Steele Forces College Republicans To Participate In A 10-Minute Demonstration Of His Infamous Hat Metaphor
Steele Forces College Republicans To Participate In A 10-Minute Demonstration Of His Infamous Hat Metaphor
Appearing on MSNBC in April, RNC Chairman Michael Steele unveiled a strange metaphor to highlight his view of Republican Party regional inclusiveness. Steele asked Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan to pretend they were all wearing hats that said “GOP” and for the purposes of the demonstration, they all hailed from different parts of the country. Steele then explained:
STEELE: In the Midwest, you guys like to wear it a little bit to the right. In the South, you guys wear the brim straight ahead. Now the Northeast, I wear my hat backwards, you know, ’cause that’s how we roll in the Northeast.
At the College Republican annual conference this past weekend, Steele again deployed the same exercise to teach students about embracing Republicans, regardless of “how they wear their hat.” Steele asked four College Republicans to stand up and simulate wearing a hat “that very boldly says GOP.” After lecturing on how each imaginary hat would could be worn differently, Steele proclaimed, “The problem we had is that too many of our friends, neighbors, colleagues, family members, are taking the hat off because we have decided we don’t like the way they wear it.” While the bewildered students stood in front of the crowd obediently for nearly ten minutes, Steele eventually concluded:
STEELE: Let me ask you, what do they have in common? They’re all wearing the same hat. […] The difference is, Barack Obama has asked your generation to wear his hat, his hat — the hat of one man. I’m asking you to go out and ask your friends to wear our hat -– the hat of an idea.
ThinkProgress attended the conference and caught the demonstration on video. Watch it:
Unconvinced by Steele’s unified hat theory, several College Republicans expressed their concern that the GOP establishment was moving to shut out fellow Republican Marco Rubio in favor Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate primary. Asked by one attendee about how to deal with RINOs (Republicans in name only), Steele replied, “I don’t know what that is. I’m just being honest with you.”
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He ‘da man wid’ ‘dat hat.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:30 pmI think Steele needs a new hat. This one is obviously too tight.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:31 pmThis guy is mad as a hatter.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:32 pmSteele needs to learn some new street slang…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:32 pmSteele forgot to mention all three of those hats were lined with foil
June 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pmsteele is still a rat in a hat, no matter which way he wears it
June 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pmHey TP, love the new preview option, thanks!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pmTypical. Steele focuses on the hat instead of the head that wears it. “All hat and no cattle” still is an appropriate saying for him and his ilk.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pmSteele asked four College Republicans to stand up and simulate wearing a hat “that very boldly says GOP.”
There’s a name for that : It’s called a “Dunce Cap”…….
June 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pmMaybe a nice beanie with a propeller on top.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pmIt’s hard to keep a hat on a pinhead unless it’s white and pointed. But those are usually referred to as hoods.
PEACE
June 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pmHe neglected to tell them that GOP stood for Goobers On Parade
June 9th, 2009 at 12:36 pmThe future of the GOP is in safe hats… hands…. sorry
June 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pmI’m tempted to think that Republicans are just completely hopeless with metaphors.
I suspect it’s mostly Steele, though.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pmI’m trying not to feel pity for the hot mess that is Michael Steele…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pmThe price you pay to be a Republican? Your soul. Watching Steele, Limpballs and Newt destroy the Republican Party? Priceless.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:39 pmIts pink boas and wigs Steele, PINK BOAS AND WIGS!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm…
what if you wear your hat
backwards?
you know, hip hop style?
***
would that be too funky?
…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm“…ask your friends to wear our hat – the hat of an idea.”
And what exactly is the “idea”?
Oh, that’s right…the Republic Fascist Party only has one…
…tax cuts for the rich…that idea…the one that did so well for the country for the last 8 years.
