Rachel Maddow, Michael Steele Clash Over Culture War (VIDEO)

Rachel Maddow and former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele had a lively discussion on Maddow's Thursday show about the prevalence of so-called "culture war" issues in the modern Republican party.

Before bringing on Steele, Maddow spent ten minutes detailing the things she saw that made her think that the culture wars--which have supposedly been overtaken by fiscal concerns by the current GOP leadership and the Tea Party--are alive and well. These included the head of the congressional Republican Study Group calling for gay marriage to be overturned in Washington, D.C., and a video of leading Republican Mike Pence saying that anti-abortion issues had to be a top priority for the new Congress.

Maddow then turned to Steele. "What am I gonna do with you?" he joked. "I don't even know where to begin with your opening. There are so many holes in it."

Steele said that the culture wars are "virtually over," at least on the national level. "What you're seeing now is something a little bit closer to home, which is a state by state approach," he said.

Maddow wasn't buying it, and pointed to the focus on D.C. marriage policy.

"How on earth is it conservative or Tea Party or even capital-r Republican to say those decisions should be made at the federal level?" she said. "To have a congressman from Ohio saying, you know what, my first priority...is to take away DC's own decision-making capacity on gay marriage, that's my first priority?"

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Comments

[ffa1234]

08:12 AM on 01/31/2011

Dumped by his own party, he is still carrying their water. "Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you, By the livin' Gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" NOT!

[Andra Claudia Garcia]

01:34 AM on 01/31/2011

michael steele said "sexy"

[sean180]

02:55 PM on 01/30/2011

MIchael Steele always seems like a white guy playing the part of a black guy, but isn't quite able to pull it off.

[Lexie]

10:25 AM on 01/30/2011

OK, we have gone through the first week without Countdown. The lineup has no punch now. I don't feel the same kind of expectation and exhilaration that I used to feel every night for many years. Rachel is interviewing Michael Steele a SECOND time. What's with that?

[conservicide]

02:59 AM on 01/30/2011

Buchannan is an admitted nazzzi

[savvy7]

09:19 PM on 01/29/2011

Sure Mikee, culture wars are virtually over and we're in a "post-racial" America cause we've got a black president. Right?l

[GRIMKAG]

07:50 PM on 01/29/2011

Steele appears to be out of his league.

[bob5148]

07:31 PM on 01/29/2011

Based on his outfit, is Steele parking cars now?

[PallinAround]

06:03 PM on 01/29/2011

Why is he dressed like a waiter/hotel porter?

[TresJolie7]

01:09 PM on 01/29/2011

Rachel and Michael have sort of an odd chemistry together.

[springsm]

11:43 AM on 01/29/2011

Hey Rachel, are you done with Michael Steele now.  He has been on twice without a rest in between and he did not say anything new or different.  Enough already.

[Don Victor]

04:38 PM on 01/29/2011

Dean developed the 50 state strategy which helped elect Obama. Steele went from scandal to scandal. Maddow on her worst day is twice the intellect of Steele on his best day.

[The Albany Kid]

11:17 AM on 01/29/2011

Sad to see a Black man, particularly one who appears to have a good heart and a fair amount of charisma, pushing the GOP "company line" (especially after the GOP disposed of him like yesterday's newspaper).

[Peter Combs]

11:30 AM on 01/29/2011

what does his race have to do with it? you gotta get over that nonesense...If a person of color cannot speak with being burdened with satisfying other peoples perceptions of what they should or shouldn't be doing, you're not helping the country move forward..

He held the job for a couple years, he was the first Black person elected to State wide office in Maryland, pushed corporations for equal employment and so forth...the guy deserves some respect, not your Liberal Pity, he has achieved much regardless of skin color..try looking at it that way.

[springsm]

11:41 AM on 01/29/2011

I think it has alot to do with why would ANY minortiy belong to and defend a party that is consciously and incessantly against minorities.  Steele did not get that position because he was the first choice..there were three and the split vote left Steele in that office.  Yes, he has alot of chairsma and a great sense of humor.  A bit condescending and patronizing...but thoseare not just a Steele behavior trait.  Don't get your knickers in a knor over the use of "black man".  And nobody is dissing his former successes. "Liberal Pity"...what about "conservative defense". 

[The Albany Kid]

12:05 PM on 01/29/2011

His race is relevant insofar as he is a Black man who was (and to some extent, still is) a mouthpiece for a party that uses dog-whistle tactics (e.g., Willie Horton, maligning "community organizers" like Obama, the Birther movement, etc.) against Blacks and other minorities.

It's like having a rooster working as an advocate for Colonel Sanders.

[missygoose0314]

11:11 AM on 01/29/2011

Thugs will ALWAYS be about controlling people's lives. They couldn't care less about jobs or helping people and they sure don't care about keeping government small. Who do they think they're kidding?

[snove77]

09:42 AM on 01/30/2011

Who do they think they're kidding? Their voting base, that's who, and they buy the whole GOP schtick, hook line and sinker, no questions asked.

[den1953]

11:04 AM on 01/29/2011

No problem Michael Steele is irrelevant and no longer a interesting figure head for the Republican Party his use was clearly over for the Republican Party, this makes him the male Sarah Palin............