http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/131909/steele%27s_overlooked_radio_rant%3A_compares_obama_to_nixon%2C_declares_%27ultimate_political_armageddon%27Steele's Overlooked Radio Rant: Compares Obama to Nixon, Declares 'Ultimate Political Armageddon'Posted by Sam Stein, Huffington Post at 2:06 PM on March 16, 2009.
Mid-way through the program, a caller offered words up support for the embattled RNC chair. "Don't let them shut you up," the voice said.Two weeks ago, amidst concern that Michael Steele's media exposure was creating serious political damage, the RNC chairman decided to guest-host William Bennett's national conservative radio program.
In a virtually unnoticed two-hour tour-de-force, the Maryland Republican sat in for the conservative talker on March 6, right as the controversy over his statements on Rush Limbaugh reached its height. And Steele didn't disappoint, lambasting Republicans for inserting earmarks in the omnibus, comparing Barack Obama to Richard Nixon, describing the current political climate "Armageddon between conservatism and liberalism" and Rahm Emanuel as a "master manipulator," saying the globe was cooling rather than warming, and touting the importance of education only to misstate a prominent historical figure's name.
"I love this battle because what I see right now is leading to the ultimate political Armageddon between conservatism and liberalism," Steele declared at one point. "And the idea that free enterprise, free markets, free people are going to battle an oppressive, repressive, domineering government. I love that. That's what we are lining up for you folks. So you better get ready, strap it on, because it's coming. And you better pick your sides, you better choose now."
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In the wide-ranging and free-flowing program, Steele began with an exhale, saying: "I survived my first month as the new RNC chairman. I survived a pretty interesting week, where there was a whole lot of noise." From there, however, he jumped right back in to a host of controversial topics. He scoffed at his fellow Republicans, saying that the state parties should consider supporting challengers against Senators who voted for the stimulus, and offering his own reprimands as well.
- snip -
There were plenty of other remarks made during the Bennett show that could land Steele in some trouble. The RNC chair agreed wholeheartedly with a caller who compared the Obama administration to that of Richard Nixon.
"I'm going to tell you something," Steele replied. "You make such an important point, because I had a conversation earlier this week about the very point you just made about the Nixon administration. What you are seeing here, folks, unfold is nothing short of the Nixon administration played out in a different era and a different style. But the results and the effects are the same. You have H.R. Haldeman and Rahm Emanuel, these guys, the master manipulators, the master controllers in the background, moving and shaking the pieces, creating an enemies list, putting together the targets on our side. The whole strategy of demonizing Rush Limbaugh, which has been exposed now..."
And when a listener scoffed at the notion of global warming, Steele eagerly ran with the baton.
"Thank you, thank you," he said. "We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long."
Greenland, for the record, likely had forestation some 450,000 to 800,000 years ago. But its name was derived, as is most commonly believed, from Erik the Red, who wanted to trick people into going to that island as opposed to the more hospitable Iceland.
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