Fcuk the Republic Fascist Party
June 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pmThe chess master has crowned the pawns
June 9th, 2009 at 12:41 pmBesides the fact that he is using the metaphor to imply that the GOP is the party of diversity (?HUH?),
it seems a pretty lame metaphor. Not to mention stereotyping folks from the different regions. I live in the midwest and I roll with the best of em.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pmI’d also note that there was a grand total of 200 attendees at this conference. Not much of a pool to work with for the future leadership of the GNOP.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pmSteele doesn’t know what a RHINO is because he is not well read enough to have seen that term lobbied about. He is out of touch with America, and it shows in how lame his attempt at being bleeding edge really was.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:44 pmThis is absolutely hilarious. Steele spent 8 minutes getting college students to try on imaginary hats. He couldn’t even bother to bring an actual hat to illustrate his point that he thought was important enough to spend 8 minutes on.
And his conclusion?
What on earth is he talking about? It’s just like his last speech when he promised to deliver “change in a tea bag.”
What’s next? The hat of a changing tea bag idea?
June 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pmStupid is as stupid does…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm….
did newt mention
anything about hats
during his speech last night?
>>>
i think ari would embrace
the “hat metaphor“.
:)
June 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pmMaybe Steele should start wearing these so-called hats and tour with Guilani dressed in drag. They would probably have more then a measly 200 people show up.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm*<}3^B
The GOP clown hat
June 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pmSteele proves how stupid a black man has to be to be a Republican.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pmbrilliant metaphor.. if this wont bring young people to the GOP nothing will
June 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pmcan’t bother to watch this video, but from the still, something’s missing:
props. he needs props.
did he even THINK to bring hats for this demonstration?
not that it would matter, but it would’ve been funnier…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:52 pmMichael Steele (hee hee hee hee hee hee). Sorry, I can’t help myself. Every time I read someting that starts with michael steele.…….. I start laughing. What a MORON!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:52 pmWhere are the What Not To Wear producers when they’re really needed?
June 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pmMetaphor prison
June 9th, 2009 at 12:53 pmEnhanced interrogation
This should be a crime
…
what about men without hats?
:(
June 9th, 2009 at 12:54 pmMark @ News Corpse Says:
This is absolutely hilarious. Steele spent 8 minutes getting college students to try on imaginary hats. He couldn’t even bother to bring an actual hat to illustrate his point that he thought was important enough to spend 8 minutes on.
And his conclusion?
“[G]o out and ask your friends to wear our hat – the hat of an idea.”
What on earth is he talking about? It’s just like his last speech when he promised to deliver “change in a tea bag.”
It’s pretty clear how Steele’s ‘Imaginary Hat’ metaphor was supposed to work.
No hats, no ideas.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:54 pmMark @ News Corpse – exactly!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:54 pmSteele demonstrates that an asshat is an asshat no matter how you wear it.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pmI don’t think the metaphor is the problem, it’s the fact that the Republicans are almost solely a party of bigoted racists.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:59 pmThe hat of an idea… ’cause that’s how we roll…
Somebody needs to clue this guy in to how embarrassing he is.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm…
no doubt about it,
mike steele is troll repellent.
:)
June 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pmIt is indicative that Mikey uses a ball cap metaphor to prove his point. No one in the audience was wearing one and the only Republican types who do are the down home rednecks in their incredibly shrinking base.
Maybe his metaphor would work better if he used BMWs, Lexus and Mercedes instead. ‘See, we all drive some hot rides but we can all find the cliff’.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pmGood afternoon, mortal posters. The God of God, the Everlasting, I speaking.
‘The hat of an idea’ is a rather strange anology even I am not quite able to fathom when attempting to connect it to the idea of unity. Attempting to get people to put on ‘imaginary hats’ is simply underlying one of the great problems of the Republican party – mainly that the leaders, both official and de facto, are in many ways out of touch with those who are not part of the inner circle. It is lamentable, to say the least.
A suggestion to Mr. Steele would be to step down, and to allow someone with more coherent and less divisive rhetoric to assume his place. As Mr. Steele has proven himself, to Me at least, as inefficient in pursuing his goals and unifying his followers, perhaps it is a time to change the guard to someone younger with more dynamics.
