2006 Elections
In his ubiquitous ads Michael Steele says Maryland needs a "new kind of Senator." Considering that he's angling to replace Paul Sarbannes, a smart, kind and effective leader, Steele's change can only be for the worse. Few would trade a sterling Senator for shameless Steele who wrote asking me for money to run more of these ads. I just got this fundraising email from the "stealth" extremist for Senate. Brace yourself, the BS comes thick and deep.
Dear Steele Workers:
We have just four weeks to go until Election Day and I need your help to bring my change agenda to Washington, D.C. Politicians in Washington are great at building "bridges to nowhere," but with your help, I'll build a "Steele Bridge to Change Washington," committed to bringing meaningful change to Washington and getting something done for Maryland. It's going to take $100,000 to build this bridge, and we have very little time to reach this goal! That may seem like a lot of money, but that's what it's going to take for me to combat the next smear campaign planned by Congressman Cardin and his Washington political bosses, which is due to air on your television any day now. You've seen the ads - the lies, the personal attacks, and gutter politics - and if you're like me you're probably tired of the same old bitter, partisan, negative attacks from the Washington crowd.
Help me stop the smear campaign right now by making a contribution to build the bridge. Let's tell Congressman Cardin and his political bosses to stop the lies, the personal smears, and even the illegal activities they're using to defeat me. Maryland is ready for change. I have a clear vision for changing business-as-usual in Washington, D.C. to get something done for Maryland, but Congressman Cardin continues to spew the same angry, partisan attacks to try and recreate his own positions on important issues like Social Security and education. Marylanders are tired of Washington double-talk and the politics of personal destruction.
That's what I've heard from so many people in Maryland as I've traveled throughout the state in the Steele Wheels for Change bus. The people of Maryland aren't expecting "big government" handouts. They just need common sense policies so they can keep more of the money they earn and be empowered to turn their hopes into action and turn opportunity into ownership. Join the thousands of other Marylanders who are laying the bricks to build the Steele Bridge to Change Washington, by making a contribution today. A goal of $100,000 might seem impossible, but I know that if we work together, we'll complete the bridge and secure our victory in November! If I'm going to get to the Senate to shake things up, I must have your help so I can air more TV ads and give the people of our great state the whole story - not just the lies and deceptions hitting the airwaves....
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Let's get out the hip waders and shovel this BS. The "lies and deceptions hitting the airwaves" come from Steele, He claims he's independent although Karl Rove and insider Republicans recruited him to run for Senate because he's one of them. If you want "Washington political bosses" who make "angry, partisan attacks" you're not going to find any more partisan or bossier than Steele's Svengali Karl Rove! I won't dwell on Steele's lack of connection with people who work for a living, but his sense that "laying the bricks" is the way to build a "Steele bridge" says it all. More likely he's trying to "Steele" the election by lying to us about who he is and what he stands for.
Notice Steele won't articulate ANY policy positions at all - not in the above missive, not in debates, not in his ads. Yet he dishonestly claims "the Cardin team" stole his Social Security number and whines that they're using "personal smears, and even the illegal activities" without specifying any. I've seen the ads against Steele which accurately assert that Steele supports George W. Bush on blindly "staying the course" on the Iraq War, opposing life-saving medical research, opposing basic Constitutional rights, etc. Not a smear in there. But if it's smears you're looking for, check out Steele's own email.
Steele attacks Cardin personally, impugning his integrity and dishonestly demeaning the rather bland Cardin campaign as "angry, partisan attacks." Without mentioning how Cardin was correct to oppose Bush's efforts to raid Social Security and hamstring public education, Steele - who supports Bush's positions but hopes you don't notice - hypocritically and falsely claims Cardin wants to "recreate his own positions on important issues like Social Security and education." Cardin isn't doing that. He doesn't have to. Steele is bashing Cardin for doing what Steele is doing. Textbook Karl Rove politics: Just as expected from Rove's handpicked candidate.
A person should honor his family and remember where he came from, but Steele can't even tell the truth about his roots. He grew up in Petworth - a justifiably proud and accomplished ethnically diverse community. Self-reinventing Steele - striving for unearned street cred - disparages his former neighbors. Steele attended Archbishop Carroll High - hardly a poor or hardscrabble school - but in a puff piece by the Wall St. Journal, Steele pretends he grew up "in 'the 'hood,' the predominately black Petworth section of Washington, D.C." (see: James Taranto, Brother From Another Party, April 8, 2006)
Steele conceals his real agenda as well, using codewords to assure his ardent and affluent supporters. Let's decode from right wing think-tank-speak into plain English:
Steele says: The people of Maryland aren't expecting "big government" handouts.
