Hey, but at least they got a black man to help represent for all those disaffected black youths who feel they pay too much in taxes and receive too much government service. Surely that makes up for the fact that the man's an idiot.

Steele added, "[T]e inflationary effect, the deflationary effect, all of those things are going to come to head at some point." I have no idea what this means. I'm fairly certain Steele doesn't either.

Republican Econ 101: We don't know what we're talking about, so we just spout bullshit to fool the rubes.

Did he ever think that he might chase Collins and Snowe into the Democratic Party? And that they would win in landslides at re-election time as Democrats? Or that the Republican hold on the Maine seats is probably pretty tenous, at best, and that a non-incumbent Republican would lose by a ton? No, I imagine not, but they aren't paying him to think.

I feel that Steele's message is being misrepresented. After watching the clip, he doesn't give the impression that he's going to punish the centrists, he says that he'll follow whatever the state and local organizations decide. If they want to punish their senators, he'll help them. I saw it more as a dodge of Cavuto's idiotic questioning.

Idea for new GOP-based clothing line: 100% fringe.

He called Neil Cavuto "baby"? Seriously?

I mean, sure, Cavuto acts like an infant, but that's just creepy.

"Did he ever think...?" I doubt it. What's more, the whole GOP is so out of touch it might very well support him on his threats. I have my fingers crossed that their thinking, or lack thereof, doesn't change any time soom.

I really wish Mr. Steele would stop trying so hard to be hip. I cringe every time he opens his mouth. I used to almost like him a little when he'd, for example, appear on Bill Maher's show. Now he's not only a buffoon, he's repugnant.

I hope he chases Sens. Snowe and Collins out of the party. That would just make everything easier.

Wow. This man is an utter maroon. The only reason Snowe and Collins get re-elected here in Maine is that they are centrist. Primary opponents would get creamed, and in the unlikely chance they were to get to the general, hard-right candidates would be destroyed by Democratic challengers. Maine is reliably blue, and Steele has no idea what he's talking about.

In a rational world Snowe, Collins, and Specter should declare themselves Independents, or at least threaten to. Imagine a Senate with five independents able to choose which party they will caucus with. And all of them (yes, even Lieberman) way more to the left than the left wing of the Republican Party. Four of them would constitute a moderate center right bloc that both parties would have to cater to if they expected to get anything done, or, in the case of the GOP, block things from getting done.

Of course the only one of the three with the cajones to go through with it is Olympia Snowe. But the threat would have to wake up a few slumbering realists in the not-too-far-right wing of the Republican Party.

I'll bet you a Coke that Steele won't be chairman the next time Snowe and Collins are up for reelection. Specter was going to face a primary challenge no matter what.

Steele's got nothin'. He needs the Queens of Maine far more than they need him.

Collins isn't up till 2014, as noted, and Snowe beats Jesus Christ Himself in any Maine GOP primary 70-30.

Steele added, "Oh, yes, I'm always open to everything, baby, absolutely."

I call people baby. Of course, I do it ironically. AND I'm not on TV discussing politics, AND I'm not the head of the RNC, so I think those things may carry some weight.

What's next, is Steele gonna challenge Obama to a rap-off? What a pantload.

Run Psychos Run!

Snowe -- by far the better of the two Mainers -- would make a fine enough ally. Collins is more dubious but with the remote possibility that some rightwing nutbag would win a primary, the Democrats would destroy them in the general. The ONLY REASON the Republicans held their seat in PA was Specter won his primary. If he loses to Toomey, the Democrats win the race in a walk -- especially now.

It's like they've looked at the map and said: You know what? The East Coast doesn't matter. The West Coast doesn't matter. The Soutwest doesn't really matter. And the Rust Belt doesn't matter.

By all means, let the Republicans cut off the moderates' funds. That way, they can be replaced by Democrats.

Specter is probably doomed anyway. The Club for Growth almost beat him in the primary last time. And Specter had strong support from the party leadership, including the president. Since then the Republican Party has only become more extreme. And Pennsylvanians have shifted towards the Democrats. If he moves left, he loses the primary. If he moves right, he loses the general. His only chance is to stay where he is and draw really bad opponents.

'Sup dogs. Poochie in da hizzouse, baby. Let me lay it on ya. See, right now, yo, the economy is ass-out, and us Gs in the GOP don't play dat, ya dig? A'ight, let me ax y'all, can y'all pay yo' billz? No, fo sho, fo sho. Dayum. Chill, tho. We gots this. We's gonna get 'cutting edge' on the economy's ass, baby.

Oh, and, uh urban, inflation, deflation, low taxes, and uh, Democrats are bad, m'kay?

(I never should have sold my self-loathing soul to the dev...er, Karl. I'm gonna have to get a hold of Rush and get his doctor's number to get through all of this...)

I'm with Stuart. I hope Steele threatens Snowe and Collins (and Spector too) some more. Like tomorrow.

I'd be perfectly happy to see all three switch parties.

max
['The R's want a hardcore Dixie party, they should have a hardcore Dixie party.']

If anything, this sort of statement will strengthen the standing of Snowe and Collins in Maine. Maine people LOVE politicians who are moderate and independent. The editorials in Maine papers have been glowing about their involvement in the stimulus. And there really isn't that big a far right part of the Republican base here, maybe 40% of registered Republicans who vote in the primaries.

Shorter MC Steele: My niggaz is the niggaz that'll die with me.

This is all a little play. If they had needed 5 R's to vote for it, there would have been 5. If they needed 1, there would have been 1. The R's definitely didn't want the stim to fail, just to be able to have the fewest possible fingerprints on it.

