Steele Defends RNC Presentation By Repeating Claim That Rep. Hoyer Called Him "A Slave"

Yesterday, Politico uncovered a Republican fundraising presentation that exposes the party's strategy of exploiting the "fear" and "extreme negative feelings" of conservative donors.  As Ben Smith reported, the presentation revealed a strategy of "manipulating donors with crude caricatures," including one page depicting President Obama as The Joker with the word "socialism" scrawled under his face.  In a statement, DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse condemned the images, saying, "Republicans can no longer deny that they are peddling fear when they are literally selling it as their path back to power.'

This afternoon, RNC Chairman Michael Steele took to friendly ground to address the controversy for the first time.  Appearing on Fox News, Steele said of the presentation, "You don't defend it." Moments later, however, he did just that while attacking Democrats who pounced on the document for not speaking up when Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) supposedly called Steele a slave during his failed 2006 senatorial bid:

STEELE: I didn't hear Brad's comments when now Majority Leader Steny Hoyer referred to me as a slave when I was running for the U.S. Senate.  I didn't hear those calls.  I didn't see the press release come out when myself and Ken Blackwell and others were referred to as lawn jockeys of the GOP when we were running for governor and U.S. Senate in '06. So, let's put a check on the outrage and noise coming out of the DNC on this. 

Watch:

Steele made similar comments when Glenn Beck infamously called President Obama "a racist," but his allegation turns out not to be true. What actually happened was Hoyer said Steele had "a career of slavishly supporting the Republican Party." Hoyer willingly admitted that he "shouldn't have used those words" and apologized for any offense.  Obviously, the remark wasn't intended maliciously, but Steele -- who also says "I don't play the race game" -- still brings it up from time to time to fend off Democratic criticism.