On Sunday in Prince Georges County, Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer(D) of Maryland said that Michael Steele has made a career of slavishly supporting the Republican party. Hoyer has issued a statement saying that he was guilty of a poor choice of words and that he meant no offense. If this was the first case of offensive comments made about Michael Steele, then we might be able to overlook his poor choice of words.
Steele is running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland against Ben Cardin. Steele has had to suffer many racist comments since he first started campaigning to become the first Afican American elected to state wide office.
"[Michael Steele] is the personification of an Uncle Tom."
Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, October 5, 2001, The Gazette Newspapers
"The truth is that the Republican Party needed an African American poster boy."
U.S. Rep. Al Wynn referring to Lt. Governor Michael Steele, Tuesday, August 31, 2004, The Washington Post
"The problem with token candidates like Mr. Steele is that the voters see them for what they are."
U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, Friday, July 5, 2002, The Gazette Newspapers
"[Michael Steele] brings little to the team but the color of his skin."
Editorial Board, November 4, 2002, The Baltimore Sun
"Delegate Salima Marriot said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside."
The Washington Times, November 2, 2005
One of Ben Cardin's campaign workers was fired after it was reported that the campaign worker had written on their blog "Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house". It featured a doctored photo of Steele portrayed as a black faced minstrel with a caption of "I's Simple Sambo And I's Running For The Big House".
I suppose that we should not be too surprised that all of this is coming from the party of Robert Byrd, the democratic Senator from West Virginia. He was a member of the Klu Klux Klan in the 1940's. Byrd made these comments in 1948 in opposition to President Truman's plan to integrate the Armed Forces, "I will never submit to fight beneath that banner (the American flag) with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." He also used the "N" word twice on national television in 2001.
For all of the rhetoric of the Democrat Party about being the party for the African American community, they have shown their true colors when it comes to Michael Steele. The latest polls show that Marylanders are waking up to the truth about the Democrat Party.
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Comments: 51
Maybe Hoyer should apologize - I don't know - but I think it is an overreaction.
I wish my boss would so how slavishly I work for the company.
Read the article! Then keep in mind, these people make thier living with thier mouth. If not racist, what do you call statements that accuse a black man of being a token, an Oreo, a poster BOY, and an Uncle Tom. Mere slips of the tongue? He's only racist if he utters a term you don't like? Don't be naive, it's politics down and dirty and democrats, much to your dismay, do participate.
Diana,
It would have made a difference if a republican said this. It would be national news and the democrats would be screaming bloody murder.
Are you saying that Republicans in that area didn't belong to the KKK and didn't or don't have racial feelings or make racial comments?
When Steele was making a campaign appearance, they actually threw Oreo cookies on stage as a symbolic slight.
All because he is a republican. That is the kind of "tolerance" that democrats want. They want tolerance for gay marriage, tolerance for illegals, tolerance for terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, tolerance for criminals in jail, tolerance for sex-offenders, but they seem to run out of that tolerance when it comes to perfectly legitimate african-americans who chose to to pursue their own interests by doing what they believe is right.
They should be called out for what they are, silly and hypocrtical.
= Oscar, WHO threw cookies?
Also, forgive us for often straining at the pc leash. Perhaps you can (or maybe can't ) appreciate a retraction in the Sacrament Bee some time back: We erroneously identified the victim as an African-American; he was a Black Jamaican.
Frankly I saw that as a wry comment on where we are today.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20051101-104932-4054r.htm
"Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.
Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log."
"During the 2002 campaign, Democratic supporters pelted Mr. Steele with Oreo cookies during a gubernatorial debate at Morgan State University in Baltimore."
Troy, get your facts straight: a Cardin campaign worker has not been fired for posting a picture of Steele in minstrel on a blog. That picture came out nearly a year ago and was created and posted by Steve Gilliard, a black man from New York.
In our mind, there is no question that there are racists in both parties. Any politician who funnels money into suburbs is a racist.
His book is called Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America -- and What We Can Do About
My question to the Gather Groups " can the American-Black middle class correct the errors of it's Elitest Political Class?
