Bennett, Christie revived dubious claim that Steele "had Oreos thrown at him" to defend RNC ad former Sec. Cohen called "overt[ly] racist"
SUMMARY: Responding to criticism of an
RNC ad attacking Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Harold Ford Jr. --
an ad described by former Republican senator and Secretary of Defense William
Cohen as "overt[ly] racist" -- CNN political analyst Bill Bennett
and Ron Christie, former special assistant to President Bush, revived the
dubious claim that, in 2002, Maryland Senate candidate and lieutenant governor
Michael Steele (R), who is an African-American, "had Oreos thrown at
him" by Democrats as a racial insult. In fact, there is significant
evidence that calls into question the Oreo cookie claims.
Guests on the October 26 edition of CNN's The Situation Room and the October 25 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews revived the dubious claim that, in 2002, Maryland Senate candidate and lieutenant governor Michael Steele (R), who is an African-American, "had Oreos thrown at him" by Democrats as a racial insult. CNN political analyst Bill Bennett and Ron Christie, former special assistant to President Bush, revived the Oreo cookie story to defend a Republican National Committee (RNC) ad attacking Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Harold Ford Jr. that former Republican senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen has described as "overt[ly] racist."
Both programs featured discussions about whether the ad, which features a scantily clad white woman posing as someone who "met" Ford -- who is an African-American -- "at the Playboy party," was racist. After host Wolf Blitzer asked on The Situation Room if the RNC ad was "a racist ad," Bennett stated "You want nastiness, you want real racism? ... [G]o back to Maryland with the Oreo cookies on Steele." Similarly, on Hardball, Christie alleged that because Steele "had Oreos thrown at him," "it's the Democrats," not Republicans, who are "race baiting" during the midterm elections. As Media Matters for America has noted, several media outlets have characterized the purported incident, at a September 26, 2002, Maryland gubernatorial debate between Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that was attended by Steele, as a racial slur against Steele -- Oreo cookies being "black on the outside" but "white on the inside."
However, contrary to the claim that Steele, then-candidate for Maryland lieutenant governor "had Oreos thrown at him," the Baltimore Sun reported on November 13, 2005, that eyewitnesses at the debate -- held at Morgan State University's Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center in Baltimore -- dispute the allegations of cookie-throwing, and accounts of the purported incident offered at different times by Ehrlich, Steele, and Paul S. Schurick, Ehrlich's communications director, contradict each other. Moreover, the Sun noted that initial news accounts of the debate made no mention of Oreo cookies at all. The first mention of cookies surfaced five days later, when the Sun reported Schurick's charge that Oreos were passed out -- not thrown -- by Democrats at the debate.
From the October 26 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
BLITZER: Will that really nasty Republican National Committee ad that was run in Tennessee, that some say had a racial overtone -- has that backfired on the Republicans and brought some sympathy and support for Harold Ford Jr.?
DONNA BRAZILE (Democratic strategist): You know, I spent a year of my life in Tennessee, of course working for Al Gore. And Tennesseans were basically dismayed at that ad. Harold is doing very well in the metropolitan regions. He's making inroads in the rural area. I think this ad, when we look back on -- on Election Night -- this ad will have had a small impact on Harold Ford's ability to attract the white vote and others, but Harold Ford is doing really good. There's now a poll that shows that Harold is now two points up. That's a Democratic poll. But I -- this is -- this race never should have been close. This was supposed to be a Republican seat, but Harold Ford has done a fantastic job.
BLITZER: I want to move on to Virginia, but was that a racist ad?
BENNETT: I don't think so.
BRAZILE: I --
BENNETT: I disagree with your conclusion. You want nastiness? You want real racism?
BRAZILE: Oh --
BENNETT: Go to -- go back to Maryland with the Oreo cookies on Steele and the stealing of his report -- of his credit reports and so on. Things -- the minstrel show stuff. That is real racist.
BRAZILE: Just a generation ago, people were lynched when --
BENNETT: Yes.
BRAZILE: -- when there was an indication of interracial marriage, interracial dating and we forget that Emmett Till was --
BENNETT: Sure.
BRAZILE: --lynched for so-called whistling at a white woman. It was racist and it was sexist. And, again, people --
BENNETT: But people don't care about interracial dating now. It's -- it's --
BRAZILE: Well, It's a hot button issue.
BENNETT: I don't think people in Tennessee care about interracial dating. I don't think they do.
BRAZILE: They could have made the facts without throwing in a bimbo trash ad.
BENNETT: Well, if you want -- if you want real nasty, go back to Maryland.
