HARRY REID WILL resign, before he endures a loose in Nevada.
It is the plan. Steele is the diversion.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

Steele is an assclown…

true, and I like the word buffoon too.

…while generally making a mockery of the Republican Party.

not a real tough job, but he manages to pull it off with style. Of some sort.

I loved it when he told the Rs to shut up and get out of the way. Can you just imagine what Mitch (if I only had a chin) McConnell must have said. I’ll bet he had the vapors.

Of course, it could wind up being a case of Steele getting what he asks for and then regretting it (say if someone like Schumer who shows occasional spine)

I applaud Steele’s efforts to make a mockery out of the Republican Party.

He reminds me of Spiro for some reason.

No effort at all.

I have noted elsewhere that wingnuts around the nation have stopped forwarding e-mails of President Obama dressed as an African witch-doctor and as a shoe-shine boy long enough to denounce Harry Reid’s racism.

We live in ass clown nation.

-G

Every time I look at Michael Steele’s eyes I think of Thoreau’s buddy the woodcutter: deficient in intellect.

Steele is the republican party’s affirmative reaction hire.

FDL’s Whip list just got mentioned on book-tv.

I don’t know if anyone here saw the movie, but Steele is Putney Swope.

In the movie Swope (the token black guy) becomes president of a big ad agency when the chairman dies. Everyone on the board of directors hates everyone else and wants to be the new chairman, and Swope sneaks in because the others are all fighting each other.

The crazy wing of the Republican Party (Palin) and the less-crazy wing (Romney) don’t get along, so Steele was put in as a placeholder. He doesn’t do anything right, he has no history of accomplishment, and he’s doing personal work on company time, but he’s the only compromise candidate they can come up with — there’s really no middle.

The Republican Party is wrecked. I really wish the Democrats were able to capitalize, but Obama’s too busy demoralizing his base with triangulation to have time to do that.

excellent

I read Harry Reid’s comments. I’m not a big Reid fan (disclaimer), and I agree that the comments were not politically correct and displayed some insensitivity. OTOH, they were accurate in some ways, and I didn’t find them horrid or completely demeaning, and certainly not even close to how many Republic pundits, commentators and buffoons (thanks) like Steele talk every day. Not the best comments to make, but by far, not all that bad, and to me, not worthy of demanding that Reid resign (much as I might want that to happen). A typical knee-jerk & predictable response from the right signifying nothing at all of any substance, style or intelligence.

OTOH, much as Steele is a jerk of the highest degree, I don’t get why Republics don’t like him: Steele acts & speaks & is as racist as they all are. I think he’s “their man” for sure. Also I did enjoy it when Steele told Republics to shut up. Pass the popcorn – that was pretty good coming from that tool.

I guess Steele doesn’t care about Indian casino money and the effect it has on political races.

Then we need clown car mass transit.

Steele is the republican party’s pretend affirmative reaction hire.

Exactly.

He is emboldened since he cannot be removed. If the attempt is made, the power structure of the republican party is terrified Steele will flap his yap and play the race card. Therefore, he can be as inept as possible and use his position to raise cash for him and to raise his profile. He is the best person on our team in the republican party. Sorta like their own Lieberman.

LieberBruthah. Ya feel me?

As a Republican I am still not convinced that Steele – I’d use my terms for him, but I’m new here and don’t wanna get banned for profanity – is not a wildly successful Democratic trojan horse. With Bachmann, Palin and Giuliani out there daily throwing gasoline on forest fires, can he not see that his gaffe-o-matic style just slaughters any chance the GOP has of making in-roads with…anyone?!? He’s been an abject failure at recruiting candidates. He’s lining his pockets with speaking fees he would have no shot at if he weren’t the Chair. At least Beck and Coulter and Limbaugh are doing it on purpose – not that it makes them any less odious but there’s a rhyme and reason there. With Steele…if he’s not one of yours secretly sent to destroy any shot we have at gains in ’10, I’m a Bolshevik.

Let’s be clear, Reid’s “comments” are third hand, filtered through Mark Halperin,
one of the most reliable Republican operatives in the MSM.

you have a most valid point there, but Reid has apologized so I guess that means he did say it

Great movie, great parallel.

That’s funny because the Democrats would never have been able to find him.
And Welcome to the Lake.

Michael Steele: Harry Reid Should Resign

Close Mr. Steele. They should all resign. You included. Not that it matters much. The Lobby Industry (TM) has made sure that they are all millionaires now anyway, but resignations are in order. When your biggest job in government, is working for corporations, instead of the people that elected you, it’s time to move on. If that was legislated, close to 100% of current Congress would have to resign. How does one rig an election system so as to get elected for decades continually? Anyone know?

Look Reid resigning,maybe not, but I think HReid is way past his “due” date.He ,Reid has to go:It illustrates how poor his leadership abilities are.

Any semi competent Senate leader would not have been so in-artful with comments regarding an AA Prez candidate.

Steele is a dickhead who happens to be right in this instance. Reid should resign. Please. Please.

Progressive Democrats= People with an occasional spine.

