Steele mad that Specter disrespected him: ‘I know his mama didn’t raise him that way.’
Steele mad that Specter disrespected him: ‘I know his mama didn’t raise him that way.’
In response to Sen. Arlen Specter’s switch out of the Republican party, RNC chairman Michael Steele put out a statement saying that the senator “left to further his personal political interests.” Later in the day, however, Steele went on CNN and unleashed his grievances against Specter, who never alerted him to his decision. Angry at being left out of the loop and relegated to irrelevance, Steele invoked all sorts of schoolyard insults:
STEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair. At some point enough is going to be enough. … Sen. Cornyn went out on the line for this man. For the senator to effectively flip the bird back to Sen. Cornyn and the Republican Senate leadership — a team that has stood by him, who went to the bat for him in 2004 — to save his hide, to me is not only disrespectful, but it’s just downright rude. I’m sure his mama didn’t raise him this way, and it’s a shame that he’s behaving this way today.
BORDER: Did he give you a heads up on this?
STEELE: No, not at all, which is another form of disrespect that I don’t count. At least give me a call or give the party leadership a call and let us know this is what I’m thinking, this is where I’m going, so it can be repaired. I’m not one to be caught flat-footed about these things. You get on your toes and you respond as quickly as can you.
Watch it:
Steele may still be nursing outstanding hurt feelings against Specter. Last month, the Pennsylvania senator said, “And National Chairman Steele, well he’s said so many contradictory things I wouldn’t pay a whole lot of attention to him.”
Transcript:
CNN: Speaking of political survival — I mean how is this going to impact the Republican party?
BORGER: It has a big impact, no doubt about it. Certainly in the Senate, this puts the Democrats one step closer to 60 votes, which is a huge problem — not for the party per se, but for the country. To give one party control absolutely without the appropriate checks and balance in the Senate is a problematic. So, I think the senator contributing to that speaks volumes for me. And the fact that he would say that, you know, President Obama’s spending binge, you know, the $780 billion in the stimulus and the budget made him realize he’s a Democrat. Well, if spending the hard earned dollars of the American people and redistributing their wealth and moving towards a collectivist socialist approach to government — if that helps you realize you’re a Democrat, then, you know, good riddance.
CNN: Chairman, if you don’t mind, Gloria Borger has been here talking with me throughout the afternoon about this story. I’d love to bring her in on this interview. Gloria, I know you’ve got questions.
STEELE: Hey, Gloria.
BORGER: How are you?
STEELE: I’m good.
BORGER: Mr. Chairman, I guess the question is, could you have stopped Arlen Specter from leaving the party if you had said to him, for example, we’re not going have a republican primary challenger to you, you’re well-known in the state, you might have a shot of getting elected in a state that more Democratic. Why didn’t you clear the field for him to keep him from switching parties, if say he’ doing it out of political survival?
STEELE: I think that, you know, the party doesn’t operate that way. As I said, when this issue first arose, and I was a former state chairman, the national party doesn’t stick its nose in and help direct outcomes. The state party, ultimately working with the candidate, in this case, Sen. Specter, would work through whatever challenges they may face in the primary. The state chair made it clear they would let that process unfold. And Sen. Specter, if he’s challenged, would respond accordingly and have to address and account to the Republican base in the state for his votes.
Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair. At some point enough is going to be enough. For a lot of Republicans, particularly the core base of the party in Pennsylvania, they had reached that threshold. So it would ultimately be for them to decide. So the idea of clearing the decks — and I know the senatorial committee made it clear they were going to support Arlen Specter, endorse him. Sen. Cornyn went out on the line for this man. For the senator to effectively flip the bird back to Sen. Cornyn and the Republican Senate leadership — a team that has stood by him, who went to the bat for him in 2004 — to save his hide, to me is not only disrespectful, but it’s just downright rude. I’m sure his mama didn’t raise him this way, and it’s a shame that he’s behaving this way today.
BORDER: Did he give you a heads up on this?