That means, the regular people of Maryland better not expect a damn thing from the federal government. Unless you're well-off, well-heeled, and well-connected, well - just forget it. When Halliburton and Exxon-Mobil cash in with huge give-aways and no-bid sweetheart deals, that's one thing. But try to collect on your Medicare, Social Security or any other benefits YOU paid for and Steele slams you for wanting "handouts." Steele threw in his lot with the affluent and this is his way of telling them he's on their side. He's also saying if you're in need, you need not apply.
Steele says: They just need common sense policies so they can keep more of the money they earn and be empowered to turn their hopes into action and turn opportunity into ownership.
Translation: The rich get a free limousine ride while working and middle class families foot the bill with higher state, local and property taxes, higher "user fees," higher college tuition, and less financial aid. Of course Steele can't say that in public, but he's winking at the right wing financial power brokers with this focus-group phrase: "opportunity into ownership." That means taking away your opportunity. Your opportunity to afford college. Your opportunity to get a decent job. This is what Bush and Rove call the "ownership" society: plundering the Clinton surplus, trying to raid Social Security, and turning them over to rich Republicans.
The Wall St. Journal featured article quotes Steele's view of "what a black man should be in America." Steele opines: "I don't think we should be sitting there waiting for the government to tell us what we can do and how far we can go and what we can achieve. It doesn't apply to anybody else. Why should it apply to me? . . . This is Jim Crow redux." [italics in original]
Steele doesn't recognize government's role as the guarantor of equal opportunity or respect the Senate's role in ending Jim Crow. What kind of Senator will he be when he's so concerned about himself and his cash? He got his, too bad if you didn't. The WSJ reports how Steele "realized he was a Republican" quoting him: "I started talking to people and started trying to figure out, well, who's going to protect my money? Who's going to allow me to keep more of my money? And, you know, this whole FICA thing. What is that all about?" He has his mind on his money, and yours: "the idea of the minimum wage is almost a fallacy," Steele believes.
Steele questions FICA - the income that supports Social Security - and doubts working people need wage protection. Meanwhile he celebrates the opportunity Rove handed him. What about your family's income or your opportunity to retire with sound Social Security, secure pension and other support you earned? Steele wants to let Wall Street high rollers and other Republican plutocrats assume ownership. This rob the rest to enrich the rich "trickle down economics" fails miserably every time anyone tries it. What Steele calls "common sense" is common theft. It's economic nonsense as well as immoral, unethical and unfair Social Darwinism. Most Maryland voters know better, so Steele tries cloud the issue.
I'm hearing that Ben Cardin "voted for the war," and I expect some people believe that. I decided to check the source and I found this link proving Ben Cardin voted AGAINST H.J.Res.114 the "Joint Resolution To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq" Bill sponsored by Hastert,R-IL." You can read the text of that resolution here: vote number 2002-455 on Oct 10, 2002. Did you know Cardin also voted against the 1990 Gulf War? I found that online as well.
I've been hearing that Ben Cardin isn't really a liberal, but I discovered he voted with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action 95 times out of 100. I found he steadfastly opposes "school vouchers." That he voted to "sunset" provisions of the Patriot Act. He supports a women's right to choose against encroachment.
Ben Cardin opposed every one of Bush's tax cuts which shirt the burden for paying for things like Bush's wars from rich Republicans to regular people like us. Steele, you recall, never met a giveaway to the wealthy he didn't grab. Liberal/Progressive vs. right wing extreme. Peace or war. Help for regular people vs. rewarding the Rich. Freedom rather than tyranny. Steele in the Senate would be a Rove-reliable vote the opposite way on every one of these issues.
Steele isn't just a bad alternative, he's a nightmare who is cleverly concealing his extremism and hypocritically lying about Cardin. Maryland voters usually embrace reason and reliable liberal leadership rather than right wing lies and disinformation. With the Senate hanging in the balance, I trust most of us will vote with our hearts and our heads, not our spleens!
Perhaps the biggest lie Steele tells is that he has "a clear vision for changing business-as-usual in Washington, D.C." Considering Steele's unquestioning and unalloyed support for the Bush / Cheney policies and his embrace of Karl Rove and right wing tactics, it's clear that Steele has no intent to change anything in Washington. Except to make Maryland an unwitting enabler of continued right wing extremism.
Long story short, Michael Steele wants you to believe lies about Ben Cardin, and hopes you don't know the truth about Michael Steele. That's because if you work for a living, the Republicans want to "Steele" your money and give it to their elite powerful campaign contributors. Don't let Steele lie to you about what he wants to do to you.
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