Michael Steele & Oreos: Repeating the Lie

Jeff Jacoby's column today in the Boston Globe, Slurs fly from the left, is a lazy hit piece against the "toxic rhetoric" and "slanders and smears" that liberals direct at Republicans.

You can pick your own favorite from Jacoby's list of supposed liberal horrors, but mine is the canard about opponents of Michael Steele--Maryland's black Republican lieutenant governor and Senate candidate--"pelting" him with Oreos at a campaign appearance back in 2002.  

''Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael Steele . . . are fair because he is a conservative Republican," The Washington Times reported. ''Such attacks . . . include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an 'Uncle Tom,' and depicting him as a blackfaced minstrel."

Technically, Jacoby is attributing the story to the Washington Times, but a lie is a lie, whether you source it or not.  And repeating a lie that's been disproved many times over is particularly galling.

So help me out here, Mr. Jacoby--what was that about slanders and smears?

•  The last iteration of the oreo saga....

  ..is particularly disgusting. So it has now devolved to the point where the students at Morgan State are being accused of pelting Steele with oreos?

  by MariaSquared on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:15:49 AM PDT

  •  I guess so

    To be honest, I hadn't read that last entry in the "Oreology" timeline of the Baltimore City paper--and yeah, that's a particularly offensive twist.

    Note also that the lede of Jacoby's column is about the "Sambo" portrait of Steele on Steve Gilliard's News Blog.

    by Hprof on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:24:33 AM PDT

•  Read Gilly's takedown of Jacoby

  http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

  Nicely done, Steve.

  by StevetheWeave on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:38:22 AM PDT

  •  nice - I didn't see that

    Here's the direct URL for the post about Jeffy, which is several down the page

    http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/...

    by Hprof on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:41:41 AM PDT

•  Oreo story is false.

  The Oreo story is false.  Steve Gilliard has the information here: http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/...

  A right wing aquaintance of mine was shocked (shocked, I tell you) about Gilliard's blackface portrayal of Steele.  I could not not convince him that one African American calling out another for overlooking disrespect to other African Americans (as Steele did in not protesting a Republican meeting being held at a whites only country club) is not racism.  He didn't see a bit of difference than if a white supremacist group had portrayed an African American politician that way.  I think Jacoby is being disingenuous here but my acquaintance seems incapable of seeing nuances and I am apparently not a good enough teacher to get them across.

  by Lynn in Delaware on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:41:23 AM PDT

  •  Symbolic Power

    I could not not convince him that one African American calling out another for overlooking disrespect to other African Americans (as Steele did in not protesting a Republican meeting being held at a whites only country club) is not racism.  He didn't see a bit of difference than if a white supremacist group had portrayed an African American politician that way.

    In our culture, and, really, in any culture, there are symbols and images and words that through history take on a power of their own, such that their very invocation is going to transcend whatever the substance of what you are trying to say might be.

    Though it probably ranks behind, say, the swastika, invoking the image of the blackface minstrel to tar someone is going to create a hostile reaction - i.e. a backlash in favor of whoever or whatever it is you are trying to condemn.  

    In a nutshell...posting that picture was an incredibly foolish move.

    by Answer Guy on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:51:23 AM PDT

    •  That's bogus

      Racism is about power relationships, not stereotypes. It's about white people systematically denying black people significant say over their lives. While it's true that racism at times relies on negative stereotypes, stereotypes in and of themselves are not racist.

      Especially not in this case, when a black man is criticizing another black man for the compromises the second has made with the white power structure.

      You and I may wish slavery had never produced the Sambo character-type, and we may both wish that the Sambo type be extinguished, but neither you nor I have the right or the power to impose our wishes on the black community as it debates how to engage 21st politics in the United States.

      If Gilliard thinks Steele is acting like a Sambo -- and he's certainly got some strong evidence to back up the assertion -- then it's perfectly ok for him to say so.

      by litho on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 07:41:21 AM PDT

      •  Dumb

        You and I may wish slavery had never produced the Sambo character-type, and we may both wish that the Sambo type be extinguished, but neither you nor I have the right or the power to impose our wishes on the black community as it debates how to engage 21st politics in the United States.

        That's all well and good, but talk about feeding Michael Steele exactly what he and his supporters want - another chance to portray Steele as a victim. And he doesn't even have to have someone make up some story about his being pelted with cookies.  
        

        by Answer Guy on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 08:18:24 AM PDT

        •  Gilliard can defend himself

          Our job is to point out that Jeff Jacoby, a white guy, is accusing black guys of racism.

          As someone else pointed out, this stuff is all targetted at whites, as an attempt to assuage their white guilt. Steele's candidacy is tokenism raised to the highest power, and Gilliard's post makes that clear.

          by litho on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 08:41:40 AM PDT

          •  Yep!

