Steele: God Help White Men Appearing Before A Sotomayor Court

RNC Chairman Michael Steele isn't shying away from highlighting race as a signifying issue of the Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court nomination hearings.

In an interview with CNN's Campbell Brown on Tuesday, the Republican Party leader insisted that white males would not be granted even-handed jurisprudence under a Court with Obama's nominee.

"God help you if you're a white male," said Steele. "If you're seeking justice, this may not be the bench you want to go before."

Watch video:

The remarks come at a time when Republican officials have attempted to remove any semblance of racial politics from their opposition to Sotomayor's nomination. Earlier on Tuesday, Sen. Mel Martinez, a Hispanic Republican from Florida, defended Sotomayor's now-infamous "wise Latina" remarks as sensible.

"For someone who is of Latin background, personally, I understand what she is trying to say," the Senator said after meeting with Sotomayor. "Which is, the richness of her experience forms who she is. It forms who I am."

Likewise on Tuesday, conservative New York Times' columnist David Brooks endorsed Sotomayor's temperament for the bench by highlighting the experiences in her background.

"If you look at the whole record," Brooks wrote, "you come away with the impression that Sotomayor is a hard-working, careful-though-unspectacular jurist whose primary commitment is to the law."

Steele, during his CNN interview, insisted that he was not being inflammatory in his assessment of Obama's Supreme Court pick.

"It's based off of... the inference that she left and what she said," he said, when asked about a similar, earlier critique. "You know, if you have a judge, where you have a situation where you have -- you're going before a trier of fact, and the trier of fact is on record as saying that this individual's background experience is better positioned to make a decision than someone else, that gives one pause. And so my view of it was, in looking at it, you're now segregating out white men by your comments."

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Comments

[pcnerd]

12:08 PM on 06/11/2009

I'm white. I would feel comfortabl­e getting justice from her. Why is he trying to fan the fires of intoleranc­e in people and denigratin­g people's confidence in US Justice? Ooops I forgot! He is a Republican­! What a bastion of truth, honesty, and crap filled apple pie!

[BumpyKnight]

09:38 AM on 06/11/2009

The whole plantation ablaze, and Steel is extinguish­ing Master's house.

[mlr710]

11:37 AM on 06/11/2009

LOL! Perfect way to put it.

[BumpyKnight]

01:10 PM on 06/11/2009

It was Malcolm X's idea!

[take10]

01:58 PM on 06/10/2009

At last! Americans are seeing in truth what African Americans have known of and despised since slavery. That is, someone who meets all criteria to be called an 'Un cle Tom!' Given the tenor of Steele's latest media submission­s, it's about time we lay it all on the table. Years ago, I wrote an article which partly addressed the racism which existed in predominan­tly "Colored" neighborho­ods. In those days the lighter Coloreds were the preference of Whites because of their willingnes­s to ignore what was done to keep the others from progressin­g. Fast forward that thinking to today, and although there are many who fit the descriptio­n, Steele takes the prize. Simply put, these are individual­s who would sell their people out to the highest bidder, and are better known as 'house Negroes' or worse. Just like it's time for a dialog on race between Blacks and Whites, it is also time for dialog on Blacks who would send their race into the abyss in order to have a seat, not at the table, but in the corner. Thus, we are witnessing a Black man who is allowing himself to be used as a weapon against the most unanticipa­ted and yet progressiv­e accomplish­ment in the history of African Americans. Steele's election to the RNC is simply an old tactic in a new environmen­t! When he is of no further use to the GOP, he will find himself down here with those whom he sold out. What then?

[hopefullee]

03:19 AM on 06/11/2009

Great post. You've summed it up perfectly.

[DarkEarth]

01:01 PM on 06/11/2009

"House Negroes"?? Isnt that what Al Qaeda called President Obama in their first released video after the election? Or should we just put the blinders on and "look forward"?

