Michael Steele: Concern Troll

The blackface minstrel the Republican Party installed as its chairman has had the audacity to call on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to resign.  Yesterday on Meet the Press, the preeminent Salon of Sunday talk, Steele was asked if Senator Reid should resign for saying Barack Obama was a viable Presidential candidate because he was “light-skinned” and because he did not speak with a “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

I refuse to defend Harry Reid, but even an idealist like me knows the difference between a Majority Leader who advances the agenda of a black president and a Majority Leader who defended segregation.

Steele said, “[F]rom my perspective, whether he steps down today or I retire him in November, either way, he will not be the leader in 2011.” That is mighty curious statement because The Steele Sambo felt differently when Trent Lott found himself in a similar predicament.

The Politico has the scoop:

The Washington Post reported on Dec. 14, 2002: “Lt. Gov.-elect Michael S. Steele said last night that he was personally upset by U.S. Sen. Trent Lott’s praise for Sen. Strom Thurmond and his segregationist past, but said Lott should not be forced to relinquish his leadership position in the Senate. ‘Trent Lott apologized, but he needs to keep apologizing because this is a very sensitive issue to the black community,’ Steele (R) said at an event celebrating his election as Maryland’s first black lieutenant governor. ‘I know Trent Lott personally, and I know that this is not his intent. But it’s still unfortunate. And I think he needs to apologize a little bit more.’”

The New York Times quotes Steele:

What’s interesting here is when Democrats get caught saying racist things, an apology is enough,” Mr. Steele said. “If that had been [Senate Republican Leader] Mitch McConnell saying that about an African-American candidate for president of the United States,” Democrats would be “screaming for his head, very much as they were with [Former Senate Republican Leader] Trent Lott.

What the record proves, what it always proves, is that when Republicans say racist things an apology is usually enough and The Steele Sambo will be there to back them up.

Perhaps y’all remember this little tidbit from last year in Politico:

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.”

My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.

Class, let’s review what The Steele Sambo has enormous respect for.

Rush Limbaugh has said:

Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?

Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.

The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.

[To an African American female caller]: Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.

I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.” Somebody’s gotta say it.

[On Justice Sotomayor] “So here you have a racist. You might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist. And the libs, of course, say that minorities cannot be racists because they don’t have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone, because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power. Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he’s appointed one.”

At every turn, The Steele Sambo has used his race and status as a Republican leader to defend the most aggressive purveyors of the racism he now claims to be offended by. In the blogosphere we called creeps like The Steele Sambo concern trolls. It is a delicious epithet because they damn sure ain’t the least bit concerned about whatever they comment on. And they are almost always an ugly wingnut troll. To be fair, Michael Steele is not ugly, but the racism he consistently defends as the Chairman of the Republican Party is.

While I am no fan of Barack Obama’s safe establishment politics, I hope The Steele Sambo’s book and his rancid political agenda fails.

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MICHAEL STEELE, FUGITIVE SLAVE

FUGITIVE SLAVE ALERT

 

RAN AWAY FROM RUSH LIMBAUGH AFTER SASSING HIM ON NATIONAL TELEVISION

HOUSE NEGRO & GOP MOUTHPIECE

To-wit: The Man is a volunteer slave, house Negro, shameless minstrel, handkerchief head and Republican mouthpiece expert at camouflaging the agenda of racist conservatives against his own people. He is also a former Maryland Lt. Governor and failed Senate Candidate who attempted to bamboozle bourgeois Whites and Negroes with his empty charm and good looks. He is 6’4 and goes by the slave name Michael Steele. He is probably well dressed and given to misappropriating hip-hop expressions in a lame ass attempt to make right-wing conservatism look cool. Has an aversion to the Oreo which is curious given the fact that he is one. A reward will be paid to anyone who can apprehend him so that his master can beat the defiance out of him for daring to be uppity and question  a white man’s divine right to rule the racist plantation better known as the Republican Party.

 

Hillary’s Catch 22

Let’s just say for the sake of argument that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Nominee. Now, more than ever, that is a debatable proposition. Work with me. Y’all with me? O.K. It’s July 2008 and Hillary, who 50% of the American people are adamantly opposed to voting for, is facing a decison about a Vice President.

