A Republican Hosts 'Hardball,' Still Bashes GOP on Race

Is there a requirement for Republicans to host a show on MSNBC? Trash the GOP and you can anchor a program? Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Monday lectured his party about bigotry, wondering, "Is the Republican Party finally ready to confront the issue of race in America?" 

Filling in for Chris Matthews, Steele sneered, "In many respects, the party's clinging to an old Southern strategy that proved the basis for electoral success in the past but which gives them little chance of winning the White House in the future."  Speaking for the GOP, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland asserted that "we still seem to have these vestiges within the party that cling onto the strategy where there's this focus, almost pull towards" a "polarizing moment where you're almost separated between whites and blacks." [MP3 audio here [1].]

The mayor of New York City, location of the Eric Garner death, is a Democrat. The Governor of Missouri, a state where Michael Brown was shot, is a Democrat. Despite these facts, the focus of the segment was how Republicans would deal with race. 

MSNBC's Republicans (what few of them there are) usually spend more time trashing their own party. Joe Scarborough [2] is a textbook example. 

A partial transcript of the December 29 segment is below: 

5:01

MICHAEL STEELE: Good evening. I'm Michael Steele, in for Chris Matthews.
I want to start tonight's show with a simple question. Is the Republican Party finally ready to confront the issue of race in America? Now, the past few months have been ripped open through racial and political wounds that run deep in America, especially between police, the black community and political leaders. In New York this weekend, we saw hundreds of police officers turn their backs on New York City mayor Bill de Blasio as he spoke at the funeral of a slain New York police officer. 

...

STEELE: Here's the bigger political reality. Republicans have a remarkably diverse bench of candidates vying to lead the party in the next election, but it appears none of them, so far at least, wants to talk directly about race. There are the almost obligatory references to the American dream, the early struggles of their families, but never in the context of the communities from which they came. In many respects, the party's clinging to an old Southern strategy that proved the basis for electoral success in the past but which gives them little chance of winning the White House in the future. So I'll ask it again. Is the Republican Party finally ready to confront the issue of race in America? Joining me tonight, "Washington Post" opinion writer Jonathan Capehart, and Republican strategist John Feehery. Gentlemen, welcome. John, let me start with you. The idea of the Southern strategy is over. I announced that when I was chairman. We're not doing that anymore. And yet we still seem to have these vestiges within the party that cling onto the strategy where there's this focus, almost pull towards that -- that, you know, polarizing moment where you're almost separated between whites and blacks. Is that still the strategy here or is there something different that we should be doing or is at work that we know about?