Michael Steele is the Republican Lt. Governor of Maryland. He’s running for Senate next year. He also happens to be black, and that is apparently a problem for some people. Wednesday’s Washington Times carried this report about the vicious attacks being perpetrated against Steele by black Democrats and their supporters.
Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.
Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an “Uncle Tom” and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.
Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report — the only Republican candidate so targeted.
If Steele were a Democrat and this was happening, the cries of racism, and the lawsuits, would be springing up from all quarters. Since he is a Republican, however, he is as much persona non grata as Clarence Thomas and Condoleeza Rice, and even the most vicious and vile attacks are fare game.
Just consider these comments from so-called leaders in the Maryland Democratic Party:
State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.
“Party trumps race, especially on the national level,” she said. “If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It’s democracy, perhaps at its worse, but it is democracy.”
Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.
“Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community,” she said. “His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people.”
(…..)
This week, the News Blog — a liberal Web log run by Steve Gilliard, a black New Yorker — removed a doctored photo of Mr. Steele that depicted him as a black-faced minstrel.
However, the blog has kept its headline “Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house.” A caption beneath a photo of the lieutenant governor reads: “I’s Simple Sambo and I’s running for the Big House.”
Vile, incredibly, incredibly vile.
Michelle Malkin has much more about the attacks on Steele.
H/T: Crazy Politico