            Thanks for pointing it out this way. I had never really been able to articulate it before what has made me dislike Steele so much. But I think you've hit the nail on the head here & it is a classically rascist-Repug thing to do!

            He's just such a lightweight that they will continue to recycle the oreo story even though it's been debunked.

            by vcmvo2 on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 10:14:41 AM PDT

  •  I especially liked this

    from Gilliard's post about the Oreos:

    The urban myth grew, not because the Oreos flew from the audience, but because the audience was openly hostile to Steele and his views. He was extremely unpopular with the black audience.

    But think about this: Steele, who will not say whether this actually happened, and if it didn't, lets yet another slander against black people go uncommented on, is reminding voters, yet again, of how unpopular he is with black Marylanders.

    Why bring this up? It doesn't make Steele look like a strong, independent candidate, but someone so despised by his own people, they would insult him in public. Erlich bringing this up makes Steele look weak. Because while the cookies probably didn't get tossed on the stage, the audience made their contempt clear and noted.

    by Hprof on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 07:03:03 AM PDT

•  The Steele Train

  Get used to seeing these hit pieces, especially if you live in or near Maryland. There's going to be a lot of them flying around.

  You know, the minute I saw that blackface picture on the Gilliard blog, I knew that it'd be in every column written by every right-wing hack about Michael Steele from now until forever. If I didn't know better, I'd think GOP operatives planted the damn thing. (Of course, describing a random guy's blog as the voice of the Democratic Party is dubious logic at best.)

  Now they have an additional bit of ammo to augment this Oreo cookie thing, which is of course at best a gross distortion.

  I just hope whoever the Dem candidate is makes it clear that Michael Steele and his supporters are talking about this stuff because they'd rather talk about anything but the actual issues. Don't let them get away with it. Everything about Steele  and his record - to the extent he has a record - says he'd be a rubber stamp for Bush just the way he's a rubber stamp for Bob Ehrlich. And Maryland is in mood to give Bush a rubber stamp for anything.  

  I guess it's a sign of progress that a black man too can be an empty suit and a pretty face for the insanity that is movement conservatism.

  by Answer Guy on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:41:39 AM PDT

  •  No Mood

    Damn it...in "no mood to give Bush a rubber stamp."
    

    by Answer Guy on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:42:58 AM PDT

  •  this stuff is aimed more at white folks

    the complaints a la Jacoby, I mean, about Gilliard's Sambo portrait and the Oreo story--I'd be surprised if they have much traction among black voters in Maryland

    by Hprof on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:44:43 AM PDT

    •  True

      Every once in a while, someone like Trent Lott tips their hand. Or, sadly, something like Hurricane Katrina happens, something that makes it crystal clear that this is still the same Republican Party where the "massive resistance" segregationists feel most at home.

      No, the African-American population, in Maryland and elsewhere, hasn't forgotten any of this. But the GOP is betting that a lot of the yuppies and soccer moms and office park dads have.

      by Answer Guy on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:56:58 AM PDT

•  I hated it the first time

  when it was called Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild by Michelle Maglalang.

  It's disheartening that the Globe prints such drivel.

  by jorndorff on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:44:16 AM PDT

  •  talk about tokenism

    that's the only way Jacoby qualifies for the Globe's editorial page.

    In his post (linked above), Gilliard includes an email he sent Jacoby.  I emailed Jacoby (and cc'd the Globe ombudsman) to complain about his inclusion of the discredited urban myth political disinformation of the Oreo story.

    by Hprof on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 06:48:23 AM PDT

  •  Jacoby regularly infuriates

    except on the torture issue, where he's been ok. I rarely read his column, though I did scan today's to see if he'd include the Oreo myth.

    Sad to say, he did not disappoint.

    Think of him as a newspaper version of a shock jock. He'll say anything to get attention, and the truth is simply an inconvenience.

    by litho on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 07:45:20 AM PDT

•  see the Ted Hayes story

  of his LA homeless community in today's wall street journal(subscription). It is  also posted around the internet. A clear  smear, as evidenced by the fact that the smeared person was not inverviewed.  It would appear that Ted Hays is a black Republican entrepeneur who is cashing in on the homeless, taking advantage of a Democrat who was providing space at far below market. Hays decided to go overtly political, and now his landlord, who has been carrying the financial burden, is booting him. Hard to know the whole story. Anyway the Wall st. Journal printed Hays version. He mentions Oreos, etc. Classes himself with Steele, Rice and other blacks who are "persecuted by Democrats."

  It would appear that there is a Rovian initiative afoot to collect these stories, in an attempt to swiftboat democrats and regain some traction with the black community.

  by seesdifferent on Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 10:01:31 AM PDT