Hopefully can we agree that Barack Obama, regardless of his flaws and evasions from the progressive black consensus, has earned consideration for Vice President. Even if we don’t agree, I think the majority of African Americans believe that. If Obama continues on as he has and comes close, but falls short of the mark in the primaries and Hillary doesn’t choose him to be her VP, Black folk are gonna be, as Momma says, “much pissed.” You see, Obama is who my mother is for. I view Momma as kind of an “everyblackwoman” and can gauge a lot of things accurately by her responses. Momma made it plain that she, “don’t want her” [Hillary].

Dukakis before her had a similar decision regarding Jesse Jackson in 1988 and his poor handling of that politically charged and delicate decision resulted in the lowest share of black support for a Democratic nominee in quite some time. A lot of black folk just sat on their hands at home and let him twist in the wind. Being white and female however, is a different situation.

The woman pictured above with Hillary is former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest daughter of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy. A popular figure, she blew her big chance at the corner office in 2002 when she chose a republican as her running mate instead of a number of qualified black elected officials. That was perceived as a slight by the African American community that had never elected anybody to statewide office. It was a weakness that Bob Ehrlich deftly exploited by choosing Michael Steele, a corporate lawyer and freelance Uncle Tom, as his running mate.

It is interesting that in a democratic state with one of the most affluent black suburbs in the nation, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend didn’t feel free to choose an African American as her running mate for fear that she couldn’t win. Race, as much as we like to deny it, is still the elephant in the room. Some people just can’t wash that white woman/Mandingo taboo outta their hair. Black folks responded to that by either turning out in lower numbers or voting in higher than normal numbers for the ticket with the brotha on it.

I don’t harbor any illusions about who and what both Hillary and Barack represent. They are both servants of the multi-national corporate power structure. Politically speaking though, Obama’s candidacy represents a cross-roads for African American Democrats. If he is spurned, the relationship between African Americans and the Democratic Party will be irreparably damaged.

Will Hillary make the same mistakes as Dukakis and Townsend? She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t in some respects. Only time will tell. Talk to me. Don’t hold back.

Democrats retake both houses of Congress, Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Let’s check our predictions, shall we?

RHODE ISLAND SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Sheldon Whitehouse defeated GOP Senator Linc Chafee 53%-47%.  Skeptical Brotha called this race 54%-46% for Whitehouse.  Skeptical Brotha’s Prediction: Correct.

TENNESSEE SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Bob Corker screwed the Whore, 51%-48% .  I predicted a Whore win 50.5%-49.5%. Skeptical Brotha’s wildly optimistic prediction: WRONG.

MISSOURI SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Auditor McCaskill defeated Richard Nixon clone, Senator Jim Talent, 49%-47%, a two-point spread.  I predicted a McCaskill win by two points, 51%-49%. Skeptical Brotha’s Prediction: Correct.

NEW JERSEY SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Appointed Senator Bob Menendez, was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey over Tom Kean, Jr. 53%-45%. I predicted a 53%-47% win for Menendez.  Tom Kean, Jr. didn’t hold up his end of the deal.  Damn him.   Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Auditor Casey beat Rick Santorum’s ass somethin’ awful, 59%-41.  Praise the Lord, everybody. I didn’t know how high this was going to go;predicting he would get nothing under 55%.  I truly revel in this one because Santorum was such a sanctimonious and contemptable wingnut.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction:  Correct.

OHIO SENATE RACE

Again, according to MSNBC, Congressman Sherrod Brown defeated GOP Senator Mike DeWine, 56%-44%.   My prediction was dead on.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

VIRGINIA SENATE RACE

In what has to be the sweetest victory of all, the would be President-in-waiting, got his damn ass handed to him by a man who endorsed him six years ago.  He warned him a few years back that Iraq was a mistake.  He didn’t listen.  Then he proceeded to show his pure ass, as revelations of his poorly concealed racism were revealed for all to see.  Even though the Ignorant Confederate has refused to conceed this race until the Board of Elections certifies it, the party is ovah.  According to him, he was bored with the job anyway.  I predicted a comfortable 52%-48% win.  I underestimated the comfort level some Virginians had with bigtory.  I won’t make the same mistake twice.  The important thing is that the Ignorant Confederate lost his seat. The razor thin margin will hold. Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

MONTANA SENATE RACE

MSNBC just called this race for Jon Tester, the Montana state senator over GOP U.S. Senator Conrad Burns. Burns has refused to conceed the race.  It does not matter because his time is up.  Tester won a squeeker 49%-48%.  I predicted a more comfortable win with 52%-48%.  However, the state is extremely Red and Bush is still somewhat popular there. Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

CONNECTICUT SENATE RACE

One of the most interesting of the year, this race ended where it started: For Joe Lieberman.  Now that the Senate majority depends on Lieberman’s vote, I shall refrain from calling him out as the Lieberwhore.  MSNBC reports a 10 point spread ,which I also predicted.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction : Correct.

