Steele: It’s ‘Not Inflammatory’ For Me To Say ‘God Help You If You’re A White Male Coming Before’ Sotomayor
Steele: It’s ‘Not Inflammatory’ For Me To Say ‘God Help You If You’re A White Male Coming Before’ Sotomayor
While guest-hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show last week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele backtracked on his call for conservatives to tone down their harsh rhetoric towards Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. “God help you if you’re a white male coming before her bench,” declared Steele.
On CNN last night, Campbell Brown confronted Steele with the quote, which was first reported by ThinkProgress. “Well, that’s not inflammatory,” replied Steele. He then tried to explain why his statement was benign:
STEELE: Well, that’s not inflammatory. It’s based off of what — the inference that she left and what she said. You know, if you have a judge, where you have a situation where you have — you’re going before a trier of fact, and the trier of fact is on record as saying that this individual’s background experience is better positioned to make a decision than someone else, that gives one pause. And so my view of it was, in looking at it, you’re now segregating out white men by your comments. So, God help you if you’re a white male. If you’re seeking justice, this may not be the bench you want to go before.
Watch it:
Earlier in the interview, before Brown confronted him with his “white male” quote, Steele insisted that he simply “wanted to see what her record is.” But if that were true, he would know that his fearmongering claim that Sotomayor will discriminate against white men is groundless.
When SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein examined all of Sotomayor’s race-related judicial opinions, he found that Sotomayor had “rejected discrimination-related claims by a margin of roughly 8 to 1.” “Given that record, it seems absurd to say that Judge Sotomayor allows race to infect her decisionmaking,” concluded Goldstein. Noting Goldstein’s study, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote yesterday, “When you read her opinions, race and gender are invisible.”
Transcript:
BROWN: You know, you’ve talked about expanding the party to win specifically Latinos over. But some in your party, including you, have said some pretty inflammatory things about Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Do you think that hurts those efforts?STEELE: Well, I don’t know what I said that was inflammatory about the judge other than we wanted to see what her record is and we wanted to wait until that record was fully understood so that we can engage in I think a very important debate about the direction the Supreme Court at these times…
BROWN: Right.
STEELE:…where you’ve got questions regarding property rights, questions regarding, you know, the role of the government and the lives of the American people. So I don’t think I said anything inflammatory, though.
BROWN: Well, I’ll read you the quote…
STEELE: OK.
BROWN: … and then you can clarify it for all of us. This is after you had said that Republicans shouldn’t, in your view, use hot rhetoric…
STEELE: Right.
BROWN: … that was the quote — about race to attack her. You then said, “God help you if you’re a white male coming before her bench.”
STEELE: Well, that’s not inflammatory. It’s based off of what — the inference that she left and what she said. You know, if you have a judge, where you have a situation where you have — you’re going before a trier of fact, and the trier of fact is on record as saying that this individual’s background experience is better positioned to make a decision than someone else, that gives one pause. And so my view of it was, in looking at it, you’re now segregating out white men by your comments. So, God help you if you’re a white male. If you’re seeking justice, this may not be the bench you want to go before. And I think that’s the clarification the judge needs to make very clear in her hearings, that — was that something that she views as a personal view, or is that how she adjudicates the law? What is it?
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Michael Steele, the gift that keeps giving. The Republicans really are the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth clowns falling out of the VW bus at the circus.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:11 pmShorter Steele:
What? What’d I say?
June 10th, 2009 at 2:14 pmwhat a clown.
what a special ed group the republican party is.
baffoons.
all of them.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:14 pmSteele: It’s ‘Not Inflammatory’ For Me To Say ‘God Help You If You’re A White Male Coming Before’ Sotomayor
– - When the head of the GOP is this clueless it’s easy to see why Republicans are in a free-fall.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:15 pmBy their standards it probably wouldn’t be considered “inflammatory”!
Maybe if he’d said, “If you go before her as a white male you’ll be hung as a traitor” or something like that, maybe (maybe) they’d consider that inflammatory.
