Steele told a group of students there is no reason for black folks to even think about the GOP:
You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True.
[…]
We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans. This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass. The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don’t walk away from parties, their parties walk away from them.
For the last 40-plus years we had a “Southern Strategy” that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, “Bubba” went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.
The GOP’s Southern Strategy is old news. In an appearance before the NAACP’s annual convention in 2005, former GOP chairman Mark Mehlman apologized for walking away from black voters:
Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.
So Republicans are asking, WTF?! Why is Steele dredging up the past now?
Steele’s latest gaffe comes on the heels of criticism that he is livin' la vida loca.
Hotline On Call reports the RNC spent more than $340,000 on its semi-annual meeting in Hawaii.
The Washington Times, meanwhile, reports the RNC’s finances are in disarray:
Barely 6 1/2 months before the midterm elections, an internal investigation by the Republican National Committee has revealed that the organization is beset with questionable financial management and oversight and is spending more money courting top-dollar donors than it raises.
The investigation found that the Republican Party’s national governing body is losing money on its major-donors’ fundraising program -- spending $1.09 for each $1.00 raised, according to RNC members privy to the investigation’s findings. It typically costs about 40 cents for every dollar raised from donors who give more than $1,000.
The RNC reportedly is seeking an independent review of its spending.
But here’s the bottom line: With the midterm elections looming, it’s cheaper for Republicans to keep Steele rather than get caught up in a divisive fight to remove him from office.