STEELE: No, not at all, which is another form of disrespect that I don’t count. At least give me a call or give the party leadership a call and let us know this is what I’m thinking, this is where I’m going, so it can be repaired. I’m not one to be caught flat-footed about these things. You get on your toes and you respond as quickly as can you. But again, it shows a lack of respect for a party that he has pushed to the edge in terms of his vote and in terms of the arguments that he’s made in support of this administration, and I think right now he’s where he belongs and if the Democrats don’t beat him in the primary, we’ll take care of him come the general.
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Shorter, translated Steele…WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
April 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm“Just because we were actively looking to defeat him in the primary is no reason for him to be mad at us!!”
I wonder how long until Steele gets a phone call from a certain former President… “Heckuva job, Steeley!”
April 28th, 2009 at 2:48 pmSteel’s a joke himself, saying he feels disrespected by Specter! All that’s going to be left in the Repug party is Reich wing nuts like Steele and Limbaugh.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:50 pmMakes you wonder how long MixMaster Mike has left at the helm of the sinking Rethuglican ship…….
April 28th, 2009 at 2:50 pmSTEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair. At some point enough is going to be enough. … Sen. Cornyn went out on the line for this man. For the senator to effectively flip the bird back to Sen. Cornyn and the Republican Senate leadership — a team that has stood by him, who went to the bat for him in 2004 — to save his hide, to me is not only disrespectful, but it’s just downright rude.
And your threat to withhold RNC support for Specter was your way of showing your support and respect? Karma bites again, Mikey!
PEACE
April 28th, 2009 at 2:52 pmJust another prime example of the Michael Steele Strategy.
Get used to the failure and the burning stupid, honey-chile! That’s what you get when you set yourself up as a black Republican. There’s a reason there are NO ELECTED BLACK REPUBLICANS in Congress, and haven’t been any since the infamous J.C. Watts…
April 28th, 2009 at 2:52 pmIs Steele now caving to their pressure?
If Steele wants to keep his job as head of the RNC – an increasingly dubious position – he will have to join the far right and bow ever lower to Lintball and the gods at Fox.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:53 pmHe is pathetic in the role, but it is his for now, and the RNC doesn’t have anything or anyone else.
STEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair. At some point enough is going to be enough.
“Jus pleaz don thro me in da briar patch”
April 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pmSteele will be “caped and traded” soon.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pmSteele mad that Specter disrespected him: ‘I know his mama didn’t raise him that way.’ »
– - Shorter Steele, “Oh no you di’int!
April 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pmGiven that Specter was a Democrat until 1966, I’d guess his mama didn’t raise him to be a Republican.
PEACE
April 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pm.
The Specter of not being a (R)ushpublickin’…
… Steele heads explode.
.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pmAll this so-called Surprise is FAKE
Arlen just told the press that he called Mitch last night around 6:30, right after he got off the phone with Harry Reid. You can bet Mitch burned up the phonelines last night. More republican lies ? No surprise here.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pmMr. Steele, did it ever occur to you that your incompetence and right wing buffoonery were symptomatic of why Mr. Specter is abandoning your party? Should the captain of that merchant vessel kidnapped by pirates have respectfully told the pirates he was leaving before he tried to jump their ship?
April 28th, 2009 at 2:59 pmIsn’t Steele bald?
What hair is he talking about?
-
-
-
Man, those Republicans iz some sick mothafukkahs
April 28th, 2009 at 2:59 pmHey, NeoConservative for Progress:
I don’t want Specter. He should be primaried. He should lose his seat to a BETTER brand of Democrat. Pennsylvania’s in short supply of those these days, however.
But, no, you’re WRONG about comparing McCain with Specter, and may I remind you that a Senate seat does NOT equate with the White House? Thank you.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pmConservativeForProgress, you are confused (no surprise there).
April 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pmSpecter is embracing the Democratic party.
That does NOT mean that the Democratic pary is going to return the embrace.
Your attempts to spin your problems into Democratic ones are getting more and more feable. Perhaps YOU are too old?
Kind of hard for Steele to criticize Specter after openly threatening retribution for his vote in favor of the stimulus bill.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pmYou’re gonna pull a hammy overstretching that far, CFP. Is that really the best insult you can muster up regarding this situation?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:01 pmSTEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair.
You can burn my house
April 28th, 2009 at 3:02 pmSteal my car
Drink my liquor
From an old fruit jar
Do anything you want to do
But, uh-uh, honey, lay offa my shoes!
