Soccer Dad

Missing steele

The Hedgehog Report asks why it's so significant that Lt. Gov. (and Senate candidate) Michael Steele avoided a GOP fundraiser recently.

Good lord Mosk. Steele has held fundraisers with Karl Rove, Andy Card and President Bush himself in the past. Mosk is really stretching it to try and claim Steele is purposely avoiding Bush.

I'd like to say that Mosk is doing his typical Democratic press release. But last week.

However recently Robert Novak wrote about Michael Steele campaigning in Maryland

But at Prince George's Community College with Principal Myrick at his side, Steele whacked President Bush's educational policies (especially defunding support for low-income college students). In his brief remarks, he could not find anything favorable to say about the president.

He was even tougher on Bush in talking to me: "In the eyes of blacks, [Hurricane] Katrina was a 9/11 event. You didn't fly over 9/11. You got on the ground in the rubble. You should have been on the ground for Katrina." Republican regulars don't mind this sort of talk. They know Steele, their former Republican state chairman, from fish fries all over the Free State. He can say whatever he wants to score a historic victory of national proportions.

If Steele is really talking like this to get elected it's very troubling. (No I don't necessarily take Robert Novak at face value.) If he doesn't mean it he's going to have a lot of disappointed constituents if he gets elected and he's leaving himself open to charges that he'll say anything to get elected. If he does mean it then the Democrats hardly need to fear his candidacy - he's just a Democrat in Republican clothing. Except, of course, his anti-abortion stand.

And even if he doesn't mean it, isn't it possible that the Bush administration isn't pleased with being criticized by a Republican candidate. I could see that Steele's anti-Bush campaigning - if true - could alienate the President. I'm not certain that Mosk should be criticized here. Steele's absence may be of some significance.

UPDATE: Moonage Political Webdream writes:

My only hope is Steele doesn't over-react to the "typical Republican" comment and go too far proving he's black enough to represent the minority ( read alienating the majority ).

I hope he's right; but if Novak is correct that's exactly what he's doing.

Technorati tags: Maryland politics, Michael Steele.