MD- Steele takes Bush and National GOP to the woodshed.

[Moooooo]

Washington Post (Dana Milbank) via David Wissing:

I stopped reading Liberal columnist Dana Milbank a long time ago because he has becoming rather predictable in his constant attacks on bush and Republicans, so I never saw his original article that appeared in this morning’s Washington Post quoting an “anonymous” Republican Senate candidate.

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It goes on and on, with the “anonymous” candidate ripping Bush and Republicans at every turn. Apparently, the attempt to find out who this was became a big deal all day long. I noticed Rush Limbaugh had a full segment on it where he predicted that it was Michael Steele. Jim Geraghty deduced it was Michael Steele by comparing quotes in Milbank’s article to previous quotes from Steele. The gang at The Corner also predicts it is Steele. It got to the point where Michael Steele’s camp could not deny it any more. From The Associated Press.

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Now a lot of what Steele said has a ring of truth to it. I don’t think it is any big secret that running as a Republican in Maryland is a tough thing to do. And the Republican Congress deserves a lot of criticism for the way they have run Congress for the past few years. But even if he meant for it to be “anonymous”, what is the point of trashing the very people who not only support you, but you absolutely need to have any chance of winning? I’m sure he truly believes what he said and there is some truth to his criticisms that he leveled against Bush and the Republican Congress, but he had to know this was eventually going to come out that it was him saying it and that it was not helpful to the party he is member of. You kow how much Ihate when journalists hide behind “anonymous” sources. ialso hate it when politicians hide behind the “anonymous” label as well. Just an absolutely colossal political blunder by Steele, which is now going to be a heck of a lot worse because he tried to be anonymous rather than if he just openly stated these opinions or just kept his mouth shut. I would just love to know who in the Steele campaign thought this was a good idea.

[Mike in Maryland]

Talk about a flip-flopper; Steele sought to clarify his remarks today by suddenly calling Bush his "homeboy."  Yeah, I'm sure they agree with that in the 'hood that he supposedly wants to bring to Capitol Hill. 

This follows on the Bush administration referring to Steele as "our" candidate for the Senate; how well is that going to play in Silver Spring, Mitchellville, or Baltimore?   Steele seems to be bending every which way, dissing Bush one day and being his best friend the next.  At this rate, he'll turn off everyone in the state before long.
 

[Virginian87]

Between this and some of his earlier comments, I'm surprised that the polls still show him fairly close with Cardin.

[Akno21]

What exactly is Steele's strategy in this race? Find a way to alienate every group in the state?

I don't think this will have much effect, the GOP leadership is smart enough to give him money even though he may not be especially grateful. He's still a pretty good candidate as far as Maryland Republicans go, if Democrats think their opponent is E.J. Pipkin, they are mistaken.

[Rococo4]

I dont think he is going to allienate the states GOP - they know he will be with them.  They will still vote for him.  It is designed to attract moderates.

[Mike in Maryland]

I'm not sure if trailing by 10 or 11 points (as per most of the latest polls) is "fairly close."  In any event, the state's Republicans who vote will still likely mostly vote for him, but there's the question of how many conservatives will actually turn out--or might skip punching a button in the Senate race if they don't like what they hear from Steele.

Meanwhile, I don' t think that Democrats and independents who don't much like Bush, which is to say a large majority of the state now, will be swayed by his criticism of Bush and the GOP, especially as he was so fast to backtrack on it.  If they don't want a pro-Bush Senator, then they can get a Senator consistently to their liking by voting for the Democrat.

[© tweed]

If Maryland voters are paying attention to this race and Steele's antics of late, he's done.  What a tokenist black clown.