MARYLAND SENATE RACE

MSNBC is reporting that Congressman Ben Cardin was elected to the Senate over Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, 55%44% which is right in line with my prediction of 55%-45%. As I postulated earlier, the general public was not impressed with Steele’s ex-con and crackhead parade of black endorsements.  His content free campaign was deceptive and the electorate peeped it in time to avert disaster.  Good Riddance. 

THE HOUSE

The House of Representatives is what had me shouting, dancing, and speaking in tongues for the majority of the evening.  Praise the Lord, Everybody.  Hallelujah!!!!  Thank you, Jesus!!! I predicted a win of  35 seats and the Democrats are sitting pretty with a projected 32 seat gain.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction : Correct.

 

Skeptical Brotha’s House and Senate Predictions

RHODE ISLAND

Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, a New England Republican patrician in the George Herbert Walker Bush tradition, will lose to former RI Atty Gen, Sheldon Whitehouse.  In effect, switching out one patrician for another.  Appointed to this seat after the death of his predecessor, his father John Chafee,  the Senator has been suffering from a considerable stature gap.  He is not revered by the electorate like his daddy and seems like a lightweight.  Pollster.com’s average of the last 5 polls has Chafee at 41%.  6 points down from his challenger.  The party is over.  Whitehouse wins 54%-46%

TENNESSEE

Harold Whore,  Jr has run the race of the year.  He has left his hard-right opponents with hard-ons because they cannot defeat him.  There is no issue on which he is out of the mainstream with Tennessee voters, the race boils down to just that: race.   Does the electorate of Tennessee want to exorcise the ghost of Jim Crow?  My gut feeling is that they do and will chose as their representative in the patrician chamber, a young brotha on the make.  Bob Corker is a hapless redneck out of his league who shoulda had this seat in the bag and has struggled since the primary.  I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he concedes to a Negro. I can’t stand Harold, but I will not let that stand in the way of praising his political skills.  He’s almost as smooth as Bill Clinton, a complement I don’t give out lightly.  This race will go down to the wire and will be a nail biter.  The last 10 polls on this race have Harold down four which is in the margin of error and well within the margin of  hope.  The Whore wins 50.5% to 49.5%

MISSOURI

Senator Jim Talent of Missouri defeated the widow of former Gov. Mel Carnahan, to win this seat 4 years ago.  Governor Carnahan was running for this seat in 2000, held by John Ashcroft, Dubya’s first Attorney General when he was killed in a dramatic plane crash that also claimed the life of one of his sons.  The acting governor told the people that if the Governor was posthumously elected, he would appoint Missouri’s first lady to the Senate.  The people rose up and elected a dead man and his widow was appointed.  Never comfortable with the spotlight, or with the role of a senator, Mrs. Carnahan suffered when compared to her opponent, a Richard Nixon clone if there ever was one.  Anyway, Claire McCaskill, our nominee this time, is the sitting state Auditor and a lawyer and former DA of Jackson County.  Miss Girl knows how to kick ass without coming off like a bitch and messing up her hair.  She defeated the sitting Democratic Governor two years ago to claim the nomination for herself.  She almost became the first female democratic governor.  The last ten polls have the two separated by a single point.   McCaskill wins 51%-49%.

 

NEW JERSEY

The only democratic held seat that is competitive, New Jersey looked like a GOP upset in the beginning.   The wave dynamics of a backlash election have taken hold now and having the sterling GOP political name of Tom Kean, Jr. son of 9/11 commissioner Tom Kean, Sr. ain’t helping.  Appointed Senator Bob Menendez, the senate’s third Hispanic and second Cuban will win his first statewide race 53%-47%

PENNSYLVANIA

Two term GOP Senator Rick Santorum’s career is ovah, Baby.   Stick a fork it, honey.  It”s done.     Bob Casey takes this seat with nothing under 55%.

