I know lots of ya'll think Steel is a buffoon mainly because of the

[xultar]

way he acts.

Just so you know, when we African American's get together in secret, we have fun and feel more comfortable acting like we want to act.

I had a boyfriend once who teased me because he said my accent changed when I was around a lot of African Americans.

He was right.

Steel may be an idiot in a lot of ways but as a black woman I like the fact that he feels he can be himself even though he's gonna catch hell from white folk on the Right ...and on the Left.

If y'all don't think Obama sounds different when he's on the b-ball court you're wrong. He's a bruva married to a sistah with strong families he I'm sure he trash talks, joneses, and plays the dozens with the best of them.

Don't be fooled, we learned way back in the day to play the game when y'all are around...but when y'all leave our culture is alive and well. I've seen black executives cut up, clown, do the steppers set in my parents house, and the next day, go and be all tight assed @ the corp HQ.

I personally don't mind a lot of what you guys thing Steel does to make him look like a minstrel. I just wish y'all knew what the real deal was. You guys as white liberals still have a lot to learn about us. Just sayin...

[scheming daemons]

1. Steele's being a buffoon has nothing to do with his color

It's not HOW he says things... it is WHAT he says.


He's a black male version of Sarah Palin.... with a slightly higher IQ than her.



He's viewed as a buffoon because he is WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING.... I don't give a damn what he sounds like or acts like.

[StopTheNeoCons]

41. +100

[EFerrari]

2. Well, I've posted the link to the 2008 BSOTU where he drops the act

and speaks like a smart person talking to other smart people. And who you calling a white liberal, any way?

:rofl:

[xultar]

10. Your statment....like a smart person talking to smart people...i consider it racist

When I'm with my family and I speak differently I'm no less smart than I was when I was faking it around white people.

That is where you guys are dead fucking wrong.

So you need to reevaluate. Which one is the fucking act? If you don't know, then it is all good.

[EFerrari]

16. I'm actually saying the opposite of what you think I'm saying.

In fact, I was agreeing with you. lol

When he was at the Black State of the Union, he dropped his shtick that he does in public for mostly white audiences. I couldn't believe I was watching the same guy except that, of course, he kept to his Republican positions.

I can dig up the link if you want me to. It's at the CSPAN archives.

[xultar]

23. I think I get what you mean. But I'm not calling his deal a schtick

The way I see him acting now...is kinda how I am behind the scenes, minus the republican bs.

You think he is way over the top in private with black folk. HEY!!! that does make sense, thinking about it he was prolly kicked to the curbage by black folk because he was out of control and that is why he is a rethug.

OK I get it.

DUH Big Effing DUH on my part.

[EFerrari]

31. I don't know how he is in private

but at the BSOTU, he was different. Less "on". It wasn't that he was "over the top", it was that he dropped a lot of his act and just talked to people. He still argued for his dumbass positions but he argued them without all the silliness that he uses for mostly white audiences.

Those of us who go home to something different than the white majority are always back and forth on that bridge.

ETA: Here's that link again.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/204090-2

[asdjrocky]

3. I'm a white person who grew up around mostly African Americans.

So yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

It wasn't until I grew up and started knowing people outside my neighborhood that I knew white folks other than my family. At first, I thought they talked like my teachers in school and it took me some time to really see it's just a matter of who you are with.

Now, back in my old neighborhood, after many years gone, I finally feel myself again.

[Captain Hilts]

4. This is racist crap. We Marylanders know Steele's an idiot and it has nothing to do with his color.

And Larry Bird was THE best trash-talker of his generation.

[xultar]

12. I loves me some Bird. I am saying exactly what you are saying...

Steel is an idiot for much more major reasons than how he speaks of what he says. It is his actions, aka carrying water for the Repubs that makes him an idiot.

[Captain Hilts]

13. Cool.

[RKP5637]

14. +1, n/t

[quiet.american]

5. I'm black, too, Xultar - and Steele is still a clown.

Seriously, there's such a thing as understanding what's appropriate under different circumstances. Obama on the basketball court is different than Obama at an Ohio town hall is different than Obama side-by-side with world leaders is different than Obama giving the State of the Union.

Steele is all clown, all the time, carrying water for his... employers.

Let me stop there, because I seriously consider the guy to be.... what "we" call... ahem.

[xultar]

11. I think what you are saying is correct. I'm just saying that people who

diss the way he speaks and using that as evidence of buffoonery are wrong.

