Posted on 11/03/2006 5:47:30 AM PST by Dems_R_Losers
BALTIMORE - It was an unlikely “October surprise.” A coalition of black Democrats from Prince George’s County led by former county executive Wayne Curry broke party ranks earlier this week and endorsed Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for the U.S. Senate. So do we.
Steele, the first black man elected to any statewide office in Maryland and the only black lieutenant governor in the nation, has spent the last four years disproving a scurrilous 2002 Baltimore Sun editorial that claimed he “brings little to the ticket but the color of his skin.”
Steele has repeatedly challenged his critics to show him — and black voters — how his ascendancy to the second highest statewide office in Maryland has come at their expense.
They haven’t been able to because Steele has been hard at work empowering minority-owned businesses and trying to improve the chronically dysfunctional public schools that still keep minority youngsters from achieving their full potential.
Steele understands that entrepreneurship and education are the keys to sustainable wealth and full citizenship for African-Americans, not government handouts.
The former chairman of the Prince George’s Republican Party who still lives in Largo, Steele also successfully led the opposition to a 1996 Curry-led attempt to raise property taxes in the county. It lost in a landslide, saving black homeowners literally millions of dollars.
It’s to Curry’s great credit that he has now so graciously endorsed his former rival, as have five Democratic members of the Prince George’s County Council, rap music mogul Russell Simmons and boxing promoter Don King.
When Howard Dean refused to criticize Democrats last year for making crude racial comments about Steele just because he had an “R” after his name, former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume, and Democratic Congressmen Al Wynn and Elijah Cummings courageously stepped up to defend him. That wouldn’t have happened if Steele, a former seminarian with degrees from Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Law, hadn’t already earned his community’s deep respect.
Other Maryland Democrats, including Steele’s opponent for the Senate, Rep. Benjamin Cardin, headed for the nearest exit.
Attempts to portray Steele as nothing more than a Republican lackey beg credulity.
“We’ve got problems in both parties,” Steele has said.
He blasted the Bush administration’s “monumental failure” during Hurricane Katrina. That doesn’t sound like a candidate afraid to speak truth to power.
Nor has he been reluctant to build “bridges of Steele” to Marylanders of all political persuasions who have been ill-served by the Democrats’ decades-long monopoly. As Major Riddick, former top aide to Democrat Gov. Parris Glendening put it: “They show us a pie, but we never get a slice.”
Cardin, a former speaker of the Maryland House, has done a yeoman’s job in his 10 terms in Congress and has served his constituents well. But Steele, a grandson of sharecroppers and now a role model for generations, has demonstrated an extraordinary level of political courage and integrity.
Those are traits that will serve him — and all Marylanders — well in the U.S. Senate.
Regards, Ivan
Go Steele Go!!!!!!
I noticed a dearth of Cardin signs on the Estern Shore the other day. I'll be in a different part of the Shore today and will pay attention to the signs.......
I live on the Shore, but across the line in Virginia. For as long as I can remember, the Maryland ES has always voted very conservative. Unfortunately, the same is no longer so true for the ES of VA.
I worked at a radio station in Caroline County back in the 80s and remember the firestorm caused by BillyDon's "outhouse" comment..........
I followed the link to the Examiner's website and found that they also endorsed Bob Ehrlich for Governor. That is amazing that two Rebuplicans would be endorsed by the major African-American newspaper in Maryland. Let's hope and pray for two R victories in Maryland on Tuesday.
Thanks for the posting.
I'm a refugee from Maryland's Democrat-controlled government and I wish all the best for you folks there not only in sending Michael Steele to the Senate, but in keeping Little Marty O'Malley out of the governor's office. A beautiful state where I have most of my family still living, but I'd never go back because of it's oppressive laws.
Try being in business in Maryland! I love MD and have lived here all my life. Thankfully, I was raised in Western (Conservative) and have spent the last 25 years in Eastern (Conservative), but it is frustrating having your votes diluted by the vast area of Liberalism in between. We are very excited about Steele and believe it all comes down to getting out the vote.
Just curious..did Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton do any campaigning for/with Cardin?
And to watch the media panting over the really really empty suit, Barrack Hussein Obama, and ignore the talent and intelligence of Michael Steele is rather hypocritical.
I think that Ehrlich endorsement is as much an anti-O'Malley statement as a pro-Ehrlich statement. O'Malley has done nothing as mayor of Baltimore. Crime is rampant and the schools continue to deteriorate, issues of great concern in the Baltimore black community. This is a great wake-up call happening to the Maryland Democrats who have really taken blacks for granted, probably more than in any other state. Ehrlich and Steele are going to carry the white vote by susbtantial margins, and they need only about 25% of the black vote to win. These endorsements are signaling to black voters that it is OK to send the Democrats a message and vote Republican.
..don't let the Dems steal the deal from Steele...
Thanks John F'n kerry,Steele needed a little help.
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Let me go out on a limb here: Steele will get 60% of the vote Tuesday and win in a laugher. Ben Cardin - who's he?
What crime in Baltimore? The police were ordered not to report it. O'Malley is a cardboard cutout phony and a liar to boot.
It's a joy for the heart to see more and more Americans recognizing the Democrat Party for what it is.
Same here. Born and raised in Baltimore, now a proud resident of the Old Dominion!
Dear DelmarvaMike & others,
I don't think this is an African-American newspaper. It appears to be part of the nation-wide Examiner chain of newspapers, which were started by a conservative, private billionaire guy named Philip Anschutz.
sitetest
ff
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