Michael Steele dressed head to toe in blue and had signs that read Steele Democrat

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.examiner.com/x-1470-DC-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m1d31-GOP-hoists-sail-on-Steele-ship-of-racial-denial

I know, the Republican argument is that Michael Steele was selected on his Republican credentials alone and that it’s wrong for me to assume Steele was chosen because of the color of his skin. Shame on me. I submit the following as proof otherwise:

If Steele was such a proud Republican than why did he distance himself from the Republican Party when he ran for a Maryland Senate seat in 2006, where he was defeated by Ben Cardin, and even go so for as to misrepresent himself as a Democrat in an effort to fool people in the very blue state of Maryland into voting for him? Toward this effort he even had blue signs and bumper stickers printed up that read “Steele Democrat”, and even covered himself from head to toe in blue for press conferences, successfully fooling at least one news organization into thinking he was a Democrat. He distributed information claiming he had been endorsed by prominent Democrats who, it turns out, hadn’t endorsed him at all. So why would Republicans select as their party chairman someone who was so willing to align himself with Democrats and lead people to believe he was anything but Republican? It is because Michael Steel wasn’t chosen because of his Republican credentials.

[Oregone]

1. RE: "Steele Democrat" - I think he was pushing the perception that it is ok for Dems to like him

Like Reagan Democrat? So I think you are misreading creating perception as aligning himself with the democrats. I mean, come on now....Obama went to further lengths at the Faith Forum to align himself with the Christian right than that.

[NNN0LHI]

4. And he dressed head to toe in blue for all of his press conferences because ...

... he just likes blue a lot?

Don

[Oregone]

6. I dont know. I think hed would look better in black/grays.

But doesn't everyone?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. Read the story posted at the link I posted downthread. It's very clear.

[malaise]

10. Hey he couldn't even steal enough votes

How pathetic is that.

He won't last a year.

[madeline_con]

15. And he looks damn good in it, too!

:popcorn:

[NYC Liberal]

5. It was obvious he was trying to confuse people

Blue signs, easily-misinterpreted posters with "STEELE Democrat" on them. Especially for people who don't really follow politics.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. No, that's just the "plausible deniability" angle to the tactic. Check it out:

It was a whole orchestrated transparent effort to fool Maryland voters, particularly black voters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201084.html

...

On board, 300 mostly poor African Americans from Philadelphia ate doughnuts, sipped coffee and prepared to spend the day at the Maryland polls. After an early morning greeting from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s wife, Kendel, they would fan out in white vans across Prince George's County and inner-city Baltimore, armed with thousands of fliers that appeared to be designed to trick black Democrats into voting for the two Republican candidates.

The glossy fliers bore photos of black Democratic leaders on the front. Under the headline "Democratic Sample Ballot" were boxes checked in red for Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele, who were not identified as Republicans. Their names were followed by a long list of local Democratic candidates.

Nearly a week later, a fuller picture has emerged about how the plan to capture blacks' votes unfolded -- details that suggest the fliers, and the people paid to distribute them, were not part of a hurry-up effort but a calculated strategy.

Republican leaders have defended the Election Day episode as an accepted element of bare-knuckle politics. But for many voters, it shattered in one day the nice-guy images Ehrlich and Steele had cultivated for years.

...

(read the rest of the story at the link)

[Orangepeel]

19. That was what he SAID he was doing

but in conjunction with the other signals -- like not saying he was a republican and pretending that Democrats had endorsed him -- the evidence is strong that he was lying.

[Submariner]

2. Can you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E

If he was dumb enough to think he could slip that stunt under the radar, then I pity the GOP under his stewardship.

[leftstreet]

3. There was a lot of that in my state in 06 and 08

Not so blatant, but Repub signs were often blue and didn't indicate any party affiliation. They tried just using 'GOP' for a few years before that.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Whatever. They see Clinton, and they say "any woman will do" - thus Palin...

They see Obama, and they say "any black guy will do" - thus Steele.

It's really funny how to them, women and black folks are all interchangeable.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

11. The beauty is that black voters chose the white Democrat by a 3 to 1 margin:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006//pages/results/states/MD/S/01/epolls.0.html

[the_chinuk]

12. Wasn't Michael Steele once the bassist with The Bangles? ;-)

[Gin]

13. so is he a dem or rethug? I am confused

[the_chinuk]

18. He's a crass opportunist. That Makes him a Republican.

[KoKo]

14. How far our "Mighty Repugs" have fallen...Palin, Joe the Not Plumber and now THIS!

Amazing. Yet, they still retain the nations "Airwaves" for their MIGHTY BULLY PULPIT! What's wrong wit this?

Thanks for post and photo of what it's really all about.

[madeline_con]

16. Imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery.

But they just don't get it somehow. :eyes:

[polmaven]

17. So was CNN taking Faux

lessons or was it the other way around? :shrug: They got ME goin' all bassackwards.