The Specter move puts Blue Dog Corporacrats in charge in the Senate. Nothing passes unless they approve.
Steele’s anger comes from Clinton Corporacrats horning in on the Republican’s traditional franschise, big business. Obama loves public-private partnerships for finance, infrastructure and health care.
The blue team warrants closer watching with the Specter move. I expect more corporafornication.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:03 pmPerhaps ConjobforProg should be reminded that, should Sen. Specter be unable to complete his term in the Senate for whatever reason, he would NOT be replaced with Sarah Palin.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:03 pmAlso in the CNN interview, Steele said that Obama was “moving towards a collectivist socialist approach to government.” In the past, he has avoided using the term “socialist,” raising the ire of hard right party members. Is Steele now caving to their pressure?
Yes.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pmJust remember, Steele told us last week that everything he does is strategeric (mis-spelled intentionally as a part of conjugating the word..strategeric becomes Strategery as you get closer to chimpy-speak)…so this was clearly a move that Steele had thought about YEARS ago and had planned this statement in advance….
Steele clearly has a plan to make sure 1) that the republican party becomes a party that represents the folks around his (Steele’s) house, and 2) Has only 4-5 members left at the end of 2009.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pmHah. “Pull my hair” – said by a bald man. That’s good.
Also, please give the RNC a call before switching parties. That way they have time to prepare a conspiracy for your unexpected departure.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pmSTEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair…
What is this, an old Elvis/Perkins tune?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:06 pm“Relax, I got an angle…”
April 28th, 2009 at 3:08 pmIt doesn’t matter if the republicans even believed what they say, they are still toast. They are irrational and unable to legislate.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:09 pmNow i suppose the republicans will start spouting values, now that they have displayed that they have none.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pmtweak my nose
step on my toes
pull my hair
Burma Shave.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pmI subscribe to non-violence, but oh how I’m itching to slap the jeepers out of Steele. And, as it’s already been rightly pointed out by many of you here, just because Specter’s coming in, it does not mean in any way that he’s being welcomed with open arms. The primaries are there for a reason – hopefully a true progressive will win and make Pennsylvanians proud. This said, I’ll still take Specter if it means he’ll get us to 60 – just to put an end to all the mindless frothing at the mouth by the jackasses on the right.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:11 pmOoops, Daddy-O@#21, didn’t see that already! Would you like some liquor? I’ve got some in this old fruit jar here…
April 28th, 2009 at 3:11 pmMy God this guy is a boob!
If it wasn’t so darn funny to watch this guy make an idiot out of himself everytime he opens his mouth it would be sad.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:12 pmSTEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair…
Is Steele now volunteering to undergo enhanced interrogation techniques?
Also, is Steele saying he knows Specter’s mama? Because that’s the implication there.
As for calling him first, as we all know by now, you don’t give R’s advance warning or they’ll rip you apart through their media wings. They haven’t demonstrated the good faith necessary to receive off-the-record phone calls.
Specter’s move just shows how untrustworthy the Republican party is right now – it’s extremely likely that they’ll be either unwilling (via doublecross) or incapable (via populist teabaggers) of delivering Specter the 2010 primary for his seat. But it doesn’t matter whether this was a consciencous decision or not, it amounts to the same thing either way: the Republican party is a massive suckpile of pure fail, and Specter can no longer afford to be associated with it.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:15 pmRUCeriousMaggot! Says:
——————————————————————————–
STEELE: Look, you can tweak my nose and you can step on my toes and you can pull my hair…
What is this, an old Elvis/Perkins tune?_____________ I thought that it was a Jim Croce song. “Dont pull the mask off of long ranger”
April 28th, 2009 at 3:15 pm****
best quote of the day
from glenn greenwald:
“Today is the best day to watch Fox News since the election — mass grieving flavored by impotent bitterness.”
**
i love it.
:)
April 28th, 2009 at 3:17 pmDaddy-O Says:
Steele went on to state that Specter could knock him down, step in his face, slander his name all over the place.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:18 pmHair? Steele has hair?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:19 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Is the wingnut left that posted thousands of mean spirited comments about Sen. McCain being too old at 72 now going to embrace a Senator (Specter) that is going to be 80 when he runs for re-election in 2010, or 86 at the end of his term (in the unlikely event he should win in 2010)?