[take10]

02:02 PM on 06/11/2009

You seem to forget that we are presently under assault by Al-Cra ckker right here at home. You know! Home grown terr orist who have been around for over a century with no concerted law enforcemen­t effort to ki!! or capture them! I won't allow you to go off point without sufficient­ly addressing the subject matter! Then too, calling someone something doesn't necessaril­y make it so. However, Michael Steel leaves no doubt about his being an HN!

[literasyme]

01:32 PM on 06/10/2009

Never mind the race stuff -- she's not going to be a trier of fact, right? Her job will be to rule what the law is, not what happened in a particular case. Does Steele not know the distinctio­n between judge and jury?

[neocon666]

01:13 PM on 06/10/2009

I'm sure Mr. Steele also considers victims of rape to be "reverse rapists".

[neocon666]

01:04 PM on 06/10/2009

And what would all those poor, defenseles­s, victimized white males do without Michael Steele to protect their rights? Sheesh, talk about self-hatre­d! I'm beginning to think that Mr. Steele calls the period slavery in America "long-term involuntar­y migrant labor".

Michael Steele and president Obama do have one thing in common: neither is the head of the republican party. In a recent poll asking who republican­s thought spoke for their party, his name didn't even show up in the results.

[rj610]

12:57 PM on 06/10/2009

wait, did palin write those comments for him? it sounds so much like something she would try to say.

[oaklynne]

12:52 PM on 06/10/2009

Is Steele an a*ss or what? The drivel that comes out of his mouth is astonishin­g.

[LiberalForever]

12:26 PM on 06/10/2009

steele wanted to get back in the limelight on faux nooze by joining in with gingrich and limburger as the most ignorant talking heads on the planet...a­nd he succeeded.

[madrediterra]

12:24 PM on 06/10/2009

I do not know any woman who has not made a comment of this kind. We raise you, for Christ's sake, work for or with you, marry you, put up with those of you who still have delusions of supremacy (well some of us do) without regard to your race. Since the majority of the judiciary is comprised of white males, could it have been that she was merely referring to the majority? Does Mr. Steele think African-Am­erican men are treated justly by white males? It's not about race, it's sex.

We really do think this way. It isn't just Sotomayor.

[omobob]

12:09 PM on 06/10/2009

While fishing for some thing of consequenc­e, Mr.Steele indulges in race baiting.

[ladydragon]

01:15 PM on 06/10/2009

omobob
don't worry about Steele race baiting, first of all he doesn't know what that is; and second he's too stupid to know how to apply it. No, he just strung these words together to form a sentance because they matched.

[MarieNat]

12:07 PM on 06/10/2009

So he should be okay. What's the problem?

[nocoward]

11:51 AM on 06/10/2009

This is an example of a man who would have round-up or kidnapped people of his own race and sell to slave masters. I think every race endure slavery by their own people at some point.

[dredeize]

12:16 PM on 06/10/2009

I agree that Steele is a HUGE sell out, but let's be real. Most of those "who would have round-up or kidnapped people of his own race and sell to slave masters" didn't do that VOLUNTARIL­Y. There was probably some "enhanced interrogat­ions" taking place there. Let's keep everything in perspectiv­e. With that being said, Steele is still a m.o.r.o.n.

[kathy001]

01:02 PM on 06/10/2009

There have been many people throughout history who willingly rounded up people of their own race, although generally not of their own tribe or community, etc., to sell to slave traders, and made a very fine profit off of it. Unfortunat­ely, Steele's behavior is not unusual in the history of mankind. It's just disgusting that, in the 21st century, we haven't evolved beyond this kind of behavior.

[commercelib]

11:40 AM on 06/10/2009

Sarah Palin was "a great nominee for Vice President" for the Republican Party? Then why isn't she currently Vice President? Oh, I forgot: when you're a Republican you don't have to make sense.

[Insideman]

11:35 AM on 06/10/2009

Steele, i know you wish you were w h i t e, but it will never happen.

[oldschooltrack]

12:07 PM on 06/10/2009

Ahhh don't be so hard on hip-hop Steele he could call Micheal Jackson to find out how it is done.