Aah, but what would I know, My fellow mortal posters…
-God
June 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm“I know no good things I could say”
June 9th, 2009 at 1:09 pmSaid the rat.
“I know no new tricks”
Said the Rat In The Hat.
“Here’s one dumb trick
I can now show to you
And your mind
Won’t be needed at all if I do.”
Since when did Michael Steele turn “groovy.” What’s next, telling Dems to “talk to the hand?”
June 9th, 2009 at 1:09 pmThe Rat in the Hat:
The sun did not shine
It was too wet to play
So we lied in the House (and Senate)
All that cold, cold wet day
Apologies to Dr. Seuss.
PEACE
June 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pmSuuuuree…it’s Obama’s fault that most of the republicans just leaved the party.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pmIt wasn’t Bill’O, Rush Limbalg and others nuts who just said that they “don’t want any left or centrist in the republican party”.
Steele: Okay, you, first guy, wiggle your legs and hold your nose. You, second guy, flail your arms wildly. You, third guy, look terrified and scream. Now, we have an idea, and you are all lemmings, now, see I have an Idea, our idea, its the same but different. I am going to jump off the edge into the abyss, my idea, OK? Now, ask your friends to do the same… One, three, two, leap!
June 9th, 2009 at 1:12 pmWhat about Hats of Meat?
Very stylish!
June 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pmGreat minds…, spensers mom!
June 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pmGreyfox, maybe it is partially Obama’s fault people are leaving the GOP – with Obama they get actual ideas instead of imaginary hats.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pmThere are so many things wrong with this ridiculous waste of time speech by Michael Steele, that one hardly knows where to begin. I’m going to start with one question: Hats are for heads, which imply skulls that protect brains that generate thought. None of these people needs hats.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pmoh, PLC, I didn’t even see yours before I posted mine! But yes, great minds!
PEACE
June 9th, 2009 at 1:16 pmBut, why would they have a non-Republican as chairman of the RNC?
June 9th, 2009 at 1:18 pmi wouldn’t belong to any group that has that idiot for a ‘leader’.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pmHats of meat. In Wisconsin, we use cheese. Maybe Mikey can go with fish. They tend to go bad pretty fast, like the Republicans.
Maybe a nice grouper?
June 9th, 2009 at 1:21 pmI’m asking you to go out and ask your friends to wear our hat – the hat of an idea.
___________
So now the GOP is giving out hats to their people and expecting them to all wear the same government-issued hat?
Sounds kinda socialist to me.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:21 pm…
michelle has a republican hat.
(she wears it forward.)
:|
June 9th, 2009 at 1:22 pm“get to it before it crashes”… or try later… good EDitorial there too.
Take Ed’s Poll
Do you feel that President Obama and Democrats are living up to their promises on health care they made during the campaign?
http://wegoted.com/
June 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pmturn it to the left,
June 9th, 2009 at 1:26 pmor wear it straight ahead,
turn it to the right,
or spin it on your pin head,
just do the Hat-a-Pokey,
the gop will rise from dead
God of Gods, while reading your post the voice I heard was Bill Cosby’s in his Noah skit. Thanks for the laugh.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:29 pmGod of Gods Says:
oh, wise one, while you are here and not distracted by something shiny or telling Pat Roberson to say things to make himself the fool, a question.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pmWhat exactly were you thinking, God, when you created GW Bush? Was it a punishment on mankind or was it an attempt at a sick joke?
Inquiring minds want to know…..
Steele is a Fascist who demonstrated his disregard for law during his tenure as Lt Governor of Maryland–nothing he does should surprise, because there are no deep, abiding principles guiding him, only his own personal advantage and power.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pmJust out of curiosity, how many of the attendees of this college republican conference are future serial killers?
June 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pmyou to go out and ask your friends to wear our hat – the hat of an idea. …An idea as in only one!!!! And that ones not very good.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:32 pmBobwurst, in this clip the number of serial killers (about 11 by my count) paled in comparison to the number of self-loathing sexual predators…
June 9th, 2009 at 1:44 pmBobwurst Says:
Just out of curiosity, how many of the attendees of this college republican conference are future serial killers?