Actually, it’s difficult to imagine a statement that the republicans might consider inflammatory! Of course, if it was a Democrat saying it, well that’s a different story obviously. (snark off)
June 10th, 2009 at 2:15 pmTranslation: “It’s OK to be a minority in a position of power as long as you completely forget that you’re a minority. Look at me for instance!”
June 10th, 2009 at 2:16 pmRepubs have nothing to offer America so they must resort to name calling and having to disagree and sling mud at every action of the democrats. It’s sure a lot easier than working to solve the problems created by cheney/bush.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pmSTEELE: Well, that’s not inflammatory. It’s based off of what — the inference that she left and what she said.
Um… it’s not based “off of the inference that she left”. It’s based off of the INFERENCE YOU CHOSE TO SHAPE.
The speaker IMPLIES. The listener INFERS.
And besides, it’s much better to make broad judgments based on a single juicy distorted quote from a targeted speech, rather than the actual judicial record.
I swear, these people are fu(king children. Plain and simple.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pmSteele must take forever in the morning putting on black face ’cause it sure is convincing.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pmGet a grip, Mike. She’d be one of nine justices, not the ultimate decider of all things Supreme.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pmAnd last time I checked, the balance was 5-4 con.
That’s a good point, mary lacewing. We keep forgetting that they operate within an alternate reality. It may actually be a true statement within that alternate reality.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pmAnd if anybody knows inflammatory, it’s Michael Steele. Remember how inflamed he got over a little fly in his soup?
June 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pmSTEELE: You know, if you have a judge, where you have a situation where you have…
And why did Steele stop in the middle of this train of thought and switch gears? Simple. He was starting to tell the truth about Sotomayor’s comment, that is, that in a particular situation in which there are facts and life circumstances of the case which a judge has him or herself faced, then that judge may (or as she said “I hope”) be in a better position to understand and make a fairer decision. For further clarification, see Judge Alito’s confirmation hearing answers.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pmWell, that’s not inflammatory. It’s based off of what — the inference that she left and what she said
Its not based off what she said. Its based on what you want people to think she said. Big difference
June 10th, 2009 at 2:22 pmwell, good on campbell for bringing it up…
but.
and THEN what did she say??? how did she respond to that???
the usual, “ok moving on”?
June 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pmI assume Steele is just as afraid of any non-Italians coming before the SCOTUS with Alito on the bench? Sheesh.
Steele is trying so hard to make his boogeyman believable, but it’s just not working. This whole kerfuffle is much ado about nothing, and it only hyped because this is the absolute WORST thing the GOP could find on this woman.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:26 pmAnd I think that’s the clarification the judge needs to make very clear in her hearings, that — was that something that she views as a personal view, or is that how she adjudicates the law?
Neither, of course. Both of these are YOUR misunderstandings of what she said. Given the very poor receptive and expressive language skills you demonstrate repeatedly, Mr. Steele, I have serious doubts that Judge Sotomayor can make anything clear to you.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pmMichael Steele is an embarrassment!
June 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pmI cannot figure out how Steele ever achieved a political office in Maryland.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:32 pmShellly Says:
Michael Steele is an embarrassment!
The GOP wanted a Black figurehead to counter the notion that they cater to racists, and to “balance” the leader of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, they missed the fact that the leader of the Democratic Party is a SMART black man. Appearances just don’t cut it in the real world.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:33 pmThat’s right Michael, if you are a white man seeking justice the last place you want to look is a nine member court on which only seven justices are men and only six of them are white. You certainly can’t find justice when only two thirds of the court look just like you.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pmSteele is another reich winged example of ” say anything weird.,” try and stay relevent and in front of any old camera…Blessings
June 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pmSomething noteworthy here – Steele did manage to get through an entire appearance without using any embarrassingly unhip slang lingo. So that’s something.
.
chiroptera toasterhead Says:
And if anybody knows inflammatory, it’s Michael Steele. Remember how inflamed he got over a little fly in his soup?
