Ex-RNC Chair Michael Steele Slams ‘Painfully Stupid’ CPAC Remark

Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, hit back late Friday after the communications director of the Conservative Political Action Conference claimed he was the token black guy of the RNC. Communications director Ian Walters reportedly told hundreds of conservatives gathered at the event that Steele was elected as RNC chairman “because he was a black guy,” and “that was the wrong thing to do.” Steele, who was in the same room as Walters when the remarks were made, called the comments “painfully stupid.” “If he feels that way I’d like him to come say that to my face. And then I’d like him to look at my record and see what I did. I can’t believe an official of CPAC would go onstage in front of an audience and say something like that,” he told The Observer. Steele declined to say whether he believes Walters’ comment is indicative of the Republican Party as a whole, saying only that he was “not going to project that out.”