Steele: "I got the fried chicken"

The RNC chair's latest strategy for outreach to the African American community could use some work

Published July 14, 2009 7:35PM (EDT)

Poor Michael Steele. Every time the Republican National Committee chair seems to be making some progress, he goes and screws it up.

Take last weekend's conference of the Young Republican National Foundation, at which the group elected as its head a woman who'd recently been caught endorsing racist statements made on her Facebook page. Asked by one attendee, who appeared to be a minority, how he intends to bring "diverse populations" into the Republican Party, Steele offered a plan that probably shouldn't inspire a lot of confidence from the GOP: "My plan is to say, 'Y'all come. Cause a lot of you are already here."

The man questioning Steele then said, "I'll bring the collard greens." The RNC chair laughed and replied, "I got the fried chicken and potato salad."

I'm honestly speechless.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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