Yea, wondering whether or not an old man with spotty medical history who is running with the most brain-dead political hack he could find, simply because she had prky tatas and that folksiness thing going for her is waaaay out of bounds AND mean-spirited!!
Please, grab a tissue, take a few deep breaths, and go cheney yourself.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:22 pmYou know what they say about karma. Guess Specter just didn’t think it was worth “pay[ing] a whole lot of attention to him.”
April 28th, 2009 at 3:26 pm“Steele mad that Specter disrespected him: ‘I know his mama didn’t raise him that way.’”
And this is coming from the same person who wanted to punish Specter for voting for the stimulus package. lol I’m all broken up in tears for the Steele man. I just heard about Specter switching to Democratic party hich is certaibly a major blow to the Repubs and the GOP media and talking heads. I look for a lot of soiling in the underwear from the GOP koolaiders from this shocking news.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:26 pmThey keep going deeper into the cesspool of insanity.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:26 pmDAMN! This keeps up and if the GOP wagon train circles any tighter, it will be a one wagon train.
Ahhh! I do love the sound of the GOP imploding in the morning!!!!
April 28th, 2009 at 3:34 pmHonestly, i don’t trust Arlen Specter. The democratic party should embrace him now to demoralize the GOP and pass some of the bills that he will help with. But in the next election, the democratic party should bring in a more progressive senator.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:35 pmheckuva job steele! you surely gave the GOP “direction” unfortunately, the direction you’ve given has caused senators to leave the party.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:39 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Is the wingnut left that posted thousands of mean spirited comments about Sen. McCain being too old at 72 now going to embrace a Senator (Specter) that is going to be 80 when he runs for re-election in 2010, or 86 at the end of his term (in the unlikely event he should win in 2010)?
Two words: Jesse Helms.
The Senate is not the Presidency.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:44 pm…and why wouldn’t Specter respect someone who treats a 30 year veteran Senator like a 10 year old child who should have called home to Mommy for permission?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:55 pmOH NO! NOT ME BABY! NO WAY! ROTFL! AHHAHAHAHAHA! Too funny!
I do believe that Senator Specter was flipping you the bird Mr. Steele. I guess he’s had enough of you turds in the GOP ruining his reputation and chances of being re-elected in 2010.
I’m glad Specter has moved to the Democratic Party but I hope he does not win in 2010. Time for some new blood in Congress. At least Specter can retire with his dignity still intact.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:58 pmhey! what’s that BREAKING NEWS chyron about: “If Franken wins…”
HE WON.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pmVasagi Says:
Hah. “Pull my hair” – said by a bald man. That’s good.
Perhaps the man of steele is refering to his teabag?
April 28th, 2009 at 4:05 pmand speaking of mama’s…
i was just at the hospital, paying a bill, came walking outside and some greaser standing near a stairway, smoking a cig, turns and hocks a loogey right onto the steps…
so i yell at him about what a stupid nasty thing that was,
“you don’t spit on a walkway… where’s your mama… she didn’t raise you very well…” as i was walking up to and past the idjit… who ignored me… well, he was THAT smart…
gad, i hate that… landscape mulch all around him, on both sides, and he spits in the middle of the concrete…
rant over… carry on…
April 28th, 2009 at 4:10 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
And it was the MORON conservatives that kept Strom Thurmond in the Senate till he was 100 years old. You really are an idiot CFP
April 28th, 2009 at 4:26 pmThis guy is out of his tree tops, it’s like rush limbaugh and fat albert had baby.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:30 pmSteele will never admit to it but he is really jealous of President Obama…but he fails to recognize is that he:
1. Is not as intelligent as the President.
2. Does not have a grasp of the English language.
3. Is not nearly as charismatic as the President.
Yes Mr. Steele, you are a phony and President Obama wanna be.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:30 pmSpectre is in the dog tent.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:36 pm“…And fighting out of the red corner, representing the RNC, currently with a record of NO wins and many losses,… Michael ‘The Puppet’ Steeeeeeeeeeeeeele!”
