Michael Steele

Chris Matthews Thinks It's 'A Little Ridiculous' to Blame Obama Admin for Benghazi Security
By Matt Hadro | May 1, 2014 | 11:42 PM EDT

MSNBC's Chris Matthews ranted on Thursday's Hardball that "it's a ridiculous" to hold the Obama administration culpable for the lack of security around the Benghazi compound during the September, 2012 attacks.

"But the idea that somebody else should have been covering for him [Ambassador Chris Stevens], that someone else should have the army there waiting to defend him, I think it's a little ridiculous," Matthews insisted. "How would the President even know he [Stevens] was going on that trip out there to Benghazi?

MSNBC's Ronan Farrow, Lisa Bloom Try to Connect Trayvon Martin to Racial Bias in Preschool Punishments
By Randy Hall | March 24, 2014 | 9:04 PM EDT

Just when you thought it was finally safe to watch news programs and be free of any references to slain black teenager Trayvon Martin, along comes Monday's edition of Ronan Farrow Daily in which the MSNBC host and a legal analyst linked Martin's tragic life and a new study to claim he was a victim of a system that punishes African-American preschool children three times more often than their Caucasian counterparts.

After Farrow called the report “shocking, and I really mean this, shocking,” guest Lisa Bloom declared that “Martin was suspended three times” during preschool for minor violations, which makes him “a perfect example, unfortunately, very sadly, of this trend.”

MSNBC's Hayes Compares Using Oil to Drug Addiction, Opposes Keystone Pipeline
By Brad Wilmouth | February 3, 2014 | 12:06 PM EST

On Friday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes gave a commentary opposing the Keystone pipeline as he compared America's use of oil to "drug addiction," and pushed the far left idea of leaving 80 percent of the world's oil reserves untapped to supposedly prevent the world's temperature from increasing.

The MSNBC host suggested that conservatives are like addicts who are in denial, with liberals as addicts who want to change but can't.

MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski Frames Alternate SOTU Responses as Part of 'War on Women'
By Paul Bremmer | January 28, 2014 | 4:11 PM EST

In the minds of MSNBC personalities, the so-called Republican “War on Women” is fought on many fronts – even in the amount of GOP responses to this year’s State of the Union address.

On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, the panelists were discussing the three planned responses to Tuesday's State of the Union: Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ official GOP response, Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s Tea Party response, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s personal response. Co-host Mika Brzezinski, upset at the idea of three separate responses, voiced her displeasure in terms of Rodgers’ gender: “Why not let the strong woman actually have a strong response for all Republicans?”

Mika Brzezinski: ‘Thank God’ Obama Isn’t Actually Administering Health Care
By Noel Sheppard | December 19, 2013 | 10:41 AM EST

Just how poorly has the rollout of ObamaCare gone?

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe Thursday, when the perilously liberal Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein said, “The Obama administration isn’t administering the health care itself,” the perilously liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski replied, “Thank god!” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Zbigniew Brzezinski: 'Accommodating' Iranians Willing To Abandon Nuclear Ambitions
By Mark Finkelstein | November 22, 2013 | 9:39 AM EST

Sure, he was careful to couch it.  But the bottom line is that Zbigniew Brzezinski believes that Iran is willing to abandon its goal of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser offered that opinion in response to questioning by former RNC Chairman Michael Steele on today's Morning Joe.  Brzezinski also claimed that the recent round of negotiations have been "serious, substantive" and that the Iranians have been "accommodating."  View the video after the jump.

MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe: Joe Scarborough, Steve Schmidt and Michael Steele Are Conservative
By Noel Sheppard | September 18, 2013 | 6:31 PM EDT

There was an interesting debate on Newsmax TV Tuesday between host Steve Malzberg and MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe.

In it, the latter claimed that on his network, Joe Scarborough, former John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, and former RNC chairman Michael Steele represent – wait for it! – conservative views (video follows with transcript and commentary):

WashPost Notes GOP Absence from MLK Event, Uses Michael Steele to Denounce GOP, Not Organizers
By Tim Graham | August 29, 2013 | 12:49 PM EDT

On page 2 of Thursday’s Washington Post was an article noticing “Republicans absent from March on Washington.” But reporter Ed O’Keefe turned that fact around on the GOP, noting that invitations were declined from three Bushes, two House leaders, and John McCain.

O’Keefe comically quoted Rev. Leah Daughtry claiming they tried “very vigorously” to find a Republican – and didn’t mention her recent partisan credentials: “Leah D. Daughtry is the CEO of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee and chief of staff to Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.” The most jaw-dropping part of the story came when O’Keefe trotted out former RNC chairman Michael Steele to denounce his fellow Republicans for bailing out:     

Steele Rips Matthews: ‘Don’t Sit in This Little Bubble and Act Like' Taxes Didn’t Go Up This Year
By Noel Sheppard | July 25, 2013 | 6:32 PM EDT

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews apparently forgot that at the beginning of the year, a variety of tax increases hit virtually every wage earning American.

Fortunately for the limited number of Hardball viewers Thursday, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele was on the set to offer the truth telling his clueless host, “Everybody’s taxes went up at the beginning of the year, so don’t sit in this little bubble and act like it didn’t happen” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Chris Matthews: Democrats ‘Believe In Illegal Immigration’
By Noel Sheppard | July 2, 2013 | 6:43 PM EDT

In 2010, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said that he didn’t think Democrats wanted to stop illegal immigration.

On Tuesday’s Hardball, the host went even further saying that Democrats “believe in illegal immigration” and this is why they “don’t really believe in border enforcement” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC’s Wagner Positively Gleeful Over Denial of FEMA Funds to West, Texas: 'These Are the Seeds' Rick Perry Sowed
By Andrew Lautz | June 13, 2013 | 5:40 PM EDT

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Wednesday it would not provide additional funds to help the town of West, Texas rebuild after a fertilizer plant explosion killed 15 and injured 160. MSNBC’s Alex Wagner seemed positively gleeful over the news.

The daytime host treated the development as a political defeat for Texas Governor Rick Perry (R), implying on Thursday’s Now that the tragedy – and FEMA’s denial of funding – were “the seeds” the governor sowed for his opposition to excessive federal spending and regulation. Wagner introduced Perry’s plea for federal funds by pairing it with a sound bite of the conservative governor’s opposition to excessive spending:

MSNBC Anchor Says Republicans Weren’t Sent to D.C. to ‘Just Hold Hearings’
By Paul Bremmer | June 4, 2013 | 5:07 PM EDT

MSNBC continues to disparage the scandals that have plagued the Obama administration the last few weeks. On Sunday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, the host brought on former Democratic staffer Jimmy Williams and former RNC chairman Michael Steele to reluctantly discuss the scandals once again. Of course, rather than focus on the substance of the controversies, Witt fell back on the concern that she and many others in the liberal media have often expressed: “[D]oes this have the potential to derail the president's second-term agenda?”

The president’s agenda is always the victim of these scandal investigations in the minds of the press, at least when there's a (D) following the president's surname. Williams, being the Democrat that he is, brushed aside that question and riffed on another favorite left-wing talking point – Republicans will overreach, just as they did with Bill Clinton in 1998: