After Bashing Bush, Steele Backs Down (SCARLET R)

[radfringe]

After Bashing Bush, Steele Backs Down
Maryland GOPer Says Congressional Pay Hikes Have 'Nothing to Do' With Poor's Plight
By TEDDY DAVIS and DANIEL WENGER
TAKOMA PARK, Md., July 25, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=2236123

The GOP Senate candidate who anonymously described his Republican affiliation as an "impediment" to his electoral prospects while speaking with the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and others at a Monday luncheon is none other than Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, ABC News learned Tuesday.

"'I've got an 'R' here, a scarlet letter,'" said Steele of his party affiliation. "'If this race is about Republicans and Democrats, I lose.'"

---snip---

In contrast to his telling Milbank on Monday that he "'probably'" did not want President Bush campaigning for him given the President's unpopularity in Maryland, Steele in his ABC interview refused to challenge Bush's handling of Iraq, expressing confidence that the "president is trusting the intelligence that he's getting from the generals on the ground."

Democrats seized upon Steele's clandestine musings to portray the candidate as too beholden to the president for his fundraising prowess to truly be an independent voice.

Mark Clack, the campaign manager to former NAACP chief Kweisi Mfume, one of the Democrats seeking his party's Senate nomination, questioned Steele's consistency: "It seems that he's trying to have it both ways: casting himself as a moderate maverick, while at the same time accepting the national Republican Party's invitation to join the Senate race and join in on the campaign bounty which he currently sits upon."

[Hissyspit]

1. If he was supposed to be anonymous, how come we know who it is?

[radfringe]

2. we know about it today

but didn't know about it yesterday when the original article appeared

original article:
For One Senate Candidate, the 'R' Is a 'Scarlet Letter'
By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, July 25, 2006; Page A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/24/AR2006072400953.html

The candidate, immersed in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, sat down to lunch yesterday with reporters at a Capitol Hill steakhouse and shared his views about this year's political currents.

---snip---

The candidate gave the luncheon briefing to nine reporters from newspapers, magazines and networks under the condition that he be identified only as a GOP Senate candidate. When he was pressed to go on the record, his campaign toyed with the idea but got cold feet. He was anxious enough to air his gripes but cautious enough to avoid a public brawl with the White House

[MrBenchley]

3. Of course, if he hadn't held his briefing in a crowded restaurant

where others could see him, he might still be anonymous.

What a fucking idiot.

[Hissyspit]

9. Well, that's what I was thinking.

But also wondering if we know SPECIFICALLY how his identity got revealed.

He is either a fucking idiot or did it this way with the intention that this all happen. Since he is a Republican, I tend to lean toward the first of the two of my hypotheses.

[wicket]

13. Bwahahahahahahaha!

Since he is a Republican, I tend to lean toward the first of the two of my hypotheses.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[TheDebbieDee]

15. On Countdown last night......

Brian Unger stated that it was Steele's staffers that revealed who the unidentified candidate was.

I don't know who it was that the staffers told but the person did a great job on getting out the name of Candidate X!

[MrBenchley]

17. I think you're right about him being an idiot....

[Kahuna]

5. Bill Frist may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm sure

that even Fristy-cat could put two and two together after reading or hearing about the piece.

[MaineDem]

7. Millbank said Frist was in the restaurant

He was on Countdown last night and said Frist came over to the table and spoke to the reporters; something about "this is a good candidate here." Millbank said Frist probably wouldn't have been so supportive if he knew what Steele was saying.

[tanyev]

10. Maybe Frist would have had a better grasp of the situation

if he'd watched a videotape of it in his office.

[ima_sinnic]

4. I don't envy the repukes their "crisis of conscience"

I don't know anything about this guy Steele but any repuke with a conscience is forced to look into a mirror and wrestle with the demons of "party faithfulness" and the goodies that that entails but with corruption and evildoing vs the most basic tenets of right and wrong. They have certainly created a situation that separates the "men" from the "boys" (in quotes b/c I am using the expression figuratively and not literally to imply anything about gender). The boys will follow without dissent, without rocking the boat. The "men" will have the guts to repudiate it.

I feel a kind of compassion for Steele in his futile wish to remain anonymous. Perhaps conscience will be stronger than fear of fallout.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

6. Please, don't waste your compassion on a corp whore, righwing nut job.

He only wants to win anyway he can so that he can vote against the working class and totally support the complete evil neo-con agenda. There is nothing socially redeeming or moderate about this bastard.

[smacky44]

8. He's "history." He should have known.

[LynneSin]

11. You don't get to pick & choose which parts of Bush to accept

he's your albatross around your neck - you deal with it!

[station agent]

12. He's a Barkley Republican!

http://icestationtango.blogspot.com/2006/07/trendspotting-be-barkley-republican.html

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Maryland's version of Ken Blackwell

Steele is shit. He's a lying bastard who has been in bed with Rove for as long as he's been with his padrone, our 'dear' governor Ehrlich (one of Newt Gingrich's Class of '94).

Now this shit comes out cuz he's behind in the polls and the people of our state hate his ass.

Fuck you, Mike Steele, you turd. Give back the dirty money and maybe I'll lift the 'turd' label from you.

Oh .... Mikey ..... what were you doing in Orange County, CA at that Republican fundraiser the other week? Suely not collecting money from the likes of Darrell Issa and Ken Star. Nah ... couldn't have been that. You're ashamed of that (R) afer your name .... right? You fuckwad.

[TrueFunkSoldier]

16. I'm right there with you, H2S!

Steele is a sycophant and a fraud. He is another black Repug who doesn't really care about the plight of the urban poor, blacks in this state. He only need grovel and appeal to the following: conservative whites and fundie blacks who buy into that 'God hates fags but loves it when you make money' bullshit! I am just hoping and praying that blacks don't buy into this shit again like they did in 2002. Luckily the Dems had a horrible gubernatorial candidate--Kathleen Kennedy Townsend--and that's one of the main reasons why Ehrlich won, plus the illegal shenanigans that kept some Baltimore blacks from voting.

Simply put, these people are scum. They'll say and do anything to steal, cheat and grab as much power as they can.

SCUM!!