April 28th, 2009 at 4:56 pmyeesh … reading that, i want to be clear – i didn’t really “yell” at the guy, but spoke out, loud enough he knew i was talking to and about him as i was walking up to and passed him…
April 28th, 2009 at 4:59 pmSOMEbody’s got to do it…
Mush pulls this guys strings.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:02 pmDear Michael,
There’s a logic to it. It’s all strategic.
Regards,
April 28th, 2009 at 5:57 pmArlen Specter
His “mama”?
“yo mama” jokes and references in a blog by a bunch of chuckleheads like us is one thing.
But from the Chair of the RNC?
:|
Someone needs to replace Steele. He’s an embarrassment.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:01 pmOh Steele, put a sock in it. If it had been Pat Leahy switching to the Republican party, you’d be showering him with roses. What his mama would have thought would have been irrelevant to you.
But, please, I do wish that you continue as the RNC chairman, because you are the best gift a Democrat could ever have.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:03 pmwell mr steel at least spector had a mamma who didn’t put him up for adoption.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:44 pmShouldn’t he be in a padded room somewhere with bat crazy Bachman?
April 28th, 2009 at 6:56 pm“…pull my hair”?????
He doesn’t have any hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 28th, 2009 at 7:13 pmHistrionic much?? Boys and girls, can you say “narcissist”???
Good grief!! Steele could really stand to learn that Specter’s decision to decamp from the Republican party isn’t personal — or at least, nowhere nearly as personal as Steele seems to interpret it as being! To all appearances, it was motivated almost entirely by self-interest — it really has very little to do with principles or party loyalty and everything to do with keeping his Congressional seat whatever the cost. Okay, so maybe Specter’s decision not to inform Steele before announcing his decision was a bit inconsiderate and disrespectful — but Steele’s response is over the top and way out of proportion. It’s not as if he needed to get their permission to leave…
April 28th, 2009 at 8:03 pmCould there be at least an itsy-bitsy possibility that Steele may have been part of the reason that Specter left ?
Doesn’t Steele’s statement sound like a description of professional wrestling ?
I can’t get the image out of my head of the time I watched professional wrestling. I vividly remember someone was fighting Hillbilly Jim. The opponent punched Jim and Jim laughed it off. The opponent did all sorts of attempted assault on Jim and Jim laughed it off. But then he pulled Hillbilly Jim’ beard. He oughtn’t have done that.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:04 pmYou’d think they had been dating.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:13 pmYou’d think they had been dating. — Wiley
************************************************
Although I wasn’t quite that specific in my earlier post, I had much the same thought — that Steele sounded like a high school girl complaining over being dissed by her BFF or her boyfriend. For some reason, he’s trying to turn this into something which is much more personal than it really is — and he only makes himself look foolish in the process.
April 28th, 2009 at 8:42 pmSteele mad that Specter disrespected him: ‘I know his mama didn’t raise him that way.’
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do you get the impression Steele is not in the loop. I do like the dowm homey approch. Steele gives it a nice touch.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:06 amThis is the best the Republicans can offer the country?perplexed, flight
Bluestocking Says:
Although I wasn’t quite that specific in my earlier post, I had much the same thought — that Steele sounded like a high school girl complaining over being dissed by her BFF or her boyfriend. For some reason, he’s trying to turn this into something which is much more personal than it really is — and he only makes himself look foolish in the process.
I just keep thinking: this is not what “leadership” looks like.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:19 amNo, Mr. Fetchitt, he’s just embarrassed by the association with buffoons like you.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:36 amObama isn’t a socialist, unfortunately. So why are these people promoting a lie?
April 29th, 2009 at 4:32 amSo far Obama appears to be very regressive, at least according to the ACLU and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.
No, John Cornyn works for John Cornyn and not other politicians unless they mirror John’s ego. One would hope Spector would do some soul searching and become a progressive in his time, turning his back on disgraceful human ethics of neocon Republicans.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:26 amThanks Sites Sesli Sohbet
April 30th, 2009 at 8:34 amSesli Chat
SesliSohbet
SesliChat
Now it the “Mammas” of the country that the Republicans blame – and just in time for the upcoming Mothers Day!!
Hey Steel, you have Great Timing!!
May 4th, 2009 at 3:42 pm