I would posit they can. One man/woman at a time. Unfortunately, as Mr. Williams points out, they don't get the attention others like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton garner. Jackson and Sharpton have made a living out of crying foul. I don't deny they have done some good work to advance the standard of living and fairness for black people but they have done more, in my opinion, to retard any real change by being devisive and condescending. This is exactly what Mr. Williams and Bill Cosby have been speaking about. And, in a much looser connection, the democrats in Maryland see a successful black republican as a threat because this, on a broader scale, will erode what they assume is thier "in the bank" voting block.
Racist comment is racist comment regardless whether you are democrat or republican. I don't know what the whole story is or whether its taken out of context but regardless, if you are ignorance enough to make racist comment in public, you should not be allowed to serve the public, whether you are democrat or republican or liberal or right wing conservatives. Arse holes are arse holes regardles of colors or political believes.
My 2 cents.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportEmail.aspx?g=e94c3423-3139-4982-9544-b937767cd80f
Any racism that Steele has endured is shameful, but it does not fit into the big picture that is presented to voters.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of partisan tunnel vision. We have now defined the "big picture" as only those things we wish to acknowledge as favorable to our position. We will now only consider the polls and disregard any factors that may have driven said poll numbers. Any racist, off-color, or otherwise inappropriate comments or actions are heretofore to be ignored and dismissed without prejudice.
Thank you.
Rex,
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of partisan tunnel vision. We have now defined the "big picture" as only those things we wish to acknowledge as favorable to our position."
Oh please. Ben Cardin is not a racist. No one in his campaign supports racist remarks. And any racism that Steele has endured is very unfortunate. But race isn't an issue in this election so much as a diversion from issues like healthcare and the war in Iraq.
Besides, Steele has made some pretty unfortunate comments also. He compared stem cell research to Nazi experiments when speaking to a Jewish group. Ben Cardin is Jewish. Why aren't you making a fuss about that?
Some of my best freinds are liberal racists, Nelson, and they would never use the N-word. Figure it out.
Just how long can you feed at the "oppression of my grate-grate, grate grandpappy working the cotton for the white oppressor" BS trough? Victimization sells! That is the message I get from Cosby and Juan. They say stand accountable and stop buying it.
!) Jesse Jackson : Reference to "Hymietown" (That would be a deference to the Jews).
2) What the hell is a macaca? No ONE knew and it took about two days for the Dem operatives to find out it was some obscure racial slut in Ethopia. What an insider said off the record was that it really was a reference to his haircut (mohawk type) and a caca-head - Ma-CaCA (ie. SH*T HEAD- I would have gone with that), evidently this guy had made himself quite a nusience over the weeks he had spent trailing Allen with his video camera hoping to get something to use against them they were all about fed up with him and his canvasing people at the rallies to go listen to Webb.
3) Webb made DEFINATE derogatory statements reagarding women in service, and anyone that considers incest and homosexual conduct expanding a story, well. . .
4) Rev Sharpton in a rally in NYC complained about a JEWISH INTERLOPER was hurting the neighborhood. A gunman left the rally and shot the store owner and several others in the store and then torched it. Sharpton simply stated he could not be held accountable for ANYONES actions. We rule that incitement to riot and HateSpeech today.
6) Ford: NO ONE complained when the Nike ad ran that showed an infatuated blond-white girl breathlessly saying Hi to a black athelete in the hallway. Later she is seen sitting with another black guy with his arm around her at the football game and cheering as the object of her perceived infatuation catches a pass.
Point: Buy and wear NIKE's if you are BLACK and get BLOND WHITE WOMEN to desire you.
We'll have to agree to disagree. The big picture remains the big picture and that includes the racist hues being used. It certainly is an oft used brush in the Virginia Senate race and only attributed to the candidate himself, not the political machinery behind him. The Maryland race appears to be a concerted effort to illegitimize the candidate without concern for the issues. Unfortunately, the tactic has only demonstrated how low the dems will go when faced with a viable opponent. BTW, I don't think I said Cardin was a racist. He just stood idly by while the race card was being played. That's not necessarily racism, it's political opportunism.