Steele Falsely Claims Obama Was The Only African-American Elected Official To Campaign Against Him
Steele Falsely Claims Obama Was The Only African-American Elected Official To Campaign Against Him
Michael Steele’s comments in a recent GQ interview indicating that abortion should be an “individual choice” has earned widespread attention in the past 24 hours. Another interesting comment made by Steele in the same interview about Barack Obama has gone unreported.
Steele said he once reached out to Obama “brother to brother,” but was betrayed by him. He complained that he was “bothered” when then-Sen. Obama was “the only African-American elected official in the country to come and campaign against me”:
GQ: Brother to brother?
STEELE: Yeah, you know: ‘There are only two of us, Barack, just you and me. You’re the senator, I’m the lieutenant governor.’ ’Cause you didn’t have, you know, the black governors in New York and Massachusetts. It was just us. And I don’t know if it was a staff thing, I don’t know if it was a personal thing, I don’t know what it was. But we never got to meet. And then, when I ran for the senate [in 2006], he was the only African-American elected official in the country to come and campaign against me. Nobody else.
GQ: What do you make of all that?STEELE: I don’t know. One day I’d like him to explain it to me. Because it bothered me. [emphasis original]
Steele clearly has a chip on his shoulder because Obama stumped for his opponent, Sen. Ben Cardin. However, Steele is completely wrong about his assertion that Obama was the only African-American elected official from out of state to do so. At least three other out-of-state black elected officials also campaigned against him:
– The late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) rallied a “couple of hundred Democrats” in support of Ben Cardin. [Baltimore Sun, 11/3/06]
– Cardin rallied with minority business owners along with “CBC members including Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and DC Mayor Anthony Williams.” [The Hotline, 11/1/06]
Steele continues to make the case there’s no reason to trust anything he says at this point.
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Holy loly
where did you find that picture?
March 12th, 2009 at 5:14 pmHas taking massive ammounts of mind altering drugs become a requirement for the Republican’t party? Thank God for John Stewart, at least he manages to put a humours slant on the madness. This morass has become a Three Stooges skit about Sanity Clause. Why? ‘Cause there ain’t no Sanity Clause.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:18 pmThe Burning Question…
March 12th, 2009 at 5:22 pmWhy can’t ANY republican tell the truth when they open their mouth?
Does Steele think that Obama should have supported him, despite wide and varied policy differences, simply because they share the same skin pigmentation?
Is he seriously trying to make that argument?
If so, this man is dumber than I thought.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:23 pmHey, what a coincidence, Dr. Matt! “Off-topic and irrelevant” was exactly what I wrote when I flagged him, too.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pmLessee….Democrat campaigns for fellow Democrat.
Loser is of same race as Democrat who campaigns for fellow Democrat.
And loser is ‘bothered’ by it?
Would someone, anyone! Explain politics to this numbskull!?!
March 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pmSteele is not going to last long in his new job….
…the Repukes have him in their sights, for sure.
Desperate much Wimpdog?
March 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pm…must’ve had something to do with that monumental selling out to the republicans. damn that Obama and his partisanship.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:29 pmIs that a picture of Steele at his burlesque rehearsal?
March 12th, 2009 at 5:29 pmOr Richard Pryor with a really good makeup job?
Report! Off topic troll defecates on thread and runs away!
March 12th, 2009 at 5:30 pmFilm at 11:00 PM!!
Now Steele will call for President Obama to apologize to Rush.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:31 pmI am a little confused here. Has Mr. Steele taken a definitive stand on anything for longer than 24 hours other than to say don’t believe anything I say?
March 12th, 2009 at 5:36 pmDoes this mean the RNC will refuse to field or support Republican candidates in races in which the Democratic candidate is African American? For that matter does that mean the chair of the RNC will support Obama in 2012? Because we can certainly count on Mr. Steele to practice what he preaches, right?
March 12th, 2009 at 5:37 pmMemo to steele:
perhaps he campaigned against you in favor of promoting a candidate from his own party?
apparently, steele didn’t clear this statement from rub-o-lard rush. if he did, he would know just because steele’s black doesn’t mean the world needs to bend over, grab their ankles and hope he succeeds because he’s black.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:39 pmI think the picture speaks for itself.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:44 pmThat picture is….disturbing.
Oh. Was he saying something…?
March 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pmWhy would a Democratic Senator campaign against a Republican candidate for office? It’s a poser.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:50 pmClearly, this guy is out of his league and over his head.
get out while your behind.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:52 pmOk, I was trying not to comment on anything Steele related but I must.
First as a Black Man myself, I am disgusted at Mr. Steele’s actions since he was “elected” (selected) as RNC Chair. From the “How Ya Like Me Now” nonsense (Mr. Obama is the POTUS, you were “elected” RNC Chair, no comparison), to his groveling to Mr. Limbaugh. Now he is committing Black on Black crime at its highest levels. He knows he was selected just so that the Rushpuppetcant’s can respond with another Black Man and have it not seem what it really is.
