Is Steele Getting A GOP Pass Because He Is Black?

Boneheaded comments from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele are nothing new. In fact, he has honed his skill as a fountain of self-inflicted damaging comments for Republicans. The latest of his bizarre and credibility-damaging comments came as he attempted to attach the Afghanistan war to President Obama and essentially went against GOP talking points (trumpeting the value of this war).

The GOP is not too happy with Chairman Steele and one columnist Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) believes the reason Steele seems to have more lives than any two cats is because he is black.

TAPPER: Cynthia, you once called -- and let me underline -- you once called Michael Steele an affirmative action hire gone bad. What's your take on this?

TUCKER: Well, Michael Steele is a self-aggrandizing gaffe-prone incompetent who would have been fired a long time ago were he not black. Of course, the irony is that he never would have been voted in as chairman of the Republican Party were he not black.

Let's remember how the party wound up with Michael Steele. In November 2008, the party was devastated that the Democrats had elected the nation's first black president, while the Republican Party was stuck with being seen as largely the party of aging white people, with good reason, a party that was hostile to people of color, especially blacks and Latinos.

So the party needed a new face, preferably a face of color, and they didn't have very many officials to choose from, so they came up with Michael Steele. And it is very ironic, since the Republicans have been so critical of affirmative action, to watch them stuck with their affirmative action hire that they dare not get rid of, because that would generate even more controversy.

Now, if Steele were a Democrat leader of the DNC it would be reasonable to think that the far right would consider him an affirmative action hire and would deem him an utter failure. Moreover, Steele would come to symbolize all that is wrong with affirmative action.

It is kind of ironic that the party that claims to be against affirmative action now finds itself in a tough position (one that it would be hammering Democrats for if they were in the same spot).

Also from Tucker:

Actually, Steele has no interest in figuring out his role. He’s a self-aggrandizing loose cannon who likes being the out-front showboat. That’s his strong suit.

If the Republican Party weren’t so self-conscious about its lack of diversity, party leaders would have voted him out a long time ago. But the GOP has spent years criticizing affirmative action. It would be hard for the party to admit its recent affirmative action hire didn’t work out.

It's more than just admitting it didn't work out. Republicans, if you believe in what Tucker is asserting, would have to admit that they engaged in affirmative action in the first place.

To many on the far right, I would imagine that would be more damaging than admitting the Michael Steele project failed.

Those are strong words. One has to wonder how much truth is behind the curtain of these words.