My New Punk

Michael Steele –

So he goes on DL Hugley (some guy named HUG –ley as Matthews described him on Hardball) and speaks truth to power – he says that Limbaugh is an entertainer and that his show is incendiary at times. Limbaugh then takes him on during his radio show telling Steele to start doing what he was elected to do rather than try to be a media star which he stinks at.

Then, Steele APOLOGIZES to Rush. It’s not the apology that makes him my new punk…I really don’t care what they do over there and if you get put in your place by your overseer, then you bought that on yourself, but here’s the rub. It is what he said in his apology.

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

Okay Mike Rubber (‘cause you ain’t steel!!), you got sent back into the field from the Big House with a scolding. So what exactly is it in his statement that rankles me?

As everyone to whom I sending this letter knows very well, those of us who are of African decent and have the benefit of some training in the use of language have been assaulted all of our lives with the condescending phrase “He (she)’s so articulate!” by the white community . It is meant as a compliment and to show that we might very well be “one of the good ones.”

The folks for whom Rubber is carrying the water, when they crafted his apology for him, made him say (and I quote as you can see from above) “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate.” They made him CALL HIMSELF inarticulate. Well I’ll be damned, as my 84 year-old mother would say. Tim Kaine, the head of our party put it well today when he said:

"Today, President Obama and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled new job-creating infrastructure projects that were made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These projects are helping put Americans back to work while also investing in repairing our crumbling infrastructure. But, instead of joining Democrats in supporting the President's economic recovery plan, almost every single Republican in Congress chose to follow Rush Limbaugh by voting against a plan that will create or save 3.5 million jobs. Now, instead of the denouncing Limbaugh's claim that he is rooting for the President to fail, my counterpart at the Republican National Committee proved who is really leading their party—calling Rush Limbaugh to apologize after courageously criticizing him just this weekend.”

THAT’S why he’s my new punk (and Rush’s bitch).