Harsh words for Rick Perry today from former RNC chairman Michael Steele: Michael Steele on Perry’s Hunting Camp: “It’s Very Troubling”.

In an interview with TIME on Monday morning, former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele also scolded Perry. “It’s very troubling on some many levels, for so many reasons,” Steele said. Steele said questions over when and how clearly the rock had been painted over miss the point: 

So I’m going to lease a property, and on that property is a rock that has a hateful word on it that everyone knows to be racist in some form. What do you do? Do you paint over the rock? Or do you just remove the damn thing altogether? So, I’m sorry–my attitude is just remove the rock. That is the ultimate statement for me. Just get rid of the rock. Unless the thing is a damn boulder.

Steele stopped short, however, of impugning Perry personally. “I am not ascribing anything to anyone’s motives or decisions,” he said. He added, however, that he agrees with Cain’s criticism: “I think Herman Cain was right. It does lead one to feel that there was a level of insensitivity about how this would be perceived by the larger community. I’m not just talking about black folks, I’m talking about all folks. You would think that even in the 1980s that there would still be some sense of, ‘Do we really want this on our property? Even though we’re leasing it, still, do you really want that there? And just painting over it?”

Meanwhile, after a pile-on by ultra-sensitive conservatives for his criticism of Rick Perry, Herman Cain is backpedaling.

“All I said was the mere fact that that word was there was ‘insensitive.’” Cain told reporters outside his meeting with Donald Trump Monday. “That’s not playing the race card. I am not attacking Gov. Perry. Some people in the media want to attack him. I’m done with that issue!”

“I really don’t care about that word,” Cain said. “They painted over it. End of story! I accept Gov. Perry’s response on that.”