Michael Steele: Some white Republicans are scared of me

Actually, he never says “some.” I’m adding that to give him the benefit of the doubt. Raw Story’s transcript of the exchange:

STEELE: Education and the economy. Education and jobs. Education and small business.

MARTIN: But your candidates got to talk to them. One of the criticisms I’ve always had is Republicans — white Republicans — have been scared of black folks.

STEELE: You’re absolutely right. I mean I’ve been in the room and they’ve been scared of me. I’m like, “I’m on your side” and so I can imagine going out there and talking to someone like you, you know, [you're like,] “I’ll listen.” And they’re like “Well.” Let me tell you. You saw in Christie and you saw in McDonnell a door open because they went in and engaged. McDonnell was very deliberate about spending –

Even better: The guy he said this to is noted Obama apologist Roland Martin. I get what Steele’s trying to do here, conceding Martin’s point to establish common ground so that he’s in a stronger position to persuade him (and his audience), but this isn’t the first time he’s laughed off a nasty racial smear about Republicans uttered in his presence. If he wants to do the common-ground thing, he could at least qualify his agreement by saying that it’s true of a few party members but isn’t true of most; if, in his experience, it is true of most, then he should make that fact loudly known so that conservatives who don’t want to be part of a racist party can walk away for good.

Exit question: Does Steele understand how sensitive most righties are about being demagogued by the left with false, politically calculated charges of racism? The answer must be no or else he’d never let something like this go unchallenged. Click the image to watch.

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