Michael Steele's greatest hits (and his real problem: the truth)

I'm so old I remember when conservatives would point and laugh at things Howard Dean said. Then he kicked their asses and they had to sit  down and shut up, of course.

GOP chair Michael Steele's words and deeds have been referred to as "screw-ups" and "gaffes" -- and some of them, like the expense report for the nights out at the lesbian bondage club, certainly are -- but the main reason the dude is in hot water is because he's the head of a political party based fundamentally upon hypocrisy. So he gets in trouble every time he lets slip a brutal truth.

For example, "Obama's war of choosing" is blindingly false and even ridiculous.  "Afghanistan is unwinnable", on the other hand, is quite true, yet it obviously contradicts the tough-guy facade the GOP has invested decades constructing, thus cannot be spoken aloud (by a Republican). More truth that penalizes Steele:

In a March 2009 interview with CNN, Steele was asked about the White House’s position that Rush Limbaugh was the leader of the GOP. He strongly denied that claim, insisting that he was the party’s top leader. “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment,” Steele said. And he trashed Limbaugh’s over-the-top remarks about Obama. “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly,” Steele said, prompting Limbaugh to declare Steele as unfit to lead the party. Steele later apologized to Limbaugh, insisting he did not want to “diminish his voice.” Later, he strangely suggested the Limbaugh flap had been “strategic” on his part. “It may look like a mistake, a gaffe. (But) there is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it,” he said.

And more, the kind that the hypocrites in the Republican party just cannot tolerate:

In an interview with GQ’s Lisa DePaulo, Steele said abortion is “absolutely … an individual choice” and said the question of legality should be settled by the states. The comments prompted criticism from several top social conservatives, including Gov. Mike Huckabee. Steele, who is pro-life, later said his words had been taken out of context.

And still more:

Perhaps the most important role of a party chairman is to be a cheerleader for candidates and their campaigns, even in the most dire circumstances. But in January, Steele told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that not only was he not sure if the GOP would regain control of Congress, he wasn’t sure if Republicans were ready to govern. “Are we ready? I don’t know,” Steele said. Candidates “looking to run” have to hew to the GOP's core principles, he added. “If they don’t, they’ll get to Washington, and they’ll start drinking that Potomac River water and they’ll get drunk with power.”

Beyond Steele, however, there is the simple cognitive dissonance associated with being an African-American Republican. Or a Hispanic Republican. Or a Log Cabin Republican.  These things exist in nature (as rare as they may be) and, stranger still, these creatures appear comfortable in their environment. They do not thrive, but they do survive.

A more current strain of this cerebral dichotomy can be found in the deficit hawks peacocks that spawned the Tea Party fringe movement of the GOP; "no" to all government spending -- even the extension of jobless benefits -- except for the wars and police actions around the globe.  Olbermann had a segment just last night on our now-unbelievable defense budget, the dawning pragmatism that it must be reduced coming from Ron Paul and a few more TeaBaggers -- and more carping about that, combined with a call to keep increasing it, from no less than the likes of Sarah Palin.

See? More truth larded up and turned rancid with conservative hypocrisy. Michael Steele just makes this mistake more often than the rest of the Republicans. They call that "lack of message discipline".

A beatdown

"Rick Perry will see how many times he can say 'Obama' and 'liberal' in slick T.V. commercials and see if that will get him by with 51 percent of the vote," (Bill) White said. "In prior elections, he attacks his opponents with negative campaigns, takes credit for what's good and accepts no responsibility for a lot of mismanagement."

White said Perry should not be allowed to avoid forums where the questions come from citizens in the audience. "If you don't have the guts to get up here on stage and answer to the taxpayers who pay your salary, then you shouldn't be re-elected governor," White said.

It wasn't just White who got in some shots, either.

(Libertarian Kathie) Glass, who opposes national healthcare and believes the state should block its implementation, was equally hard on Perry. She said Perry has talked a good game in opposing federal policies, but she said talk is all he is.

"Our governor may have said some things that sound comforting, but everyone knows ... he doesn't mean it, and he won't do it," Glass said. "You know you're voting for the man you wish he were."

It was vicious and kind of ugly on the MIA governor. I came close to feeling sorry for him once or twice. But that passed every time one of his minions in the chat sidebar to the video -- "defeattxlibs" or "liberalbill" were two of their handles -- would post some ridiculous Carney-inspired propaganda.

