Steele also addressed criticism that the GOP is playing the race card with welfare reform. Steele: Palin's absence a 'mistake'

Michael Steele said Tuesday it’s a “mistake” that Sarah Palin doesn’t have a role at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

“I think it was a little bit of a mistake not to have Sarah Palin here,” the former Republican National Committee chairman said on MSNBC. “I think she brings a level of energy and excitement that’s going to be important going forward into the general campaign… She’s the vice presidential nominee from 2008. Extend the invitation, give her a moment to speak to the delegation, to the candidate and [their] families.”


Steele said earlier Tuesday that he thinks both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of playing the race card.

“Both sides play this stupid racial game when we get into presidential and big-time politics,” Steele said to Krystal Ball on MSNBC’s “The Cycle.” “And the point is it needs to stop because as you just noted, we have seen it for a long time. And it does have, you know, I guess, a downward pressure on turnout and the ability for people to want to participate in the process. And that’s not what we should be talking about right now because the stakes are too high.”

Steele was addressing Democrats’ criticism that Republicans are playing the race card with welfare reform. Noting that whites, not blacks, are “the most significant users of the welfare system,” he said politicians should educate the country as opposed to immediately “having to jump to black when we talk about welfare.”

“Let’s contextualize it,” he said.

“Is Mitt Romney educating the country on that right now?” Ball asked.

“Neither party is, and that’s the problem. And so that’s [why] it’s so easy for the Democrats to put that card out there,” Steele said. “And for Republicans either deliberately — or perceived — to be doing the same thing. Let’s be honest about who the recipients of welfare in this country are. It’s affecting millions of Americans, and it is a legitimate discussion point. Let’s get it out of the class of race and into the class of economy debate so that we know exactly what we’re talking about.”