Ah, I was wondering when you’d get to this. I already posted a pretty sarcastic post in the NYT comments on the article – of course, there were already 453 at the time. Many of them full of mock outrage that just showed how uncomfortable the posters were with their own racism being called out.

Of course, it isn’t just Steele – he’s just the most flamboyant hypocr-Republican to weigh in so far.

Nobody seems to notice in all their pointing to back to Trent Lott’s resignation for something “similar” that there’s a 180 degree difference in content.

Lott was mourning the fact that Strom Thurmond didn’t get to be president.

Reid was recognizing the reality of American society in the process of encouraging the “light-skinned” black man to run for president.

Can nobody see the difference?

And Lott had a terrible voting record on civil rights, called the extremist hate group the Council of Conservative Citizens “the right kind of people” and generally was a major league a-hole.

Your track record matters with this stuff.

There is a difference but what in the world was Reid thinking of to say a thing like that. What an inept man he is. Must be hard to walk with both feet in his mouth.

Twain, honestly I can’t agree. Of course, now that I know one of the authors was Mark Halperin (the NYT article version I read left that out!!!never named the authors), it was perhaps not wise to say it in front of him.
But, it is no more than the flat out practical political truth. It was a pragmatic evaluation of what is needed for election. It was in no way saying (as some commenters and repugs have claimed) that that’s all you need to be elected, it wasn’t saying that darker-skinned people with ethnic or “black” accents shouldn’t be elected.

It was totally about what is possible. If we can’t talk about what is necessary to win something, then we are truly lost.
And don’t start with me about Reid saying “Negro.” In his age group, that was teh polite word, the word that folks who belonged to that “racial” group, in that time, chose to use. And it remained the polite term for a long time.
It’s hard for older folks to change their vocabulary habits. It’s a non-issue.

And I should hope everybody knows I am no fan of Reid as leader. But this is a ridiculous issue to criticize him with, and I won’t join the mob.

Steele is a goon, and a patsy for the GOP. But to claim that “honest injun” is

the Native American equivalent of “ni**er”

is absurd. They are both derogatory racial terms, but they are certainly not equivalent.

[Edited by Moderator. Yes the author did use the term in his post but we'll call that Front Pager's Privilege]

Big D. Nice change. Been wondering where the articulate Republicans are. Brave soul. One thing though: How’s it feel to be a Bolshevic?

Steele notwithstanding, Harry Reid should resign as Majority Leader. Imagine these comments coming from a GOP! Democrats would be all over him. I don’t care if it was a private conversation; we know Halperin didn’t invent the remarks since Reid apologized.

Harry Reid should tend his homefires, goodness knows they need tending. Resigning as Majority Leader and putting some distance between himself and Obama might be the only way he (and his spawn seeking the governorship) can save the state for Democrats.

Bring on Durbin or Schumer, either of which would be preferable as Majority Leader.

And the apology isn’t Obama’s to accept; Reid’s words are a slur on our country and our party. He’s out of step with Democratic values on every front, his sham support for Public Option notwithstanding.

Reid must go.

Do we know who the reporters were that Reid spoke with? Why in the world didn’t they make hay of this back in 2008? Were these comments made by a bunch of backslapping good old boys?

Harry Reid’s comments are unacceptable…..Obama put on the spot will acccpet the apology….Just because Obama accepted the “apology” from Reid does not make it “okay.”

Racism is racism whether it’s a Republican or Democrat……Racism is not about political parties but about white privilege and white entitlement. Reid’s stereotypes of African-Americans are apparent in the views he holds about black people…..

Reid is another guy who has obviously stooped to viewing African-Americans, in terms of the “good black” and “bad black” syndrome…..

Reid needs to study linguistics, in which he may find that white people, also, talk in different “dialects” depending on their background, as well.

Frankly, I prefer the Rap Band “Public Enemy” over Donnie & Matie Osmond.

I agree — the post in no way vindicates Reid.

I still think comparing him to Trent Lott is ridiculous.

I think there should be made one of these holywood movie-mill type comedies about michael steele starring will farrel in black face. Im not especially a fan of farrel, im definatley aware of the history of white men in blackface makeup, but steeles entire personality seems to have been developed for a movie, or 4 minute late nite tv sketch, by farrel and conan obrien.

so isnt it pathetic that the only clown the GOP can plaster up on the tube to re – butt reid is idiotic, slightly surreal, insensitive and offensive, completely hilarious, michael steele.

Language is obviously important. words have power to heal or destroy. one of the problems I ( a life long left radical) have with the farty, pompous, self important establishment left, is the self appointed language comittees they use to determine which words are more harmful and racist/sexist/homophobic than others. its all about the competition for most oppressed status, not ethics, or decency and most people see that.

In other news, Hitler accuses Churchill of war crimes.

Yeah. Trent Lott, as Steele well knows, is a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens (aka the White Citizens’ Council) — he tried denying it, but his own uncle blew the lid off that little game.

