GOP Hopeful Belonged to Whites-Only Country Club

'Is it because a black man is chairman?'

(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. More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Steele emerged from a grueling contest today to become the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee, Politico reports. The six-ballot process, the most drawn-out in years, ended in the rare election of a non-member. “This is awesome,” the former Maryland lieutenant governor said, drawing a laugh. He said he accepted the post with “a great deal of humility and a sense of service.” More»

Attack focuses on Bill Maher comments, White House 'boys' club'

(NEWSER) - Democrats often slam the GOP's "war on women," but now it's the Republicans who are hitting back at "Obama's war on women" in a new attack ad, Mediaite reports. The Republican National Committee ad focuses on controversial remarks Bill Maher—who is also a bigtime Obama donor—has made about women, and prominently features CNN's Erin Burnett interrogating an uncomfortable-looking David Axelrod over the remarks. It then moves on to Ron Suskind's Confidence Men, the book that painted a picture of the White House as a "hostile workplace" for women. More»

Republican strategy being 'field tested' on highways

(NEWSER) - For a likely preview of the GOP's upcoming fear-fueled political campaigns, look no further than the ominous billboards sprouting along the nation's highways, like the one portraying President Obama as "Saddam Hussein" out to kill American babies. The GOP strategy to exploit "visceral fear" to raise campaign funds revealed earlier this week in a leaked RNC presentation is already being "field-tested" by interest groups sympathetic to the party, writes John Avlon in the Daily Beast . More»

They reject his 'legitimacy as president'

(NEWSER) - Jimmy Carter was right when he said racism fuels some of President Obama's critics, Eugene Robinson writes for the Washington Post. Carter may have overstated it—plenty of naysayers have legit policy concerns over issues such as health reform—but "the most vitriolic attacks" reject Obama's "legitimacy as president," Robinson writes. "I can't find any explanation for it other than race." More»