Liberals are attempting to cast doubt on the instance when Maryland Senatorial candidate Michael S. Steele (currently Lt. Governor) was attacked with Oreo cookies.

I just happened to take a look at this left winged attack blog and was reviewing their attempts to imply it never happened. Not to mention their attempts to trash Mr. Steele themselves. They cite this Baltimore Sun article:

Ehrlich bristles at Oreo skeptics Account of Steele pelted by cookies in ‘02 under scrutiny …

I like many others, I heard Michael Steele himself discuss this incident on The Laura Ingraham Show. It is good that The Political Pit Bull transcribed some of the discussion, where Mr. Steele details exactly what happened to him that night.

I will review the article, the attack blog’s write-up and Michael Steele’s own words. Personally I find that it is not a question of if this incident occurred, but rather when and Michael Steele clears that up himself.

First I will start with the article. Being from the Baltimore area myself and an alumni of Morgan State University, I feel I have far more knowledge of the paper and school than the left winged attack blog, but I’ll get to them in due time. Please read the entire article yourself, given I will only be taking excerpts here.

First the Governor himself acknowledges the incident did occur:

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he is angry at “revisionism” from political opponents who question a much-repeated story about Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele being pelted with Oreos during a 2002 campaign debate in Baltimore.

His communications director says it occurred before the debate started:

Paul Schurick, Ehrlich’s communications director, said last week that he saw people passing out packages of the cookies outside Morgan State University’s fine arts center before the debate and that when Steele entered the auditorium about 15 minutes before the start, people let fly with the cookies.

The Operations Manager for Murphy Fine Arts Building at Morgan State claims he was on clean-up and saw no cookies:

“It didn’t happen here,” said Vander Harris, operations manager of the Murphy Fine Arts Building at Morgan State. “I was in on the cleanup, and we found no cookies or anything else abnormal. There were no Oreo cookies thrown.”

Since it did not occur while Mr. Steele was actually on stage it was not captured on video. There are some other people who were there that claim they did not see anything. I think Michael Steele’s own recollection of when this happened might explain why. And he probably needs to have a talk with Paul Schurick, who’s memory of the incident may have been skewed with time.

From The Political Pit Bull (I also heard this myself when the show aired):

Michael Steele’s account of the incident This was in the 2002 campaign for Governor and Lt. Governor, Bob Ehrlich and I were running, and we had just finished a debate at Morgan State University, and I would say that this is not Morgan State’s students who did this, but these were goons, union thugs, that Kathleen Kennedy Townsend had shipped in from New Jersey…and on my way out, they started tossing Oreo cookies at me, and so, I just kind of looked at them and said, “Anyone got milk?” What do you do with that? It just shows a kind of pathetic ignorance and racism.

So here is where the discrepancy lies. And this might explain why the cleanup crew saw nothing. It occurred as everyone was leaving. Afterwards the goons could have easily picked up the cookies they tossed in order to cover their tracks! If it had occurred before, then the cookies would have been crushed by people walking around during the debate. But occurring afterwards means the offenders could have had time to quickly clean-up. Also it may have occurred as Mr. Steele and others were already outside. Given Mr. Steele mentions it occurred on his way “out”! Which means that clean-up crew would not have seen anything. It’s not like they would have been cleaning up outside that night. Outside clean-up would have been performed the next day or later by another crew. And on a college campus who would have cared about some cookies outside on the ground? It really would not have stood out. Having gone to Morgan State myself I can tell you that the school is not in a nice part of Baltimore City. And the Fine Arts Building is in a high traffic area. (Lots of on campus foot traffic, not to mention near a highly traveled road.) So some cookies on the ground would not be abnormal.

So now that Michael Steele himself fully cleared up when things occurred, let’s take a look at the atmosphere in the building that evening. First let me offer some background on the political climate of Morgan State University. Bottom line, it is Democrat and Liberal all the way. Former President Bill Clinton gave a commencement address there. The Alumni Association has helped arrange a Democratic Party debate there. Before Bill Clinton was first elected President, Al Gore gave a speech at the school after a request from the SGA President! So it will be no surprise to know that these other incidents also occurred that night:

… News reports of the event, which was sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, extensively described the raucous and sometimes rude behavior of the crowd – especially by supporters of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Democratic nominee for governor. At one point, Kweisi Mfume, who was then head of the NAACP, interrupted the proceedings to implore the crowd to calm down. The first reference to the Oreo incident came five days later in an article in The Sun in which Schurick, then a spokesman for the Ehrlich campaign, said Townsend supporters distributed the cookies in the audience. He also said the crowd booed Ehrlich’s family – a detail that was reported on debate night – and scratched the paint on Ehrlich supporters’ cars with their keys. …

The crowd booed Ehrlich’s family! Cars were keyed! Kweisi Mfume had to ask for calm!

So it is not even close to a stretch to say the cookie incident did occur!

Now to address some of this left winged blogs statements:

So, all the black people in the audience were lying?

