GOP candidate says criticism was a joke
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele on Wednesday called President Bush his “homeboy,” reversed course on having the president campaign for him and said he was joking when he described his Republican affiliation as a scarlet letter. The Maryland lieutenant governor, under fire for his comments, told WBAL radio that his remarks were supposed to be off the record with a handful of reporters. Instead, Steele’s campaign confirmed Tuesday that he was the unnamed Senate candidate who had assailed the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress in a story in The Washington Post. “I’ve been quoted as calling the president my homeboy, you know. And that’s how I feel…..It’s a term of affection and respect for his leadership of our country in a difficult time,” Steele, who is black, said in the radio interview.
The President is my homeboy. I shall not question.
He maketh me act in ways contrary to my best interests though the GOP detests African-Americans.
He leadeth me beside the KoolAid (where I shall drink deeply).
He leadeth me in the paths of pandering for his own partisan political purposes.
Yea, though I walk the Valley of the Shadow of Failed Policies,
I will fear no Liberals, for My Glorious and Benevolent Leader art with me.
Thy propaganda and thy pandering, they comfort me.
Thou appearest at my campaign rallies of carefully screened wealthy black folk.
Thou anointeth my campaign with boatloads of RNC cash; my war chest runneth over.
Surely corruption and incompetence will follow me all the days of my misguided career.
And I will dwell in the House of Dubya until he has no further use for me.
(My sincere apologies to anyone who find this adaptation of the 23rd Psalm offensive. It was the best I could do on short notice.)
I mean, really; what else could you do with an African-American Republican who can say with a straight face that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader is “my homeboy”. And I’m sorry, but am I the only one who thinks that the term “African-American Republican” is the ultimate oxymoron, and an exercise in self-loathing, sort of like “Gay Republican” and “slightly pregnant”?
Steele said Wednesday: “If the president wanted to come and help me in Maryland, he is more than welcome, because I’m not going to turn my back on a friend. I’m not gonna do that.”
In the radio interview, Steele said he has been campaigning and traveling, and in the process getting a different perspective.
“We want to be very, very clear that I’m not trying to ‘dis’ the president. I’m not trying to distance myself from the president. I’m trying to show those lines where, you know what, I have a different perspective,” he said.
Of course, after reportedly seriously dissing the President, It would appear that someone in the GOP hierarchy slapped Steele down big time and put him in his place. Now Steele is acting every bit the obedient house boy looking to serve his master.
Steele also told the listeners of “The Chip Franklin Show” that he made positive comments about Bush during the meeting that weren’t reported, noting that unemployment among blacks is down and black homeownership is up. He also said his independence makes him best suited for the job.
“The president doesn’t want a sycophant in the United States Senate. He wants an honest broker for the people of Maryland. He doesn’t want a ‘yes’ man. He wants someone who’s going to be genuine in his approach to solving the problems. And that’s me,” Steele said.
In Maryland, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich said Wednesday that Steele’s independent streak makes him a good candidate.
“He speaks his mind. He’s always going to speak his mind, which is why we have such a strong friendship,” said Ehrlich, who faces a tough re-election this November. He added, “He’s running a great campaign.”
He’d best be enjoying his independence now, because if by some stroke of luck he is actually victorious in November, he’ll be just another ideological soldier in the GOP army, marching in lockstep with all of the other Defenders of All That is Righteous and Holy. Good luck with that independent streak, eh?
