
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne