For One Senate Candidate the "R" is a Scarlet Letter

washingtonpost.com ^ | July 25, 2006 | Dana Millbank

[MurryMom]

The candidate, immersed in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, said down for lunch with reporters yesterday and had this to say on the Iraq war: "It didn't work. . . . We didn't prepare for the peace."

On the response to Hurricane Katrina: "A monumental failure of government."

On the national mood: "There's a palpable frustration right now in the country."

It's all fairly standard Democratic boilerplate -- except the candidate is a Republican .

"For me to pretend I'm not a Republican would be a lie," he reasoned. But to run as a proud Republican? "That's going to be tough, it's going to be tough to do," he said. "If this race is about Republicans and Democrats, I lose."

[Darlin']

"I'm hoping Chaffee loses
We don't need him on our side"

Hes on our side?

:)

[DM1]

Um Mitt Romney is not running for Senate. Could be someone like Kennedy in Minnesotta or Steele in MD. Where Katrina was mentioned i am more apt to think it was Steele but this is just a shot in the dark.

[DM1]

Could be someone like Kennedy in Minnesotta or Steele in MD. Where Katrina was mentioned i am more apt to think it was Steele but this is just a shot in the dark.

[Darlin']

I doubt it is Steele. Steele was chair of MD Bush-Cheney 04, was a featured speaker at the RNC convention in 04. Moreover, Steele along with Jeb Bush and the Head of the Knights of Columbus were the President's 3 emmisaries to the Vatican last year for the investiture of Pope Benedict.

[sgtbono2002]

Until I see proof I will not believe Steele is the person this dipstick reporter claims made those statements. In fact I wouldnt be surprised if the whole thing was made up from whole cloth.I dont trust reporters as far as I can throw them.

[Mo1]

Hes on our side?

Nope .. never was

[Republican Wildcat]

It was Steele according to Rush.

[Darlin']

True that ! :)

[John Lenin]

Sen. Bayh: Middle Class Leaving Democrats in Droves

"We may consider ourselves the party of the middle class, but too many middle-class Americans no longer consider us their party," the Indiana Democrat said Monday. "They have left the Democratic Party in droves - costing us the last two presidential elections and the last six congressional elections. If we don't learn some lessons, we'll lose in 2006 and 2008 as well,"

[Darlin']

Exactly ! Always consider the source. In this case, Milbank has been one of the President's most vocal and vicious critics. He is obsessed. Michael Steele is far too conservative to suit Milbank and Milbank is far too liberal for Steele. I'm much more inclined to believe it is Chafee.

[Darlin']

Did Rush actually say it was definately Steele or just that he felt it was Steele ? Did you hear it ?

[Republican Wildcat]

Considering the fact that the Steele campaign has itself admitted it, I'd say that is fairly good evidence it was Steele.

[Republican Wildcat]

I'm much more inclined to believe it is Chafee.

Since when has Chafee been pro-life? Did you even read this article?

[Republican Wildcat]

Will we get a headline saying "Democrat slams own party" like we did about the GOP over Steele from the AP? I won't hold my breath.

[sinkspur]

It's Steele.

If Steele is proud of dissing Bush and the GOP Congress, why did he try to hide his identity?

What a weasel!!

[John Lenin]

Notice MM can't respond to my post.

[Lancey Howard]

It's Steele

[Darlin']

Hey, now, don't go defensive on me. I'm just askin a simple question, wanting to get to the truth of this story. Yes, I read the article and I have to say that I always doubt the veracity of any Milbank article or appearance. He will slant, shade, imply, quote out of context any piece of information to make it reflect badly on the President. I've also just read a transcript from Rush's show. Rush does feel its Steele and offers a reasonable explanation as to how he can to that conclusion. LINK

[Darlin']

You don't hafta to get s'snippy. You could have been a lot more congenial when you posted that or you could have said up thread that Steele, or his camp, had acknowledged that it was him.

[Darlin']

Why even do an anonymous interview with any reporter much less one like loathes the President. President Bush and the leadership of the Republican party have been very good to Micheal Steele. I'm very disappointed by his disloyalty.