The article only cites a few people in the audience that night. The “all” is a total of Clint Coleman a Morgan State spokesman, Neil Duke who moderated for the NAACP and Wayne Frazier – president of the Maryland-Washington Minority Contractors Association. Just 3 people. I don’t see how them being Black plays into this. I don’t think their skin tone enhances or lowers their vision.

And Neil Duke said himself:

“Were there some goofballs sitting in [the] right-hand corner section tossing cookies amongst themselves and acting like sophomores, as the legend has it?” Duke said. “I have no reason to doubt those sources; I just didn’t see it.”

Seems there were some other people who did see some cookie action that night! And Mr. Duke even says he has no reason to doubt the sources.

The Left winged blog makes a big misstatement in saying:

Steele, who will not say whether this actually happened, and if it didn’t, lets yet another slander against black people go uncommented on

As I’ve pointed out he did say it happened.

Another comment from the left wingers:

Why bring this up? It doesn’t make Steele look like a strong, independent candidate, but someone so despised by his own people, they would insult him in public.

Well nobody did bring it up for some time. Then to show just how nasty the left wing can be it was mentioned. It was mentioned because it happened! It really does show the strength and independence of Mr. Steele. Given he does not allow social acceptance to sway his view of what is right! And as Mr. Steele pointed out himself it was not the students of Morgan State University, but a bunch of Union goons that were shipped in.

Next lame statement from the left winged blog:

Oddly, where are Steele’s black supporters denouncing this? Project 21 doesn’t count. Where are the black Marylanders defending him.

Project 21 does count! Just as I’m sure left wingers feel the NAACP counts! These are groups of Blacks and to claim one does not count is ridiculous! And since Project 21 is based in DC, many of their members probably live in Maryland! But even if we dismiss them, I have some Michael Steele supporters of my own! My own parents! Both of whom are Pro-Life Conservatives! I’m from the area and they still live in Maryland! We all are Black supporters of Michael Steele! As Mr. Steele has pointed out, even while at the funeral of Rosa Parks he had people showing their support because as they said “you stand with us”! And during Laura’s show a Black man from CA called in and told Mr. Steele he would be sending a donation. So his supporters are in MD and all over this nation! The ballot box does not care about the color of the voter! Unlike Left wingers on the attack!

And so there we have the real truth! Mr. Steele does have Black supporters and the people behind the cookie incident were shipped in supporters of the losing candidate!

Related posts:

• Black success is only considered ?advancement? when done by a Liberal!
• Unions up to their racist ways again?
• What do Liberals of all races and Nazis have in common?
• The wheels of change are turning!

update (11/14/2005 9:51PM ET): Some Liberals fixated on race feel Project 21 “does not count”, because not everyone involved in the organization is Black. This is typical Liberal spin, because they enjoy using racial division and feel that a group reaching Blacks can’t have anyone other than Blacks involved. At the same time, those same Liberals probably don’t know that Blacks did not start and fund the NAACP. Like Project 21, some non-Blacks with funding worked with some interested Blacks to get that organization started. And we know many of the Liberals funding the NAACP today are not Black either. So if the race of those funding an organization is the barometer for what “counts” then neither does. Also, this typical “Black or nothing” logic is used by people like Kamau Kambon. It is precisely the reason why he does not like Black colleges!

update (11/15/2005 12:03PM ET): Be sure to check out the link from scoopstories. This is not the first crude attack from that left winged blog! I mentioned that nut’s actions here.

Also, I e-mailed Andy Green of the Baltimore Sun and he mentioned that he was not aware of the Laura Ingraham Show appearance, which occured before his article was printed. He also mentioned to me, that they have a story up now with Michael Steele’s account of the incident.

… Steele told the Associated Press that cookies were thrown in his general direction as he left the debate at Morgan State University, where he was a member of the audience. “They fell on the floor; two rolled up next to my shoe,” Steele said. “I remember turning to someone and saying, ‘Anyone got a glass of milk?’” …

Mr. Schurick’s account is questionable, but Mr. Steele’s account sounds very credible to me. If only a few were thrown it is possible that they were not noticed. Of course if it was “raining Oreos” as Mr. Schurick has mentioned, then nobody would have missed that! I think Mr. Schurick has embellished his account of the incident a bit. But then again, how many drops are needed to call it rain ? Mr. Schurick must be wrong in saying it happend before, when it happend afterwards. Given the time that has past, I’m not surprised someone on clean-up that night does not remember and Mr. Harris may not have been in that part of the building. Someone else may have picked up the cookies and thought nothing of it. And years later, who is going to remember picking up a few cookies?

update (12/15/2005 2:15PM ET): Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog has an account from Project 21’s Kevin Martin:

… When I walked towards the auditorium where the debate was held, I saw a young girl approaching me holding some Oreo cookies. She attempted to hand me some. When I asked her what they were, she cheerfully replied, “they’re Michael Steele cookies.” I did see an Oreo cookie fly through the air in the direction of Mr. Steele during the event, but I did not see it hit him. The cookies were just part of a wide-ranging intimidation campaign…