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With all respects to a song from Three Dog Night from your parents’ generation, it is telling that the one Black politician that has taken a beating more than President Obama is facing such a mixed bag of commetary at the brink of his biggest wins yet. 

Poor Michael Steele? 

Well, not really poor. After all, he is the chair of the Republican National Committee, so he’s not as bad off as most. 

Sorry, Michael Steele? 

Well, that would be more of the story if the Republicans were not so optimally positioned to take over at least one house of Congress and many of the gubernatorial mansions throughout the nation on November 2. 

Well, what exactly are we to think? 

If we listen to the recent article from Fred Barnes and The Wall Street Journal this week wsj.com, we are to think that the Republicans are going to win in spite of the first Black chairman of the Republican National Committee, a leader that, in his opinion, can’t lead, can’t raise money, and can’t make a difference in the election cycles post-2008. If we listen to the rounds of critics in the blogosphere, Mr. Steele is nothing more than a puppet for the Republicans to use all throughout the election cycles post-2008.

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And yet, less than 2 weeks before the Republicans’ biggest victories since the RNC looked a lot less diverse and viable as electoral victors from just a few years ago, the embattled RNC Chair once again has to look from the outside in when it comes to the credit-taking voyage that many of his GOP colleagues have travelled for some time now, from Haley Barbour to the Tea Party Movement.

They say that they have raised money in spite of Michael Steele. They say that they have raised Republican awareness in spite of Michael Steele. They say that everything that has gone right for the Right has gone on aside from the nobody apparently voted for and obviously everybody voted to impeach or ask for his resignation.  As Barnes said in the WSJ piece, “…Michael Steele is the missing person of the midterm election…. no one is happier than Mr. Steele’s many Republican detractors, glad to see he’s attracting little attention from the national media.”

How quickly the once downtrodden so easily forget.

Now, mind you, I like Michael Steele. I think that he has done some things for the RNC that would not have been done without his leadership. Yet, I am also not going to sit here and apologize for some of the high-profile gaffes and missteps that have been a part of his reign at the RNC. There are some things that should not have happened.

For example, taking the ruse from DL Hughley to comment on Rush Limbaugh during Hughley’s ill-fated CNN show in February 2009 (DL Hughley?!? Really?) when you’re 3000 miles away from the actual event was a bad move that should not have been committed by the Chairman, even if there was a layer of truth to the statement. And I can say that from first-hand experience: I was asked the same exact question – on the same exact network – 10 minutes later and didn’t take the bait. 

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And while we know that there have been other incidents, we also overlook the evident stereotypes and double standards befalling how the media – and even us as Black people and American voters – look at Michael Steele, even on the eve of the Republicans’ near-180-degree turnaround from just 2 years ago. Aside from President Barack Obama, th