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Michael Steele on Perry’s Hunting Camp: “It’s Very Troubling”
TIME ^ | 10/3/11

Posted on 10/03/2011 12:00:27 PM PDT by roses of sharon

Even as Texas Governor Rick Perry downplays the story of a racist epithet painted on a rock outside a property that he co-leased, black Republicans are not giving him the benefit of the doubt. First came GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who said yesterday that Perry handled the episode in a “very insensitive” way.

And in an interview with TIME on Monday morning, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele also scolded Perry. “It’s very troubling on some many levels, for so many reasons,” Steele said. Steele said questions over when and how clearly the rock had been painted over miss the point:

So I’m going to lease lease a property.....Do you paint over the rock? Or do you just remove the damn thing altogether? So, I’m sorry–my attitude is just remove the rock. That is the ultimate statement for me. Just get rid of the rock. Unless the thing is a damn boulder.

Steele stopped short, however, of impugning Perry personally. “I am not ascribing anything to anyone’s motives or decisions,” he said. He added, however, that he agrees with Cain’s criticism: “I think Herman Cain was right. It does lead one to feel that there was a level of insensitivity about how this would be perceived by the larger community. I’m not just talking about black folks, I’m talking about all folks. You would think that even in the 1980s that there would still be some sense of, ‘Do we really want this on our property? Even though we’re leasing it, still, do you really want that there? And just painting over it?”

At that, Steele, who believes the Republican Party needs to make amends with black voters for its “Southern Strategy,” simply sighed with exasperation.

(Excerpt) Read more at swampland.time.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: michaelsteele
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To: Irenic

There are many names that have no place in the modern world. Where I would have called a Brazil Nut a Niggertoe 50 years ago does not mean that I am biased against Africans. It was just a name that we knew, and I never equated it with any group. We had hard-working blacks in our small town. They were two-parent families and most of the children went to college. I respected them.


61 posted on 10/03/2011 12:45:12 PM PDT by MondoQueen
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To: chilepup
The rock WAS insensitive...now tell me, did he have this rock displayed on his property or not?

It's a deer lease! He paid a couple of hundred bucks to the land owner to hunt deer on it! That's the connection to the land, if he does anything on that land other than hunt deer he is trespassing, technically the fact that he had his dad paint over the rock, 30+ years ago, most likely violated the hunting lease.

62 posted on 10/03/2011 12:45:32 PM PDT by txroadkill (Antlers up! The Claw must be feared!)
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To: cuban leaf

Well, they say the rock is gone now, so I doubt it was very hard to move.


63 posted on 10/03/2011 12:46:02 PM PDT by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by Perry and his fellow democrats.)
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To: presently no screen name

Nobody’s asked Cain about a hypothetical place called Honkeyhead. He doubtless would frown upon that too.


64 posted on 10/03/2011 12:46:54 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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To: roses of sharon

He painted over it but they won’t shut up. Screw. Them. Steele, shut the F up. Cain, shut the F up, keep talking about blackness like that, and I won’t vote for you.


65 posted on 10/03/2011 12:47:30 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: The_Media_never_lie

Same here. Apparently, according to Rush, the only letters now legible are the N and a G so that’s why WPost didn’t include a pic.


66 posted on 10/03/2011 12:47:33 PM PDT by ReaganBaby26 (Matthew 12:36)
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To: sklar

It was over thirty years ago on land leased by his father.

Suppose you are a presidential candidate.

And some MSM hack asks you a question

And the question is based on false information

Shouldn’t some alarm bell go off in Herman Cain’s mind? As in “these people are propogandists, I’ll check the story myself first”?

Just sayin’.


67 posted on 10/03/2011 12:49:26 PM PDT by Baladas ((ABBHO))
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To: roses of sharon

All this GOP crap points to is a need for Sarah Palin to enter the race. At least she can stay focused on what is important.


68 posted on 10/03/2011 12:50:28 PM PDT by upsdriver (to undo the damage the "intellectual elites" have done. . . . . Sarah Palin for President!)
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To: sklar
Mr. Perry was a democrat at the time, so obviously be was not thinking clearly.

Plus, I don't know whether you picked up on it or not, but my post was made in jest...

69 posted on 10/03/2011 12:51:55 PM PDT by WayneS (Comments now include 25% MORE sarcasm for NO additional charge!)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

That’s no excuse. If he didn’t get his facts right before speaking, it makes him dumb. Dumb like Mike Steele. Not that I have anything against dumb people.