This dustup is nothing more than that.

Poochie: [rapping]

The name's Poochie-D and I rock the telly
I'm half Joe Camel and a third Fonzarelli
I'm the kung-fu hippie from gangsta city
I'm a rappin' surfer, you da fool I pity!

Scratchy: [unenthusiastic] Wow, Poochie is one outrageous dude.
Itchy: [unenthusiastic] He's totally in my face.

Actually, Steele's comment about deflation and inflation is correct, though he put them in reverse order. Right now we are in a deflationary period because assets are rapidly losing value and the dollar therefore gains value. Later, current monetary policy (think low, low, interest rates and massive printing of C notes) will have the effect of rapid inflation because the dollar will lose value. This is partly why Obama is signaling a budget deficit reduction in a few years to curb this future inflationary risk.

Mike Steele is still an incompetent asshole, though.

Steele -- standing athwart history, yelling 'Wha?'

i don't know, i think another way to look at this is that steele knows the election situation with the three senators in question and he is saying this simply to score points with the base and make himself look more powerful than he is to the general public.

he can talk tough but he knows there's not a snowball's chance in hell that he'll be required to follow up with any actual, you know, action.

i think this is an aspect of the republican kabuki that is little, if at all, remarked upon -- that they jump up and down and wag fingers about stuff that there is no chance they could be asked to actually follow through with.

pretty funny though that steele is actually shoring up democratic support of republican senators. he's more effective at strengthening their seats by opposing them. if he figures this out, he might get somewhere.

go read bernard chazelle's post "representative democracy." http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/002863.html

Michael Steele? Sounds more like Michael Scott.

Yeah baby, YEAH!

Off the hook and in the shizzle!

It like watching a WHITE GUY trying to be hip.

When you are the Party of Stupid, you need a really Stupid Person to lead that party.

That would be Mr. Steele.

Sen. Bob Menendez is the head of the DSCC. Right now, he should be putting a call in to Sen. Specter's office, and he should make the old guy an offer: if you start caucusing with the Democrats and run for reelection as a Democrat, we'll clear a path for you. Specter is popular in Pennsylvania and would probably win, and the Dems get another vote for procedural stuff, which is good for us. Everyone wins! And it's not like he's going to be sticking around for much longer if he doesn't cut a deal like this.

Doctor Biobrain: "Hey, but at least they got a black man to help represent for all those disaffected black youths who feel they pay too much in taxes and receive too much government service. Surely that makes up for the fact that the man's an idiot."

lmao

Actually, mister hand, Michael Scott was tapped by Mayor Daley to head the Chicago Board of Eduction.

I am sure the three Republicans are shaking in their snowboots over Sargent.

If a conservative sees the need for action right now, but his or her party is in obstruction mode because there are liberals in office, what does that conservative do? Toss the need for action or toss the party line?

And if conservatives have to toe a line, whose line, these days, are they supposed to be toed up to?

The Republican party seems about as coherent as warm jello right now. Mixed in with those who want to get some work done and the usual obstructionists, there are still the abortion/gay marriage bunch (forgotten now that the election is over), Rush/Hannity/Coulter screaming political advice in the middle, and Vitter standing up for ethics.

The party's all over the map. Who is calling the shots now that Cheney isn't on hand to "make a phonecall?"

Steele added, "[T]he inflationary effect, the deflationary effect, all of those things are going to come to head at some point."

--boom goes the dynamite!

Steele is our best friend. That kind of treatment should send Collins, Snowe and Specter farther into the Obama camp.

Doesn't the RNC realize that these senators' districts are pressuring them to vote with Obama?

With no support from the RNC, I don't see why these three should be motivated to act against the self interest.

Last fall, many of us Dems referred to Sarah Palin as "the gift that keeps on giving."

I'm starting to have that same good feeling about Michael Steele. May he live long and prosper!

You're using my "baby's" now?

PLEASE, Republicans, don't throw us in the Briar Patch ... I mean don't keep taking those hard line stands and punishing your party members who deviate from the hard line.

Crazy.

"It's like they've looked at the map and said: You know what? The East Coast doesn't matter. The West Coast doesn't matter. The Soutwest doesn't really matter. And the Rust Belt doesn't matter."

It sure is. Steele is the brainiac who also said that "work" isn't a "job." That government contracts don't create "jobs" because eventually the contracts end.

So people who work on a contract basis don't matter either. The lady at the nail salon? She has a job. The guy building the new bridge in Milwaukee? He doesn't.

Steele? A tool with a tan, baby.

Quote of the day comes from Charlie Cook:

Selecting former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele to be national party chairman is about the only intelligent thing that Republicans have done since Election Day.

What karen marie and drinkof said.

Doesn't mean we can't get hours of calorie-free-and-won't-make-you-pregnant enjoyment out of it all, though.

@ Roq 1:20
I never liked him on Bill Maher , as a matter of fact I didn't know who he was and used to think , what a pompous stupid fool. I thought they put him there for comic relief as he never ever seemed to do anthing but spout incoherent Repug talking points...er a sorta like he does now, except now he has a bigger platform. Like everyone onn these threads says ..keep him talking. He is the poster boy for small minded intellectually challenged republicans who are driving farther and farther away from being a viable party in the forseeable future

Bat-shit crazy. That's the best you can say about the Republican party. I'll have no idea what to call them, once they've driven the centrists away. Maybe we won't have to call them anything - because isn't this a suicidal act? Punishing the last functioning minds in the party is tantamount to blowing the party's brains out.

Poochie and Cutting Edge made me lol. Fantastic.