That’s the last time he took a firm political stand on anything. And look where it got him.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pm“God help you”?
Since when has the Invisible Magical Faerie in the Sky helped anyone? Never.
Steele is an idiot, oh wait, I forgot, he is a chess master playing a complex political game that no one but him knows.
Fcuk the Republic Fascist Party
June 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pmFacts: What would the GOP be with them.
Democrats.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:44 pmShorter Michael Steele:
‘Lord, I know the pain a white male feels when he is held down by the man! Yo…’
June 10th, 2009 at 2:46 pmthe fact that black men go to prison in disproportionate numbers more so than whites, it behooves me to see Steele sit there as a voice for white males… just last week a white woman called police to say that her and her daughter were kidnapped by a black male. Thank goodness the police didn’t go rounding up black males for this hoax… much like other high-profiled cases, a black male is an easy target, but why???
June 10th, 2009 at 2:47 pmDavid Brooks wrote yesterday, “When you read her opinions, race and gender are invisible.”
Kind of like the Republic party will be by 2012.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:04 pmI guess it’s safe to say that Michael Steele still has no clue as to why he was elected to serve as the RNC Chairman.
I don’t know, it sure seems that they are trying to detroy their own party by keeping the likes of Steele and Palin in the foreground.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pmThe Republicans got just what they wanted in a figure head, an Uncle Tom.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pmMr. Steele:
Your Stockholm Syndrome is showing itself again. Help is available; go get some NOW.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pmKeep it up SteelyMike, your tiny tent is getting itty-bittyer by the hour.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pmQuark sized, almost…
I’ve been fighting the potential of agreeing with this for quite some time now.
But I’m starting to wonder if Steele, quite paradoxically, hates people of color ?
I have run into black people who didn’t like the Hispanics, apparently because they were taking the spotlight of being “the minority”.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:21 pmSo where was SteelyMike asking about how minorities would feel when coming before Alito, Scalia, Roberts???
June 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pmOK, Mikey. Whatever you say…maybe not “inflammatory”, but most certainly “REALLY, REALLY STUPID.”
June 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pmI’m coming to the realization that Steele just might be as stupid as Bible Spice.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:55 pmSo, God help you if you’re a white male. If you’re seeking justice, this may not be the bench you want to go before.
Hey Mikey! How many members does The Supreme Court have??
Does anybody know this guy’s IQ? I suspect its lower than the temperature in Alaska in winter!!! How very accurately he represents Republicanism!!!
June 10th, 2009 at 4:18 pmInflammatory or not, the comment is dammed stupid.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:34 pmRalph the wonder locust: Grrr…me too. It really irks me when people use infer and imply interchangeably. Why not use “in” and “out” interchangeably, or “up” and “down”
June 10th, 2009 at 4:37 pmOops! The Repugs do use those words interchangeably. And many others. In fact, they have their own version of “English”. One must know the cipher code-word or secret handshake to figure it out. Or something.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:42 pmThe New G.O.P. – ALL red meat, ALL the time!
June 10th, 2009 at 4:45 pmMapleStreet Says:
But I’m starting to wonder if Steele, quite paradoxically, hates people of color ?
If you’ve ever seen the Boondocks, you’ve seen a good sampling of Steele’s politics.
June 10th, 2009 at 5:36 pmNot inflammatory somehow seems quite ironic with the recent shooting in D.C…
rieghtwing extremism
June 10th, 2009 at 8:20 pmis on the rise
and with comments like Steeles,
it’s no suprise
I see Steele has learned how to speak fluent Palineese.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:24 pmYes Micheal it IS inflamatory it is also dishonest and you are truly a moron
June 10th, 2009 at 10:18 pmThat’s right—it is inflammatory. Nutty white men are killing people out of a paranoid lunacy that is inscribed in statements like “God help you if you’re a white man…”
Get the thorazine. Get the strait-jacket.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:33 pm