70 posted on 10/03/2011 12:52:24 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: ReaganBaby26
OK, but suppose you had aspirations to be a Politician. To someday run for office.

Would you sign your name on a lease for a piece of land called "Niggerhead"?

REALLY?????

There are MILLIONS of acres of hunting land in Texas. Leave it to Rick Perry to lease the one called"Niggerhead".

71 posted on 10/03/2011 12:52:42 PM PDT by sklar
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To: MondoQueen

I agree and I sometimes think this ‘outrage’, ‘disappointment’ that black people use over past transgressions... Well, it leads me to believe that some black people don’t want this in the past. It is a convenient tool.


72 posted on 10/03/2011 12:53:18 PM PDT by Irenic
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To: roses of sharon

She will soon announce.


73 posted on 10/03/2011 12:54:00 PM PDT by onyx (You're here on FR so, support it! If you support Sarah Palin, & want on her ping list, let me know!)
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To: Milton Miteybad

A stream in Louisa County, Virginia was once called “Nigger Run”.

USGS Topo maps showed it as such in to the late 1970s.


74 posted on 10/03/2011 12:54:52 PM PDT by WayneS (Comments now include 25% MORE sarcasm for NO additional charge!)
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To: chilepup
It wasn’t his property? I thought his father bought it. Is the story changing now?

The story isn't changing, you just have no idea what you're talking about.

Not only was the land leased, but Perry's father's leased parcel was only a smaller section of the much larger tract which had the "offensive" rock THAT HIS DAD PAINTED OVER.

This entire rock-u-drama is an excercise in asinine stupidity, all started by some low dealing yellow journalist.

75 posted on 10/03/2011 12:59:32 PM PDT by AAABEST (Et lux in tenebris lucet: et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt)
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To: txroadkill
As I understand it, it wasn't simply a racial slur written on a rock, but the name of the land itself, was "Niggerhead".

If that is true then the name "Niggerhead" was on the lease Perry signed, no?

76 posted on 10/03/2011 1:01:16 PM PDT by sklar
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Cain didn't feign offense regarding Perry. Just the n-word.

It's pretty clear that Perry and his dad did exactly what they said they did. Painted over the rock, and even at a later time turned it over.

I can look up the site at 33 deg. 01’23.03”N 99 deg. 25’21.91”W and so can you. If you do so you will notice there's no GATE AT THE ENTRANCE because the informant's use of the word GATE means nothing more than where the entry to the lease site meets the road to get there.

It's pretty empty stuff out there ~ some trees, weeds, dirt ~ lots and lots of dirt. Bet you roll down those roads in a pick up truck it looks like a rooster tail kicking up with all this drought.

The writers couldn't even be bothered to look for the site on Google Earth ~ but if they did they'd seen exactly what the area was.

The rest of the Post story is probably as valid as the non existent gate in the non existent entrance to the non existent extravagant hunting lodge in the middle of the dusty wilderness.

Again, there's no reason whatsoever to dispute what Perry said ~ and note that while Perry and his father were painting the rock and hiding it young Obama was somewhere smoking cocaine that very day.

77 posted on 10/03/2011 1:02:07 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: ReaganBaby26

Couldn’t listen to Rush today, thanks.

I am really concerned that a persons good name and career could be ruined, riots initiated and people killed by the irresponsible media.


78 posted on 10/03/2011 1:04:12 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: sklar
You appear to have gone WAY out in left field in your efforts to try NOT to admit that you may have overstated your case.

I'm willing to bet the land was not referred to as “Niggerhead” in the LEASE.

In fact, do you know for certain that anyone from the Perry family even SAW the rock in question prior to signing the hunting lease?

Do you know how large the rock was, how large the lettering was, where the rock was, how easy it was to see from the entrance to the property? Do you know precisely when someone from the Perry family became aware of the rock?

If so, please educate us all. If not, please stop making up fantasy stories about things other people saw, knew or did and when they saw, knew or did them.

79 posted on 10/03/2011 1:04:33 PM PDT by WayneS (Comments now include 25% MORE sarcasm for NO additional charge!)
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To: Jeff Vader

Cain didn’t play the race card. Chris Wallace attempted to deal it to him though.


80 posted on 10/03/2011 1:04:46 PM PDT by muawiyah
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