Lt. Gov. Michael Steele insisted on Wednesday that a Washington Post columnist was trying “to stick his finger in my eye and in the eye of the president” when he quoted Steele?s remarks criticizing President Bush and the Republican Party, attributing them to an unnamed Republican Senate candidate.
“It was an off-the-record conversation, as I understood it to be,” Steele said on WBAL radio?s Chip Franklin show. The interview with the conservative radio talk host was the only request for comment Steele granted Wednesday.
In a column by Dana Milbank in Monday?s Post, an unnamed candidate, later confirmed as Steele, was quoted as being highly critical of the Iraq war, the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and the Republicans in Congress. He said running as a Republican is “an impediment. It?s a hurdle I have to overcome … I?ve got an ?R? here, a scarlet letter.”
Steele and his aide complained that all his positive references to President Bush were left out of the column.
“He went out of his way to praise the president,” said Steele campaign communications director Doug Heye.
But Milbank told The Examiner that a review of the interview found only “one positive” statement other than those that might have identified Steele as lieutenant governor or an African American, as his praise of Bush?s speech to the NAACP might have done. “We went to greater lengths than any journalistic standards required,” Milbank said.
Heye said the sit-down with reporters “was originally supposed to be off the record, then it got changed to background.”
“It was announced at the start that this was on background,” Milbank.
“On background” in journalistic terms usually means that comments may be quoted without specifically naming the source, except in a vague way. “Off the record” usually means that the conversation may not be used at all in print and that the source of the information may not be used in furtherreporting.
Milbank?s column used Steele?s comment to illustrate how Republican candidates are running from a connection with Bush.
“Absolutely not,” Steele said on radio. “I?ve been quoted as calling the president my homeboy, and that?s how I feel.”
The White House issued a statement continuing its support for Steele in his Senate race, and Gov. Robert Ehrlich commented, “That?s Mike. He always speaks his mind. He?s independent.”
