Steele: Obama ‘Was Not Vetted Because Press Fell In Love With The Black Man Running For The Office

[bigtree]

from Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/22/steele-obama-race/

Apparently unable to learn from egregious mistakes from the recent past, RNC Chairman Michael Steele once again took to the radio airwaves today as a guest host for Bill Bennett. Earlier this week, Steele declared “an end to the era of Republicans looking backward.” This morning, however, Steele revisited the 2008 election to insist that President Obama had never been “vetted” because the press “fell in love with the black man”:

STEELE: The problem that we have with this president is that we don’t know Obama. He was not vetted, folks. … He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.” Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe? … So we don’t know. We just don’t know.


That Steele would suggest Obama won the presidency because of his race is striking considering that Steele himself has had to face — and bat down — similar allegations. In 2006, when Steele ran for lieutenant governor in Maryland, a Baltimore Sun editorial said that he brought “little to the team but the color of his skin.” Steele slammed the implication as “pure ignorance”:

read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/22/steele-obama-race/

[bullimiami]

1. hes perfect. let him keep on with his stupidity.

[bigtree]

7. he's got a lot of strom thurmond in him

[mitchum]

18. That may be literally true

[marmar]

2. Michael Steele is the gift that keeps on giving......

..... He's just jealous that Michele Bachmann gets all the attention for being GOP Nutjob No. 1.

[Hepburn]

3. Oh, what fucking racist shit....

...that the public gave Obama a pass because he is a black man.

:puke:

[bigtree]

4. .

wrong place

[gkhouston]

5. Claims Steele, who was neither vetted nor fallen in love with. Pleah. n/t

[RB TexLa]

6. I think his Democratic rivals and then the McCain campaign did their jobs adequately.

[Frustratedlady]

8. Obviously, Steele didn't listen to the gazillion speeches Obama gave.

What's not to know? I imagine they are going to bring up that birth certificate again?

[Javaman]

9. steele, it seems, holds all the stupid cards these days.

and he's dumb enough to play them.

[Happyhippychick]

10. So Steele wasn't vetted either because the 'pubes just "fell in love" with him?

They seem to have a bit of buyer's remorse these days.

[bigtree]

11. Everyday I'm Hustlin'

from Washington Independent: http://washingtonindependent.com/44234/everyday-im-hustlin


What’s there to say, really, about Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s argument that Barack Obama won the presidency “because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office”? That Steele should stop guest-hosting Bill Bennett’s show, sure. That Steele forgets how two controversies kneecapped Chip “Magic Negro” Saltsman and Katon “Country Club” Dawson, his RNC rivals, sure, that too. Adam Serwer says it best:

"Steele ran his campaign for RNC Chair partially on the premise that he would be able to launch race-based attacks on the President while inoculating the GOP against charges of racism because he is black. I guess part of me hoped it was a hustle, and that he wouldn’t actually go that route. I think it’s pretty clear from the above who Steele was actually hustling."

[kwassa]

12. Michael Steele, the best RNC chair we could possibly ask for.

if ever a looser cannon existed, I don't know what it is.

I just wish it was a lifetime appointment.

[LostInAnomie]

13. I don't think Steel actually understands what vetted means.

Seriously, if there was any true dirt in Obama's past do you not think the Repuke teams combing through his background wouldn't have found something? Did they not have a national platform available to them to trumpet anything they found?

This is more typical repuke crying about the media bullshit.

[book_worm]

14. Hey Steele, in 4-months Obama has been another Lincoln compared to your hero--GW Bush

who the press allowed to steal the 2000 election and allowed to start a war against non-agressor Iraq.

[DFW]

15. And he expects people to believe him?

The Republicans ran a desperate campaign in 2008 because it was obvious that although if they ran Hitler and Mussolini they would still get 40% of the vote, that even with Jesus and St. Peter they would not get 50%.

(All the P R guys
and all McCain's men
Couldn't make Sarah
coherent again)

[predfan]

16. Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.

[Dappleganger]

17. Oh, OK--now I get it.

The RNC hired him so they could say whatever the hell they wanted about the President since Steele is African-American.

[cbdo2007]

19. We all fell in love with a black man running for office...

And it didn't even matter that he was black! It might be a shocker to Steele, being the Token black Repube, but most of us don't take race into consideration when voting.

[Number23]

20. God, I hate this man.

Way to get black and brown folks to run to the Republican Party, Mr. Steele!

By your reasoning, black folks will swarm to your party as soon as you find a way to call Obama a "no good n*gger." That's DEFINITELY the way to get black people to turn on the most beloved public figure since MLK.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. McCain's vetting:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23301752-663,00.html

...

Later, I made a second, feebler attempt at suicide. On the fourth day, I gave up. I signed a confession that "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pilot".

The guards ordered me to record my confession on tape. I refused, and was beaten until I consented.

...

[riverdeep]

22. Let's see, it's Friday, so Steele must have said something stupid...

I was right! It's not really fair, he says something monstrously stupid everyday, only there aren't always microphones to capture it.

It sounds like he's about nine months behind in his talking points. Like he let the faxes pile up and then picked the ones from the bottom by mistake. This is the kind of stuff they were saying in August of '08.

The most delicious part of this is that he doesn't actually seem to understand the falsehood he's saying about Obama actually DOES apply to HIM. His main qualification, from the GOP POV, is that he's black and will have an easier time getting away with saying stupid nonsense like this.

I second the call to make Steele the lifetime chair of the RNC.