Michael Steele

Steele was, at one point, heckled and yelled at, including by a woman – not a Howard student – who declared that her mother had died a few months ago because she couldn't afford all of her chemotherapy medications. But Steele showed her. He heckled her back, as the Washington Independent reported.

Elon James White, an African-American writer, comedian and host of the web series "This Week in Blackness," was pretty near mortified by the whole event, addressing a scathing blog post at the online site the Root directly to the hip-hop obsessed chairman himself: "Note to Michael Steele: Black /= Charisma."

It's worth a full read, but here are the highlights:

I'm not sure who expressed to Mr. Steele that he was right there on top of the political game with President Obama, but he seems to believe it hook, line and sinker; I know this because he implied it multiple times during the course of the evening. Yet for all of his attempts to reach out to the black community with his Hip-Hop Republican ideas and possibly soul food assisted membership drives, Steele misses the one thing (besides common sense, which he DOES NOT have) that is needed to deal with black folk: Likability.

Watching Steele talk to Howard was the equivalent of watching a house negro explain how great Massa' really is. ("I mean we COULD run for freedom, but why bother?").

... There are a lot of horrendously uninformed and purposefully manipulative people in politics. The issue with Steele is he's trying to game me like a white school teacher doing his first assignment in the 'hood, and I dont appreciate it.

Howard student Jada Smith, an intern at the Root, had a different perspective of the woman who disrupted the crowd, and the students who chimed in.

The student's outbursts and attacks were not only inconsequential in the healthcare debate, but they were down right disrespectful and rude.  One of the few chances us young black folk had to get the ear of someone in government was ruined by party crashers who claim to be making their voices heard, but in reality did nothing but silence the rest of ours.  So what do you think would have made the news? Twenty-something black college students showed up in droves for something other than a Li'l Wayne concert, but the air time will probably go to the white lady who was shouting until her face turned red. Thanks a lot, ma'am.

*THE BLOGOSPHERE REACTS: Arlen Specter (R-PA D-PA), facing a strong 2010 primary push from Republican congressman Pat Toomey, switches parties, giving the Dems a quasi-60-seat presence in the Senate. This has the 'sphere all riled up. For some spirited commentary, visit Robert Stacey McCain's  blog ("Specter reminds me of the high-school slut trying to sleep her way to popularity") or Gateway Pundit, where RNC Chair Michael Steele is quoted as saying "Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first." President Obama, meanwhile, pledges his "full support" to Specter.  Which could include campaigning for him in a Democratic primary.

*Obama's "no-news press conference doesn't impress" the Washington Times. Snap!

*Best quote from last night's Daily Show was Jon Stewart on the American conscience (and I paraphrase):

Don't get me wrong; I wanted to clone Bin Laden so we could kill him once a year at the Super Bowl halftime show....  But I want my country to be better than me.

*HOMICIDE IN 4300 BLOCK OF WHEELER RD. SE: Decedent identified as Richard B. Robinson.  D.C. Police:

At approximately 12:08 am, on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, members assigned to the Department’s Seventh District responded to the 4300 block of Wheeler Road, SE for the report of the sounds of gunshots.  Upon arrival on the scene, officers located an adult male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.  He was subsequently transported by DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

*The Post reports that D.C. rescue teams are still trawling the Potomac south of the Chain Bridge for 37-year-old Hau T. Nguyen, who dove into the river on Sunday to save 11-year-old Jorge Castro.

*The Prince of Petworth has some random shoe sightings.

Photograph above courtesy of M.V. Jantzen

• Greater Greater Washington has the scoop on an emergency tree removal last night that tied up some parking spaces on S St. NW between 15th and 17th:

Last night, residents of S Street NW between 15th and 17th discovered Emergency No Parking signs stating that the trees on the block would be removed. The residents had not known about any tree removal, nor had the local ANC commissioners. The blocks had already lost several mature trees in recent years, and residents worried about losing more.An hour, several DC Council staff, some representatives of the Mayor, and some frantic calls to DDOT's Urban Forestry Administration later, everyone found out the truth. Only three trees on the two blocks were coming down. These trees were either dead or seriously damaged in recent storms, but, according to ANC Commissioner Jack Jacobson, "There was evidently a problem that the contractor had decided timing on removing the trees and had not properly consulted with DDOT, much less the neighborhood."

