Politics | RNC Michael Steele Suggests Racism Fuels His Critics 'Is it because a black man is chairman?' By Nick McMaster Posted Feb 9, 2010 5:08 PM CST Copied Michael Steele takes questions from the audience at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Michael Steele suggests his race has something to do with the knocks he's taken since becoming chairman of the RNC in an interview with Washingtonian magazine. The interview isn't online yet, but Greg Sargent of Plum Line has an early peek: Steele acknowledges that he can "take things too far," but then wonders why there is so much media coverage of the internal workings of the RNC. “I don’t see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation," Steele says. "Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is chairman?” Sargent notes that the comment seems at odds with Steele's previous assertions that he doesn't "play the race card." Read These Next A "horrific" incident killed 3 deputies in East Los Angeles. Rare cancer claims a former Super Bowl champ. These 'unusual' antics just shut down a New York hiking trail. Basic Instinct is returning, 33 years after the original. Report an error