Does AB Owe Michael Steele An Apology?!?

Over the past month or so, we've seen the media go into a frenzy about the GOP's new H.N.I.C. and very little of the coverage has been favorable. They've critiqued his strange looking, Steve Harvey suits. His cornball demeanor. His proclivity to include the word "baby" in every 3rd sentence, as if he's Ashanti or something. His bizarre and outdated "hip hop" vocabulary. His firing of nearly all RNC staffers. Local media is digging into whether or not he improperly spent campaign contributions during his failed 06' Maryland Senate bid. And of course, he totally and completely got stuck with the a$$ end of the pyramid in that whole run-in with Rush Limbaugh.

Poor Mike Steele has been thrown under the Greyhound more often than Samsonite.



I'll profess, I've been one of the main Negroes participating in this act, and it didn't dawn on me until today that this is wrong. Very wrong.



I don't agree with Steele on many (any?) issues, but one thing I've never considered him is untrue to his beliefs. I don't happen to agree with those beliefs, but I don't think he's expressed them with nearly the level of hatred and vitriol that his fellow party members (think Alan Keyes) sometimes do.



In short, while he's certainly asking for it with some of this outlandish actions of late, he doesn't deserve it. He's the least of the GOP's problems, not it's biggest by any stretch.

Okay, I'll quit beating around the bush and just say it. I hate going all the way there, but I haven't seen a black man skewered by the media (all forms, liberal and Conservative) this badly since... well, since Obama became a serious contender about a year ago. He'd never admit it himself (nor would Obama), but a boatload of this scrutiny is because he's a black male in uncharted (and some might argue unwelcome) territory. Just as many liberals don't want to see him succeed, nor do many Conservatives, despite what they say on Fox News. Today's rumor mill has it that the GOP braintrust is about to issue a "no confidence" vote in an effort to have Steele ousted. Get your peoples in check, Mike.



So, just so nobody gets it confused, I am officially backing off the Bash Steele Express, or at least I am on this blog. This isn't the first time I've reversed course like this. I've "taken back" prior statements about lots of folks I used to pop sh*t about, including everyone from Hilary Clinton to T-Pain. I'm not calling this an apology, but it is an olive branch. Sure, he could help his own cause by staying off TV and working on hiring a staff and raising money, but I don't think all the scrutiny is warranted. At least not on this blog it ain't, not anymore.

Give the brother a chance.

But in the meantime, this sh*t is still funny.



Question: Do you think the media is too focused on Steele and not enough on the 4,000 earmarks the GOP just slid in the Omnibus bill? Political leanings aside, do you think Steele is getting a bad break because he's black, or is he merely a convenient target because he loves the camera so much? Is AB losing his edge with all these apologies and contractions?