From the October 25 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
KIKI McLEAN (Democratic strategist): Look, this pushes the edge of the bounds of taste. You know it. I know it. Chris knows it. Harold Ford Jr. knows it, and Ken Mehlman of the RNC knows it. And his weak attempt to actually defend this ad was laughable for a guy who's been a pretty decent chairman for his side of the team. It wasn't good. It wasn't right. It shouldn't be up on the air, and everybody knows it. We can debate it, you and I can spin it all day.
CHRISTIE: But, see, you guys are rich. But you guys are so rich.
[crosstalk]
MATTHEWS: Why are they dropping it today?
CHRISTIE: Wait on a second. The Democrats are rich. The Democrats are rich. The Democrats -
MCLEAN: What are we so rich about?
CHRISTIE: Here you have someone who is running for lieutenant governor, in Maryland, Michael Steele, who's had Oreos thrown at him --
MATTHEWS: He's running, who's running --
CHRISTIE: -- who's running for Senate -- who's the lieutenant governor -- who's had Oreos thrown at him. You have the No. 2 --
MCLEAN: Inappropriate.
CHRISTIE: -- Democrat in the House, Steny Hoyer, saying oh, "slavish." And we've talked about it on this very program, Chris.
MATTHEWS: I think somebody apologized for that. Didn't somebody apologize for that?
CHRISTIE: Sure, but what I'm saying, if you want to talk about race baiting, you want to talk about people injecting race in to a campaign, it's the Democrats.
Steele appeared on Hannity & Colmes a while back, and Colmes pressured Steele to recount the incident as he remembered it. Steele attempted to dodge the question (as the myth clearly serves him better than the truth), but Colmes persisted and Steele begrudgingly admitted that he never saw anyone throwing or handing out Oreos. He recounted that after his speech he stepped off the stage to shake some hands, and he when looked down, he saw an Oreo lying on the floor. He said that he pointed it out to someone and then obviously the story grew from there.
Oreos would not be an insult! He is an African-American, not bi-racial. Oreos is an old insult designed to hurt bi-racials, not African-Americans. ----See George Jefferson (he used it a few times)!
Loves to lie, i see this guy makes appearances and spew at least 5 lies a segment.
Nobody threw Oreo cookies at Michael Steele. Please stop lying.
Bennett says no one cares about interracial dating anymore. Would that be because of the efforts of the right, or the left. And if you think no one cares in Tennesse anymore, you need mental health treatment. I'm from Nashville, which is somewhat cosmopolitan in a sequinish sort of way, but there are areas within a 30-minute drive from downtown where you can hear the faint strains of "dueling banjos" from porches draped in rebel flags.
I visited your hometown of Nashville recently. It is a beautiful city.
I'm confused by something. Who say's a black candidate is "too white"? Other blacks. And if a black voter, throws an oreo cookie at a black candidate, in effect calling him an "uncle Tom", is that racism?
posters at MMFA believe it is racist. I can't follow their logic on that ,so personally I don't see the racism in my calling another Black person an Uncle Tom, although it isn't a nice thing to do. I do however think pelting people with objects constitutes assault and battery. BTW, I’m from MD and the cookie story is a fish story. It’s been researched extensively and Steele and his friends either made the story up out of whole cloth or they are greatly exaggerating an act by a few hostile and stupid college students that MAY have waved Oriole cookies in Steele’s direction. Nobody saw Oriole cookies except Steele’s people. There was no mass assault on Steele that night at the debate.
Sort of like all those Vietnem vets who were "spit on". I wonder if anyone has done any research to see just how many vets were spat upon? I won't say it never happened, but I'd guess it was a very rare occurance.
I wish I could remember the source, but I read quite a while ago that there was one incident of a returning Vietnam veteran being spit on by a war protestor. And the "protester" turned out to be a law enforcement undercover agent.
Ignorance on display. Nothging new for you, NERZOG. Big, huge mouth... itty-bitty brain.
I was there. It happened. I saw anti-Vietnam protestors spit on men in uniform who I could see were wearing the Vietnam Campaign ribbon.
Protesters also threw bricks, stones. bottles and whatever else was handy at veterans, police, and various other people and bystanders who didn't look 'protestish' enough to suit them. I saw one young naval officer assaulted while in uniform. Windows were broken. Tear gas was fired by the police. I got gassed twice about four hours apart on the same day, and I wasn't involved in any of the fracas. Lots of other people I know got gassed that day as well, and few, if any, of them were involved in any of the ruckus. I saw smoke from a fire. I heard that at least one auto was overturned and burned that day, but I personally did not see any.
The only way you or anybody else will know if somebody threw, distributed, or ATE, Oreo sandwich cookies that day in 2002 is if you were there yourself. As for anyone prosecuting Oreo throwers, think about it. If YOU were running for elective office, would YOU make a stink about that? I sure wouldn't for fear of being labeled. Besides, what crime do you charge the Oreo throwers with? Littering? Wasting Cookies? Racial epithets? Loitering? Harassment? These are all misdemeanors. Nobody is going to take these charges seriously nowadays.