• Good, honest, hard-working people are turning into blathering idiots. No need to name names, because the Good, honest, hard-working people who have endorsed Rush Limbaugh know who they are (the absolutely batshit wackos, not so much.) Yours truly hasn't managed to put together a less-than-rabid post on Rush without punching himself in the groin–so he's going to stop. Last word: libertarians, classical liberals, et al., should distance themselves from the whole Republican party/Rush Limbaugh/Michael Steele debacle–and if they won't, at least have the good graces to stop bitching about being lumped in with those fucking idiots by the "mainstream media."
• Speaking of libertarians trying to ride the Republican gravy train (ugh), Pete Eyre of Bureaucrash has written a sycophancy-free recap of CPAC (Conservatives Putting Assholes in Charge/Conservatives Pecking At Ciabatta/Conservative Political Action Committee), of which there are very few.

OK, back to 2nd Best Of. (Y'all are gonna love this shit.)

"I think it's an important civil right for the residents of this city," said Steele, a native of Ward 4. "Having grown up here I understand how important it is to them."

And Steele pumped up the GOP's civil rights history: "We’ve always, as a party, been on the right side of that history so, hopefully, everybody will be there again.”

The bill is now clear for a vote on final passage, but landmines remain. Paul Strauss, one of two "shadow senators," says the worry now is that an opponent of the bill will introduce a divisive amendment that could scuttle the bill's passage. "They'll find something that folks from the more conservative states will have trouble voting against," he said. "Probably something on guns."

Steele was asked about the possibility of one of his fellow Republicans introducing such an amendment. "I haven't heard anything about that," he said. "Hopefully, it'll be a nice clean vote."

I have been trying to figure out Michael Steele for the last week or so. Every since he won the RNC's top job that has meant more TV chat show appearances where he talks up tax cuts and talks down Obama. He just doesn't sound that smart. Yesterday, Steele told a Politico reporter that Obama's stimulus package "is just a wish list from a lot of people who have been on the sidelines for years.. to get a little bling, bling."

And, well, he has a history, a bad history. In terms of contributing to the economy, the one thing everyone remembers is the hiring homeless from PA to handout misleading fliers on election day when he ran against Cardin and got trounced. Fisher has the definitive postmortem on that ugly campaign.

Now Steele continues to insist government doesn't create jobs.

This morning I woke up to this thought: Steele is our new Sarah Palin.

All three voting members from D.C. are backing Steele, according to D.C. GOP executive director Paul Craney.

As expected, there's no winner here on the first ballot, who totals were announced just after noon. Here's the initial vote totals (the magic number is 85):

Incumbent chair Mike Duncan: 52
Steele: 46
South Carolina Republican chairman Katon Dawson: 28
Michigan Republican chairman Saul Anuzis: 22
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell: 20

UPDATE, 1:05 P.M.: Steele pulls even with Duncan, still not final:

Duncan: 48
Steele: 48
Anuzis: 29
Dawson: 24
Blackwell: 19

UPDATE, 1:50 P.M.: Steele now in the lead, but Dawson is gaining...

Steele: 51
Duncan: 44
Dawson: 34
Anuzis: 24
Blackwell: 15

UPDATE, 2:15 P.M.: Duncan drops out! Round 4 to come!

UPDATE, 2:50 P.M.: Uh-oh—Duncan conservatives flocking to Dawson. However, CW is that Steele and Anuzis appeal to moderates; Dawson and Blackwell appeal to conservatives. By that logic, there's more votes leaning toward the moderates now than the conservatives, which would be an analysis beneficial to Steele.

Dawson: 62
Steele: 60
Anuzis: 31
Blackwell: 15

UPDATE, 3:15 P.M.: Blackwell out! Endorses Steele!

UPDATE, 3:30 P.M.: The suspense! Round 5:

Steele: 79 (need 85 to win)
Dawson: 69
Saul: 20

UPDATE, 4:10 P.M.: STEELE WINS