He's an idiot because of other shit.

his house negro work.

How he acts to me is fine. It is what he actually does that makes me angry.

[quiet.american]

15. Okay, I can hear you on that -- but.... :)

... observing him in how he behaves... he comes across as a "neo-SteppinFetchit" - not acting that way because that's who he really is -- but because that's what makes those signing his paychecks more comfortable... I think that's what puts me off... we know that kind of nonsense when we see it, and that's how he comes across every time I see him.

[xultar]

25. I don't see as steppinFetchit thing @ all. But hey I understand

where you are coming from.

[Gman2]

21. He sounds just as silly as honkeys doing jiggy wid it.

[xultar]

33. I don['t know. I kinda like it.

[Gman2]

38. I know what you are saying though. I have had a few black girlfriends

and their gatherings were far warmer than my own color. But my own family is just as goofy.

[Kahuna]

6. I would call him an Uncle Tom, but that would be an insult to Uncle Tom..

Mike seems to be all about the dollar. Period.

[Codeine]

7. Yyyyeah,

He's just a dumbass, irrespective of his race.

[KingFlorez]

8. I disagree

I'm black and I understand what you are talking about, but it doesn't apply to Steele. He is putting on a show to make a party that is practically all white like him. He takes his buffoonery in public and that means he's probably worse in private.

[xultar]

22. In private with white folk or black folk?

[KingFlorez]

42. Probably with both, depending on the situation

He's like a class clown, he puts on whatever sort of show he can to be accepted.

[SpiralHawk]

9. wide stance faux diaper lesbian bondage oggling is buffoonish no matter what color

Especially if you and your Republicon Homies have been wagging your sanctimonious fingers at everyone else for two decades, telling everyone else how naughty they are.

Green, purple, yellow black, white -- whatever. Steele is a Fool. His buffoonery transcends race.

[TlalocW]

17. Yeah? Well, we white people...

Totally cut loose and bring out the Oscar Wilde quotes and drop bon motts on each other when Black people aren't around, and we're all like, "Oh, good show, old bean!" when Uncle Percival mentions that grandmater could have gotten the horseshoe closer to the pole when one of us flubs a toss.

In all seriousness, everyone has different personas in private and public, and some of us do better than others when it comes to being professional, and I'll admit I'm one of those people who doesn't do a good job of "reigning myself in" in professional settings. Steele is another one, and it's both good and bad. Mainly good because he's helping send the republican party into what's hopefully a death spiral with his mismanagement and the way he acts (which I don't consider as stereotypically Black but more of a, "Nothing is my fault vibe," that I get from him).

TlalocW

[Liberal_in_LA]

44. "Oh, good show, old bean!" hee! n/t

[Orsino]

18. "Being himself" cannot explain his merely repeating GOP talking points.

He is no more himself than any other Republibot. Less so, perhaps, because of his willing to play the stereotype.

[xultar]

20. I'm not talking about that part. THAT makes him an idiot.

Many people disparage him about the way he says things. That is what I'm talking about.

[Orsino]

24. I'm not, either.

The way he says things is cringe-worthy. His attempts to turn the GOP platform into something with ethnic cred are laughable.

That doesn't make him stupid. He acts like a buffoon because it is exactly what he was hired to do.

[HipChick]

37. I could make fun of how a southern talks..

but I understand that is totally part of their culture, and not the same as someone straddling cultures..My friend is British-Black, raised and born in the UK, and speaks the Queens BBC English...in the US he is often told that he doesn't sound like the 'others'...he calls people out on it all the time...most of all, he is always shocked at the amount of ignorance he encounters in the US..

[notadmblnd]

19. I used to call my husband on his fake white voice all the time

[panader0]

26. "I wish y'all knew what the real deal was"?

I wish you did too.

[iris27]

27. I'm with you.

I'm white, but when I would play at my best friend's house growing up and somebody would call on the phone, you could always tell who was on the other end by the way her mom or dad would sound. They had the "family/friends" voice and the "work/bank/power company" voice.

I was cringing the other night watching the Daily Show when they brought out that damn Muppet and had Wyatt Cenac voice him completely over the top. I told my husband then, "You know somewhere offstage Larry Wilmore is muttering, 'Man, fuck you guys'."

Steele's actions are more than enough to make him worthy of derision. There's no need to base one's insults in bigotry and ignorance.

[xultar]

34. I think that is part of what I'm getting at. I'm glad you understand what I

was trying to say.