OHIO

The GOP collapsed in Ohio faster than Dick Cheney’s approval rating after he shot a man in the face on a duck hunting trip.  There is probably no statewide race winnable for them here.  Senator Mike Dewine’s career is ovahand his successor Sherrod Brown, a congressman, gets the promotion.  Brown wins 56%-44%.

Virginia

The Ignorant Confederate’s career is ovah as well.  Remember this summer when the likelihood of a George Allen Presidential campaign was a sure thing?  It all seems so sad.  Forgive me while I wipe away a bitter crocodile tear.  I will treasure the look on the face of this insincere bastard as he concedes defeat to a man he isn’t fit to hold a jockstrap for.  His racism and unbelievable denials make the confederate bandwagon of confused colored folks that endorsed him look like the fools that they are.  With the power invested in me by this blog, I hereby revoke their membership in the race.  Webb wins 52% -48%.

MONTANA 

It seems like the people will be pruning the U.S. Senate of some of it’s racist deadwood this year.  Another unnecessary Bigot will be removed when the Senator from Big Sky country is removed by the State Senate President Jon Tester.  In one fell swoop, he will become the most famous crew cut on Capitol Hill.  The last 10 polls separate these two by four points.  Tester wins 52%-48% in this deep red state.

CONNECTICUT

Unfortunately for the blogosphere, and the people of Connecticut, Joe Lieberwhore will be re-elected to the Senate as an Independent against his democratic challenger.  The last ten polls have Lamont and Lieberwhore separated by ten points.  It just ain’t gonna happen.  Lieberwhore 52%-42%-6%.

Maryland

This democratic open seat will be held by Congressman Ben Cardin.  Michael Steele’s ridiculous and empty campaign is about the same thing Seinfeld was about: nothing.  I don’t really care how many discontented Negroes he gets to jump off a moving train for him, Black folk will not be persuaded and white folk will be put off by his endorsements from Don King and Mike Tyson.  Cardin will pull this out 55%-45%.

THE HOUSE

The GOP will lose the House before the count ever leaves the Northeast.  New York, Connecticut,  Ohio, and Pennsylvania will lose it for the GOP.  The GOP will lose every single toss up in the aforementioned states.  The Democrats could come out of this thing with a 46 seat gain.  I will go more conservative and predict a 35 seat gain. 

Before we celebrate we must do our duty and vote and remind others to do so as well.  Don’t forget y’all’s kinfolk and your play sistah’s cousins and them.  Y’all hear me? Vote.

Democrats will control both houses before the night is done.  I will be miserably drunk, and hopefully, I can get laid.

Black Elected Officials endorse Michael Steele

In a stunning reversal timed for maximum impact, Republican Senate Candidate Michael Steele, in a trick fit for Halloween, announced the endorsements of all Five sitting Black Democratic County Councilmembers in affluent Prince Georges County.  To add insult to injury, he also announced the endorsement of former Prince Georges County Executive Wayne Curry, the first African American County Executive in Maryland.

This has clearly been in the making for some time and is indicative of some kind of Karl Rove plot or CIA mind control.  That is the only thing that makes sense. That, or either there is something in the water in Prince Georges County that makes reasonable black people go weak in the knees and fall head over heels for Dubya’s Pet Negro.

Do these turncoat Nigra’s really believe, as Wayne Curry said, ” The person to elect, who is most responsive to the things that will make our future brighter is Michael Steele…he is a good man with a good plan.” 

Plan. What Plan? Does it come from the same party that “Planned” Iraq and Katrina.  Does this coalition of the confused coloreds really believe that electing a Bush rubber stamp is a solution to Kweisi Mfume not winning the Democratic primary as he should have?  

They were so concerned about Mfume that not a single soul gave him a contribution large enough to report on his campaign disclosure report.  None of these confused coloreds got their hands dirty to help Mfume.  None did any heavy lifting; By what right are they using the nothin’ they did for Kweisi to justify betraying the entire black community by endorsing one of Dubya’s dupes?

If Dubya’s Pet Negro had these endorsements in the pipeline, why treat Black America to the spectacle of being endorsed by a Killer and a Thug and crackheads before that?

Kinda makes me wanna holler.  What about Y’all?

Elizabeth Dole: Plastic Magnolia

Let me make a small confession: I sleep with the TV on. I was accosted late last night in my sleep by the honey-suckled voice of North Carolina’s Senior Senator, Elizabeth “Liddy” Dole. She and her opposite number, Chuck Schumer are chairs of the Senate’s GOP and Democratic campaign committees and they were speaking before the National Press Club about their parties efforts to hold the Senate.