But of course this isn’t a bug, but a feature in GOP circles, so when Atrios and other bloggers first started asking why the same folks who freaked out over innocuous comments made at the Wellstone memorial event at were silent and/or approving of the remarks Lott (who was one of the vocal disapprovers of the Wellstone event) made about wishing Strom Thurmond’s white-supremacist candidacy had beaten Harry Truman for the White House in 1948, the Villagers ignored Atrios et al. Until, that is, Karl Rove realized he could use this scandal to dump Lott — who had been stubbornly insisting that the Senate GOP Caucus was not Rove’s plaything — and replace him with the far more malleable Bill Frist.

Was he an actual member or did he just address them and call them “the right kind of people.” Because if he was an actual member — that’s pretty shocking.

I do not trust Halperin. Liz Cheney and Fox are using him to call Bill Clinton a racist – Liz claims Clinton a racist because per a book -The book, Game Change, by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, asserts on page 218 – Bill Clinton 2008 on Obama: “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee”?? I think it makes more sense to assume he was referring to the fact he was a relative nobody. Being an intern to these guys does mean getting the coffee. Plenty of white, yellow and black people do that in business world. He could have said “sweeping the floor” or any other type of similar job to get the same point across, and people would call it racist.

Also given Halperin’s record on Bush the past 5 years, I do not trust anything he writes.

Steele is a bumbling idiot and it shows every time he opens his mouth. He’ll be the last to admit that he is the Chairman of the Republican Party because he is black – The Republicans answer to Barack Obama: “Now see here, we can have black people in our party too..!!!”
Steele is the court jester, the clown who gets sent out to entertain the crowd when something goes wrong with the main event…As long as he keeps making an ass of himself, and the Republicans keep responding in kind, it is a win-win for the Democrats….

Actually to many Native people it is equivalent, it is right up there with “Redskin” whether you are aware of that or not.

He’s been associated with them for years, as the ADL points out. (And you can imagine how bad his CoCC association must be for the ADL to object to it; they are usually far gentler to right-wingers than to anyone else.)

Read this John Nichols piece in The Nation for more on the topic. Here’s a taste:

* In 1997, Lott was photographed meeting with national leaders of the C of CC in his Washington office. At his side were two prominent C of CC leaders: Gordon Baum, a former field organizer for the Citizens Councils in the days when they were referred to as the “uptown Klan,” and William Lord, who has acknowledged using the mailing lists of the Citizens Councils to build the C of CC in the 1980s and 1990s. That same year, the C of CC used an endorsement quote from Lott in recruitment literature.

* When the Washington Post began to detail Lott’s ties to the C of CC, his office announced that he had “no firsthand knowledge of the group’s views.” But when The New York Times asked Lott’s uncle, former Mississippi state Sen. Arnie Watson, a member of the C of CC executive board, about ties between the senator and the organization, Watson said, “Trent is an honorary member.” When a reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger showed up at a 1998 C of CC meeting in Mississippi, he was told by those in attendance that Lott was a member. Lott’s office never challenged the report when it appeared in his homestate’s largest newspaper. But a year later, when the Washington Post took the issue up, Lott said, “I have made my condemnation of the white supremacist and racist view of this group, or any group, clear.”

* Yet, a column written by Lott still appeared on a regular basis in the Citizens Informer, the group’s publication, alongside articles thick with statements like: “Western civilization, with all its might and glory, would never have achieved its greatness without the directing hand of God and the creative genius of the white race. Any effort to destroy the race by a mixture of black blood is an effort to destroy Western civilization itself.”

* Go to the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens today and you will find, beneath the Confederate flag and the section attacking an African-American professor at Vanderbilt, a big smiling picture of the Mississippi senator next to headlines that read: “A Lott of Courage!” “C of CC Passes Resolution Commending Lott” and “Lott Needs Your Support.”

Again..you are a bunch of hypocrits

Reid’s comments don’t bother me because in a PC culture he was just telling the truth -

SHELBY STEELE: Well, the black American identity, certainly black American politics are grounded in what I call challenging. It’s basically, they look at white America and say we’re going to presume that you’re a racist until you prove otherwise. The whole concept is you keep whites on the hook. You keep the leverage. You keep the pressure. Here’s a guy who’s what I call a bargainer who’s giving whites the benefit of the doubt.

BILL MOYERS: Give me a simple definition of what you call a bargainer. And a simple definition of what you call a challenger.

SHELBY STEELE: A bargainer is a black who enters the American, the white American mainstream by saying to whites in effect, in some code form, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I’m not going to rub the shame of American history in your face if you will not hold my race against me. Whites then respond with enormous gratitude. And bargainers are usually extremely popular people. Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier back in the Sixties and so forth. Because they give whites this benefit of the doubt. That you can be with these people and not feel that you’re going to be charged with racism at any instant. And so they tend to be very successful, very popular.

Challengers on the other hand say, I presume that you, this institution, this society, is racist until it proves otherwise by giving me some concrete form of racial preference.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01112008/watch2.html

White Power + Republican Politics = Tea Party Movement?

Forget Steele he’s not important, has never been.

I also agree its mistake to try to marginalize “extremist” as being a bunch of idiots. They are a 100% threat to not only the Republican Party, but to the safety of all everyday Americans.

Agreed. 100%. But then, I think all incumbents are past their expiration and need to be voted out of office.

http://thedrunkreport.net