[Tailormyst]

28. Good for you for speaking out

And I think you are right. We do have alot to learn and it extends beyond just black culture, but to many different groups out there. How people act in professional setting is rarely how they act in private. I know that many people I work with would be surprised at how I behaved and spoke outside of work. I think part of being liberal is being humble enough to know that there is always more to learn and that we need to be open to that.

[Rex]

29. Spending government dime on strippers will land you in public hot water

once caught it will.

[xultar]

32. Seriousl, you think I'm defending that? Did you read what I wrote?

[Dappleganger]

30. Steele is nothing but a fucktard.

No matter how you peel that onion it's all fucktard underneath. It has nothing to do with his race (but why are we even saying it does? Idiot is as idiot does.). The only one who's bringing up race is Steele because that's the only card he has left to play.

[Tailormyst]

35. I think what she is saying is you can point out his fucktardishness without bringing in race

[Dappleganger]

39. Steele is the one who brought in race.

[bigtree]

36. Steele is just a phony

. . . or a complete idiot. No republican can actually believe the crap they spout unless they're just completely ignorant. I get the impression sometimes that Steele actually believes the crap he says. Most of the time I think he's just kissing up to whoever he's trying to influence or impress. He looks awkward when he speaks in slang because he's being insincere, in my view.

[RedCloud]

40. I will bet you you are not black, maybe brown, but not black!

That whites and blacks actually exist as a concept fuels the fires racists love to exalt. (White=god. Dark=devil.) They have pre-poisoned religion, politics and movies to think this way.

I say we are all human colored from pale pink to dark brown.

Anthropology says modern humans came from Africa three times. (Twice resulting in almost global annihilations).

So hello my fellow African thrice over!

[xultar]

45. Black = Devil maybe white folk think that but we don't. Black is rich

black is deep.

Black is beautiful!

[Jack Rabbit]

43. I agree with you

I'm white, and I like the way he's comfortable talking jive. I find his colorful (no pun intended) personality refreshing.

On the other hand, he's completely incompetent with the RNC paying out more in expenses than it takes in revenue and under his leadership the RNC has become rife with nepotism and cronyism. If I were a Republican donor, I'd really be upset with him.

[xultar]

46. Oh no question he suck at running the RNC. Thank god for that...

it is almost as if his heart is doing what his brain won't let him do.

That shit cracks me up.

[Hekate]

47. Every ethnic group does that, for sure. There's "us" and there's "the world outside"...

Anyone who wants to get ahead in school and business learns to do this early on, but the "home accent" is as nourishing and comforting as Mom's chicken soup.

As for the Man of Steele -- his affiliation with the Repubs puzzles me as much as their LGBT members. I just have to shake my head and wonder why.

Hey, xultar, I hope your new job is going swimmingly.

Hekate

[darkstar3]

48. I agree with you, but for the record,

I don't think you should be defending the persona that Steele is putting out there. It's not real, and you've shown here exactly why.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think you should have to change how you act based on who you're around, but we all do it to one extent or another. As someone else in this thread said, we all have a public and a private side. I personally am a foul-mouthed motherfucker, and I have no qualms about it except when I'm at work and that shit isn't tolerated.

I'm not saying it's the same thing, I'm just saying that in one way or another we ALL change our behavior a little in order to be accepted in the social/work circles we run in.

Steele does too. Now this is all supposition on my part, but based on my previous statements and what I know of all the minority republicans I've met and read about, Steele is putting on an act. To even be a ranking member of the republican party you HAVE to be what George Carlin once described as "openly white". What you hear when Steele speaks publicly isn't really him, it's the zombified corpse of his own blackness that he was forced to kill upon entering the party and reanimate in order to meet their nefarious ends.

What ends? :tinfoilhat: time...I think all of what's happening around him is on purpose. Steele's persona and supposed mismanagement of the party will be a lightning rod for the right and all of their disgusting sympathizers. He's a deliberate "cautionary tale" for all the racist fucks in this country. And the fact that they are using his zombified blackness as a tool to stir racist sentiment against the president in the hopes of snatching victory in 2012 is disgusting beyond the pale.

So let's all recognize that Steele is an idiot and an asshole because he is a republican, and it has nothing to do with his race. I couldn't agree with you more, there. But let's also recognize that his act, and it is an act, is coldly calculated by his puppeteers to tarnish the black community of this country as irresponsible asshats, and he should never be defended for being "himself". He gave THAT up long ago.