Before I begin the substance of my political critique, a brief word about Mrs. Dole. Mrs. Dole, 70, has an amazing plastic surgeon. He has managed to make her look both ageless and lifeless at the same time. Combined with a mask of thick make-up, she looks like an amazingly animated right-wing mannequin. Chirping cheerfully, Miss Liddy has perfected a public persona of saccharine sweetness and stepford wife precision that gives me the creeps. Henceforth and forevermore, I shall dub her the Plastic Magnolia.

Hearing the plastic magnolia cheerfully prattle on about the necessity to keep the Senate in GOP hands to secure the “War on Terra” evokes a ridiculous mental picture of the plastic magnolia attired in a dress made of curtains, like Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone With The Wind” as she daintily alights down a winding staircase to make a dramatic entrance as Michael Steele, dressed as house slave Butterfly McQueen screams out, “Oh, Miss Scarlet, I don’t know nothin’ bout winnin’ no Elections.”

The plastic magnolia is in deep denial about her party’s chances to hold the Senate. She alone will probably not be able to keep a sufficient number of the ignorant patrician’s rubber stamp minions around to constitute a Republican majority. Miss Liddy went on and on about the party’s prospects in key races in Montana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Montana Senator Burns, a racist and troglodyte is in the fight of his life and has the plastic magnolia’s unqualified support; So does wingnut extraordinaire, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and the ignorant confederate, Virginia Senator George Allen. To hear her expound on these hopeless races is downright funny, almost as funny as imagining how her half-embalmed, octogenarian husband, Bob Dole, a part-time Viagra salesman hounds her for sex. Can’t you just see her annoyance at the effectiveness of those little blue pills?

I, for one, will be glad when the whole lot of them is out of power. Perhaps then, Mrs. Dole can be put out to pasture in an expensive department store as the right-wing clotheshorse that she is.

Michael Steele’s crackup

 “Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman?” 

-1 Samuel 21:14

One would rationally expect that when his people brought him the insane idea of endorsements by a convicted killer and a convicted rapist, Michael Steele would have reacted like Achish. In a further sign that Michael Steele is in need of rehab or a padded cell, the endorsements by Don King and Mike Tyson of his Senate campaign indicate the lunacy or substance abuse of his entire campaign team.  Desperate for black endorsements, Steele campaign operatives have stooped to using crackheads as black props in their endorsement press conferences.

Apparently, some of those brothas ain’t clean and are sharing their extra rocks with the campaign staff, or the campaign people are schizophrenics trying to self medicate, because there is no rational explanation for producing two press conferences to showcase these endorsements.

Who in God’s name are these endorsements supposed to sway? White suburban crystal meth addicts? Black Inner city crackheads? Somebody please help me to understand. Steve Gillard is absolutely right, you just can’t make this up.   Similarly, Oliver Willis hit the nail on the head when he asserts that by accepting these endorsements, Michael Steele, “spits in the face of black America”.  Moreover, Steve Gillard is on point when he advocates that Steele’s opponent Ben Cardin should spread this political manna from heaven to every white republican and independent in the state of Maryland.

The great Kingfish, Huey Long of Louisiana, a liberal populist former Governor and U.S. Senator during the twenties and thirties, used to blanket his impoverished state in campaign circulars during election time.  After reading them, the impoverished people would use the circulars as toilet paper.   It suited the Kingfish just fine.  He wanted the state so covered in literature that nobody could wipe their backside without using a piece of paper with his picture on it.

Ben Cardin would do well to heed the example and nuke Steele day and night with his own manifest ignorance.

Michael Steele’s endorsements: a killer and a thug

Scraping the bottom of the black credibility barrel, Michael Steele produced the endorsements of Don-I-will-rob-your-dumb-ass-blind-King, and his former sad sack, mentally unstable meal ticket, Mike-I-like-the-taste-of-human-flesh-Tyson .  Don King has the kind of credibility that all Republicans covet, having been convicted of manslaughter in the stomping death of a hapless gambler in the 50’s.  They parade this evil minstrel around as if black folks trust anybody who loves the ignorant dry drunk in the White House.

Are these endorsements supposed to make white folks feel comfortable and black folks assured of Steele’s street cred?  Are white people supposed to say with a straight face, “Yes, I support Michael Steele because a convicted killer and a convicted rapist-thug do?