It reminded me of one of those UFC fights where the guy on the mat can't cover up the blows raining down on his head, but has a couple of ringside handlers yelling "You got him, Ace!" and "He's about to give out!"

Barbara Radnofsky and Jon Roland were no less relentless on Greg Abbott, either, in the second round on the card for attorney general candidates.

Burnt Orange has a live blog of the play-by-play.

Fourth on the Fifth Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes America a Happy 234th Birthday as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

TXsharon is not the only one who thinks CHK shareholders are getting drilled by the Shale Gas Shell Game. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Off the Kuff talks about how to really put the unemployed back to work.

"You knew you were at the Texas Democratic Party Convention when ..." at PDiddie's Brains and Eggs.

The Texas Cloverleaf shows you the difference between good and evil in Texas.

South Texas Chisme sees a clear difference between the Democrats who want to solve problems and republicans who want to visit their idea of the 1700s.

Neil at Texas Liberal spent the week in Cincinnati, and offer a post with a picture of a retaining wall in a Cincinnati park that was built by the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration in 1940. Sarah Palin can't serve a full term as governor, but the work of government-sponsored jobs programs lasts across the decades.

Left of College Station returns after a June hiatus, and Teddy writes about the mainstream media and the culture of underexposure, and also covers the week in headlines.

Gubernatorial debate tonight (without the guber)

The first debate in the Texas governor's race will be between a pair of Houstonians in the Hill Country on Monday, minus Gov. Rick Perry.

Democratic nominee Bill White and Libertarian Kathie Glass, both lawyers, are scheduled to face off in a Kerrville Area League of Women Voters debate at 7 p.m. at the Cailloux Theatre in Kerrville.

The debate will be carried live on Kerrville's KVHC-TV and will be streamed live on the station's website.

Kerrville Area League President Donna Robinson said Perry was invited to attend but turned it down. Robinson said Perry remains invited to show up Monday if he wishes.

The governor still has an unhealthy obsession with his challenger's tax returns.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor will not debate White until White releases his personal income tax returns for the years he was assistant U.S. secretary of energy and Texas Democratic Party chairman, a period covering the mid-to-late 1990s. White has released his returns for the years he was Houston's mayor.

"We will discuss debates when Bill White comes clean with the people of Texas and releases his tax returns for his years on public service," Miner said.

White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said Perry is just playing games to avoid a debate.

"Next he'll be asking for Bill's tax returns when he was running concession stands as a teenager, or saying he'll only debate if Glenn Beck is the moderator," Bacon said. "If he doesn't want to debate, he should just say so instead of playing games like a typical career politician."

Okay then. Let's turn our attention to the people who will be there.

Glass favors states' rights, nullification of federal laws by the states if they consider them unconstitutional, an elimination of the public school property tax and state payments for Medicaid. Glass said Perry talks about states' rights and less government spending, but "he really doesn't believe in it."

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson called White's decision to debate Glass a "mixed bag."

The debate gives White the opportunity to promote a candidate who may draw votes from Perry in the general election and highlight the fact that Perry will not debate. But Jillson said it also gives White's campaign an air of desperation.

"It caters to the idea that they are a little frantic and are taking the eye off the ball, which is Rick Perry," Jillson said.

Jillson vastly overstates the governor's only hope to get something out of a no-show. There is lots to be gained for both Glass and White, and it all comes at Perry's expense. He will again serve as a punching bag -- I prefer pinata -- and once the polls show him losing more ground, he'll get his summer attack ads campaign in gear.

I'll be watching to see if the two on stage this evening score much beyond but added name rec and a few style points, though. There's plenty of Debra Messina-ish crazy for the TeaBaggers and less sensible conservatives to like about Glass, and whatever she says tonight will raise her stock a bit. But the Republicans who stuck with Kay Bailey in March can find plenty to like about White as well, so it will be interesting to see if he makes an appeal directly to them.  I want to see if White gets asked about the Greens, and also about the Barnett Shale (scroll to nearly the end of Dave Mann's article in the Texas Observer and begin at the paragraph that starts with "In March" in bold if you need the backstory). Those would be the toughest questions he could get asked IMO, not the Perry-campaign-fed questions about BTEC nor the inevitable and tired "can Democrats win anything this year?" crap.

Update: Kuffner's take, this excerpt...

Perry’s spokesbot claimed (the reason the governor wasn't going to debate) was because White hasn’t yet released a detailed accounting of the allowance he received as a kid, but we all know the real reason.