Steele's Conflicting Statements on Iraq and Bush go Unchallenged by CNN's Blitzer

Issue of Steele's GOP Membership Also Go Unexplored

Washington, DC - On the November 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer failed to ask Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, the Republican Senate candidate in that state, to clarify his conflicting positions on the war in Iraq. As Media Matters for America noted, on the October 29 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, host and NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert led into a debate between the Maryland Senate candidates by reciting Steele's seemingly contradictory positions on the war.

Instead of asking for clarification during Steele's appearance on The Situation Room, Blitzer asked Steele only two questions on Iraq: "Do you disagree at all with the president of the United States when it comes to his strategy in trying to win the war in Iraq?" and "Would you agree with the president" that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is "doing a, quote, 'fantastic job' when it comes to Iraq?"

To the first question, Steele replied in part: "We're trying to win this thing. I'd like to see them correct the course immediately because the course we're on right now is not achieving the objective." Blitzer did not follow up by asking Steele to reconcile that statement with his view, articulated as recently as August, that the Iraq war has been successful, and, in June, his statement that he believes in "staying the course."

Blitzer also failed to challenge Steele's assertion that he is "not running away from President Bush" and that he has "never run away from" being a Republican. In a July 25 Washington Post column by Dana Milbank, a candidate speaking "under the condition that he be identified only as a GOP Senate candidate," spoke "critically, if anonymously, about the party he will represent on Election Day." Milbank wrote that the candidate "spoke of his party affiliation as though it were a congenital defect rather than a choice." And when asked if he wanted Bush to campaign for him, the candidate responded, "To be honest with you, probably not." Later that day, ABCNews.com reported that "[t]he GOP Senate candidate who anonymously described his Republican affiliation as an 'impediment' to his electoral prospects while speaking with the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and others ... is none other than Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele."

Additionally, on CNN, Blitzer remarked to Steele, "You never see the fact that you're a Republican in [your] signs and in [your] commercials," but then failed to challenge Steele's assertion that "I'm the only candidate that's required in this race to put his party affiliation ... on the placard." Blitzer did not mention that Steele actually put a different party affiliation on some of his paraphernalia. As the Post reported on September 24, at a rally in Baltimore, "Steele supporters waved signs and grabbed bumper stickers that said 'Steele Democrat.' " The signs and bumper stickers are, like Steele's website and other campaign gear, blue -- the color that came to represent the Democratic Party in the 2004 election -- and the word "Democrat" appears in smaller type beneath the word "Steele."

The Post article quoted "Steele supporters" as saying that the "Steele Democrat signs should be read as if they said 'Reagan Democrat.' " Terry Lierman, chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, was also quoted in the article, as saying: "Steele's new logo is the biggest election fraud perpetrated on the voters of Maryland in this campaign to date -- and proves that Steele thinks his only chance is political identity theft."

As noted by the weblog Crooks and Liars, onscreen text briefly identified Steele as a Democrat.

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