What in the world are these people thinking? To make matters stranger, Mike Tyson was formerly married to Michael Steele’s sister.   That makes the negro some kin, don’t it? 

Massachusetts GOP Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey is trying to make racist hay out of her black opponent’s work as a defense attorney defending a cop killer and rapist, as if doing his job makes him unfit to be Governor. Conversely, Black Republican Michael Steele is touting the support of a black killer and black rapist as if their support makes him more fit to be a U.S. Senator.  Strange Ain’t it.

Down in the polls, I find it more than odd that Steele thinks the endorsement of a malevolent clown and a psychotic thug will bring him closer to winning.

Michael Steele’s right-wing Negro spiritual

 

Steele away, a right-wing Negro spiritual

Refrain

Steele away, Steele away, Steele away to Dubya

Steele away, Steele away home,

I ain’t got long to fool ya.

My Lord, He calls me,
He calls me by the thunder of right-wing religiosity;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain’t got long to fool ya.

Refrain

Greenbacks are a spendin’,
White democrats stand a-trembling;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain’t got long to fool ya.

Refrain

My Lord, He calls me,
He calls me by the lightning of right-wing religiosity;
The trumpet sounds within my soul,
I ain’t got long to fool ya. 

 

Michael Steele’s bogus victimology

Michael Steele, Maryland’s Lt. Governor and favorite GOP black Trojan horse, is now claiming victim-hood because of his status as a Republican Senate candidate with $2 million in the bank in a bad GOP year. Only in the alternate universe that is the GOP Opportunity Society can anyone assisted by the sitting President of the United States and his minions Rove, Cheney, and Card in raising campaign cash from wealthy white folks be considered a victim. Bush was unpopular when he decided to run for the Senate. Bush was unpopular when he set up the fundraisers.  Bush is still unpopular all these months later. It hasn’t deterred him on his quest to be a Bush enabler in the U.S. Senate. 

Aided in his quest to become a GOP Trojan horse are the upper echelons of the Democratic Party that organized themselves into a fund-raising juggernaut for Congressman Ben Cardin which effectively squeezed out the first candidate to enter the race to succeed Senator Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume.  Black voters noticed that nobody prominent was helping Kweisi and they began to take a second look at Steele, a negro double agent if there ever was one.

On the one hand, there are the warm-and-fuzzy-feel-good issues of school choice and the faux examination the equity of capital punishment in Maryland. On the other, are the massive social service and education budget cuts the Ehrlich-Steele Administration imposes on the most vulnerable people. 

A disproportionate share of these people are people of color. Those feel good public relations initiatives make it easy for Steele to look engaged in Policy while he actually uses his office to campaign for another and Governor Ehrlich uses his power to govern Maryland for the benefit of their mutual malevolent corporate benefactors.

The Ehrlich-Steele Administration has made draconion cuts to Medicaid in the last three fiscal years. According to the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, “In FY 2004 and FY 2005 more than $250 million was cut from the Medicaid program. These cuts include:  Reducing payments to health care providers. Restrictions on length of stay in hospitals. Cuts in drug assistance programs for the elderly and non-Medicaid groups. Greater cost sharing for enrollees (i.e.,increased premiums and co-payments). Tighter controls on disease management Switching long term care support and services from fee-based to managed care. The cumulative effect of these cuts and this year’s $ 112 million dollar Medicaid cut is to reduce the access to medical care for the most economically insecure Marylanders. 

The Ehrlich-Steele Administration also reduces funds availble for Higher Education and k-12 education in direct contravention to recent Maryland law.  The resentment over the treatment of Mfume and the lack of an African American running mate for Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has created an opening to black voters for the GOP to exploit.  44% of African Americans polled recently are open to an appeal by Steele for their vote. Sadly, middle class blacks are largely delusional on this score because all Steele can offer are opportunites to press the flesh and phony feel good campaign events that don’t have a damn thing to do with policy.  Steele has made substantial inroads into middle class black Maryland by pretending to care and pay attention to their inconseqential need for attention while the majority of black Marylanders suffer economically under the massive social service cuts imposed by Steele’s partner in crime.

It remains to be seen if this strategy will bear fruit in the end.  All I know is it ain’t hurting Steele in the least to try and seduce the black community into cutting its own throat by voting for him.