June 9th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
More than before Mikey spoke…
June 9th, 2009 at 1:47 pmGOP = The Party of Diversity
June 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pmAs evidenced by the 100% white crowd.
ummmm….was there a coherent thought or any type of idea what the “hat” stands for? If so, I missed it.
I don’t think the GOPs problem is the “hats”, but the lack of ideas. The lack of consistent ideals that translate from one issue to another.
I could go on, but I think we all know that. It is pretty sad that we can’t get any real helpful discussions of important issues.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:10 pmWOW! THis is hilarious. Keep shooting for the stars Steele, you da man!
Steele=AssHAT
College Republicans=ASSHATS
June 9th, 2009 at 2:11 pmThe racist trolls will come here and defend anything no matter how ridiculous one of their stupid white leaders says but they leave the black leader high and dry.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:17 pmthey have their heads so far up their asses it doesn’t matter how they wear damn hats.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pmBut, why would they have a non-Republican as chairman of the RNC?
There are intelligent Republicans, but unfortunately they are made nominal and sidelined by the more bombastic of their group.
—
God of Gods, while reading your post the voice I heard was Bill Cosby’s in his Noah skit. Thanks for the laugh.
You are welcome, fellow mortal poster. Bill Cosby has has some very humorsous moments, though I will say my voice doesn’t sound like his, sadly.
—
oh, wise one, while you are here and not distracted by something shiny or telling Pat Roberson to say things to make himself the fool, a question.
What exactly were you thinking, God, when you created GW Bush? Was it a punishment on mankind or was it an attempt at a sick joke?
Inquiring minds want to know…..
Now now, fellow mortal poster. Despite what they may say, I have not told Pat Robertson anything. Or Pat Buchanan, for that matter. They both make themselves false prophets of My Word with their words of baseless hate.
As for the question of your former President, that I made him had little to do with how he got where he ended up. When it comes to the development of the lives of most of humanity, it is not I who decides their fate, but they. I gave humans free will to pursue their own destinies, to give them a chance to live a beautiful life on this world. President George W. Bush’s ascension to power was a result of men who desired a candidate who was the ‘next Reagan’, who would be a paragon of My virtues, so they claimed, looking through their narrow definition of what it means to live through My virtue. But in truth they needed a man who wanted to believe in something and was malleable enough to be convinced of things which were untrue on varying levels. This I had no hand in.
Regardless, I am sorry you feel such hatred towards the former President. He was not the greatest president, and as a man claiming such things in my name, ultimately, I must step in and hold some responsibility for that, even if my actual hand in the events that transpired were, as I explained, limited. You deserved better, My child. You did.
-God
June 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pmWhoa, even the young ones are throwing around the term “RINO.”
What a party they’ve become: they’ve got their TEENAGE members out testing for ideological purity and loyalty.
Sounds just like Germany in the 1930s, doesn’t it?
I’m happy if they want to call us “Democrat Socialists,” just so long as they stop denying their own National Socialism.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:36 pmRepublican leadership seems to have a clothing fetish.
First it was G W Bush and his snide remarks about reporters’ suits and ties. Then it was that Palin chick and all her fancy threads – that she didn’t pay for – and the Gucci bags for the kids.
Now, Steele and his fascination with hats and how they are worn.
Criminy sakes, no wonder the GOP is in a ditch. But don’t they all look nice?
June 9th, 2009 at 3:45 pmWhen I hear Steele’s statements, he reminds me of the Monty Python sketch with the minister of silly walks.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pmSteele is the ass who wears his ass for a hat.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:09 pmFYI steeley damn, people wear their hats the way they want to. People don’t need the gnop to tell them how to wear a damn baseball cap.
The way people wear their hat doesn’t mean their from some geographical place in the US.
Stop trying so hard to be hip.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:58 pmHas anybody told Steele yet that the phrase “wearing many hats” refers to holding multiple roles at once in an endeavor?
June 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pmObviously Mr. Steele is wearing his a$$hat.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:57 am