I didn't say it NEVER happened; only that it was rare. You have evidence to the contrary, Mr. itty bitty brain?
Be sure to recount your stirring tale to Jack Lembcke.
[link to www.slate.com]
The janitor who cleaned up said he didnt see any oreo cookies now if they had been thrown he obviously WOULD have as for your apochraphal story it is evidence to YOU. IF it happened as you said, we have no evidence ourselves this is true, bottom line the peace movement was NOT anti soldier and any such happenings WERE rare this has been studied and a book written about it, any such actions could easily have been provacatuers. This was during COINTELPRO times when every fourth attendee of a peace organization meeting was FBI.
Although there may have been a few isolated incidents where veterans were abused, they were few and far between. Sure, there were many movies and TV shows where these types of incidents were portrayed. But, I know of NO ONE who was ever treated this way. Not in this country.
You claim;
"I was there. It happened. I saw anti-Vietnam protestors spit on men in uniform who I could see were wearing the Vietnam Campaign ribbon."
Yet, you also say, "I wasn't involved in any of the fracas."
If you weren't involved, how could you be close enough to see the Vietnam Campaign ribbon? It's not that big, maybe two inches wide and a half an inch high.
Are you sure that the police weren't responsible for instigating the violence? In many cases, thats how the violence was started.
Veterans were definitely mistreated when they returned from Vietnam, not by protesters but by the government of the United States.
I was spit on, I had things thrown at me, but that was in the back of a truck going through the streets of Hue in 1969.
Uncle Tom for Tommish behavior is absolutly reasonable and in no way racist.Steele qualified in my book.
Hardball episode and I wanted to throw oriole cookies at Christie . I can't believe wing nuts are still advancing this lie without challenge.
I'll ask this question again, Is it mandatory that every nerd has to grow up and be Conservative?
It might come from getting beat up a lot as a kid. They gravitate towards careers where they can be verbal and emotional bullies.
that Karl Rove got beaten up often by the football players and rednecks in school? Now he's taking his revenge on the whole country.
...that Karl Rove took regular beatings by the A/V club.
was too lazy to finish his B.A.
You can't grow up and be a conservative. Your intellectual growth must stop sometime before the age of 15. Feeling independent, but requiring your government to be your protector and leader, not your representative. You must maintain that morally justifiable position of "but Johnny did it, too". You have to have that teenage mentality that it's likely nobody has ever been as smart or sophisticated as you are now, and everybody should live their lives as you deem fit.
No, growing up would mean leaving all these assets of adolesence behind. The only things you can sacrifice is your sense of humor and your curiosity. Then you can be a conservative.
could you please throw a manhole cover at him? Thanks.
I can't believe I misspelled the name of the cookie. I must have the Orioles on the brain.
As a black woman I have a problem with Ron Christie. Not because his is conservative (I think it is good to have black people in every party) but because the GOP can basically take a dump on him and he would defend them for doing it.
I am a Democrat and quite liberal but I will call a jerk a jerk —when he is being a jerk.
Ron Christie is the worst kind of talking head. He only comes out to certify that the GOP is an upstanding party of the highest moral platitude--then he gets a pat on the head and takes his dog biscuits to the corner while waiting patiently to be inserted into the next forgettable partisan controversy.
Christie does a disservice not to black people but to himself by not even admitting that the Harold Ford Jr. ad was as stupid as those Man Law commercials by Budweiser—by saying, “Mr. GOP, can I have another?
I'm AA as well and I too defend anyone's right to choose or to not to choose a political party. Nevertheless, don't you find it curious that Blacks make up such a tiny fraction of the Republican Party yet they are utilized as the public face to defend Republican positions particularly anything pertaining to race. You would think the party was crawling with Blacks.
Whats the problem, no milk??..
Got Milk??
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Ironically, thanks in part perhaps to Alan Colmes. Michael Steele was on Hannity and Colmes one night and Colmes, believe it or not, actually called Steele out on this, and Steele was forced to admit that there were no Oreos thrown at him. Steele let this lie stay out there for years because he knew it would help him politically. He is an opportunist.
THANK YOU. njguy93@yahoo.com
I mentioned the same H&C segment in the first post in this thread, and I was wondering why MMFA didn't include it in the article.
I was actually thinking that to myself when I was reading the headline. I was expecting to see it in the Media Matters for America piece. I remember that segment. I think it was about a year ago. Steele was trying to do the old duck-dodge-bob-weave routine. He failed.
THANK YOU. njguy93@yahoo.com
If you can't even get past Alan Colmes in an interview. Considering that, I don't think the people of Maryland would want him representing their interest in the United States Senate.
THANK YOU. njguy93@yahoo.com
don't!