Now I am for Affirmative Action, in some cases its necessary, its been bashed about by the Rushpuppetcants and others who support nepotism but not AA. This “election” of Mr. Steele unfortunately shows what happens when “keeping it real goes wrong” (Dave Chapelle) or when AA goes wrong. Mr Steele knows he was an Affirmative Action baby, he wanted the job and he got it. Now he’s effin it up by trying to not only be his own man but be a man period in a party where you are to be seen smiling and not heard.
So Mr. Steele need not look for an explanation from Mr. Obama, you Sir are not Rush Limbaugh, and Mr. Obama is not you, so there will be no come ro Mr. Steele moment for you Sir, and after you get booted from your spot as RNC Chair, WE will all look at you and not say “how you like me now”, but sentence you to a lifetime of ridicule which you justly deserve.
RIP
March 12th, 2009 at 5:56 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
Black murder suspect: “Hey, brother, why you dissin’ me. You know, it’s just you and me, baby. You gonna campaign against me, baby?”
Black arresting cop: “You have the right to remain silent, and I suggest you use it.”
Black murder suspect: “You bother me, baby. Maybe some day you can explain to me.”
March 12th, 2009 at 5:56 pmOT But this is so much more significant, than what a Soon to Be Gone, pro-life wavering GOP spokesman has to say…
Two researchers have developed battery cells that can charge up in less time than it takes to read the first two sentences of this article. The work could eventually produce ultra-fast power packs for everything from laptop computers to electric vehicles.
Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have found a way to get a common lithium compound to release and take up lithium ions in a matter of seconds.
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090311/full/news.2009.156.html
Battery technology is the BOTTLENECK for an electric transportation system.
If this scientific advance pans out…the “Drill Baby Drill” Crowd is gonna look awful silly.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:56 pmSteele.Open.Mouth.Wild.Laughter.Follows.Clarification.By.Noon.Next.Day.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:57 pmSteele always seemed to me like someone who wasn’t comfortable in his own skin, like he is conflicted or fighting some inner war.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:02 pmNow the picture above proves it.
Thanks Badger – that’s news I’ve had an eye out for for a while.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pmHuH ????????????
So just because they are both black, Steele thought that Obama would stop being a democrat and come campaign for someone Republican whose political stands tend to gelatinize on the conservative side ?
March 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pmThe more Steele shoots himself, the bigger the chances are that he will soon hit at artery. My recommendation to him is STFU.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:31 pmpaleolib Says:
Because we can certainly count on Mr. Steele to practice what he preaches, right?
Abso-bloomin’-lutely, paleo. . . it’s just that WHAT he preaches changes daily. . .
March 12th, 2009 at 6:36 pmFlag Chat the Porn Spammer
March 12th, 2009 at 6:39 pmRandomChaos Says: Flag Chat the Porn Spammer
Had already done so–had no idea WHAT he was posting, but knew that if it was legit, it didn’t need to be in “code.”
March 12th, 2009 at 6:49 pmAs they like to say – they create their own reality.
Gobbels and Lenin both famously said that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. The re-Thuglic MO.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:51 pm*
Thanks for changing the picture, TP. :-D
March 12th, 2009 at 6:54 pmWho would claim Steele as a brother! A RepubliCon stooge, yes; a brother, no.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:56 pmsteeley damn should be careful on how he refers to African-American repugs or they will leave his party in droves.
HAHAHA
March 12th, 2009 at 7:18 pmYou mean that first pic wasn’t of steeley damn?
March 12th, 2009 at 7:23 pm“Steele Falsely Claims Obama Was The Only African-American Elected Official To Campaign Against Him”
lol Steele is looking more clownish everyday. At least Obama didn’t bow down to the grand poopah El Rushbo. Steele needs to take note of the late Shirley Chisholm’s slogan who ran for President in 1972: “She was unbrought and unbossed.”
March 12th, 2009 at 7:55 pm“And then, when I ran for the senate [in 2006], he was the only African-American elected official in the country to come and campaign against me. Nobody else.”
TP, you don’t need to correct the imbecile Steele on his lie. Next, Steele will say he marched with MLK and Malcolm X. Steele’s brain must be clouded from smoking on the bong pipe.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:30 pmCaption Contest:
“Will somebody please stop my dignity before it goes out the door?”
March 12th, 2009 at 10:10 pmMr. Steele,
Aren’t you forgetting Ken Blackwell, fellow African-American, fellow Republican who ran against you for the RNC chairmanship?
March 13th, 2009 at 8:42 amTHE WAY
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M.S. Morrison 2009
March 14th, 2009 at 9:43 amThat was most definitely hip hop beyond the cutting edge thinking there Steeley….. You Betcha! With comedy like this who needs Comedy Central, except for Jon Stewert, and ummmm Colbert. OOOps, strike that last sentence. Going for some nachos and cold beer, I should be back in time for Steele’s next episode of “Foot in Mouth”.
March 14th, 2009 at 5:49 pm