Also: it's our house. You're here only because we let you.

Stupid refined to an art form

Wow! We, too, are invited inside the tent to cheer on our favorite oil company, defense contractor, bigot or torture technique. Who could turn that down?

Michael Steele is gold for the Democratic Party.

Other then that, he is just about the stupidest guy I have ever seen in charge of anything. I have read some really bad political analogies, but the whole house one leaves me bewildered.

He seems to be under the impression that people are leaving the republican party because democrats have better seating ? And all he has to do is say comeback and they are going to return. WTF ?

I've said it before (and I KNOW I'm not the only one) but the current heads of the GOP, real, elected AND self-appointed, are not interested, in all, with hearing new ideas about the party platform or agenda. All they're interested in are ideas on how to make those unpopular ideas...popular. How to make tax cuts for the wealthiest resonate for those of us who will never be rich. How to make endless war, lesser standards in the enviornment the economy and education, and restrictions for some of us to the pursuit of happiness, palatable to just enough voters (50% plus 1 is fine and dandy) to get back into power.

Oh, and if it can be done with the Twitter and the Google and the internet tubes, that'd be both dope and fly, thank you.

Also: it's our house. You're here only because we let you.

Yeah, thats the thing innit? Its bad enough that Michael Steele obviously treats his house guests like crap, unwilling to make any accommodation to their wants and desires, he is telling moderates, rather explicitly, that they are only visitors. They have no stake or interest in this "house" except as guests. Why exactly does he imagine anyone be interested in that?

At this point the 'policy' debate is now entirely within the Democratic party. Essentially we now have the fiscal conservatives of the Democratic party Vs the moderates and progressives. Unfortunately, with the absurdist '60 vote' rule now in place in the Senate and zero leadership (thank you Harry 'I don't like it when Republican's say bad things about me' Reid) the fiscal conservatives have power far outside of their numbers.

Someone must've told Steele the awful secret: that "political moderates" physically outnumber the quadriplegic dinosaur that the GOP has become.

Republicans = prey....

I'm sure this will resonate with rational moderates. "Please join our party. And remember to obey the lunatics who are running it off the cliff."

You may sit at our table, as long as you eat whatever crap we serve to you.

This is pretty much the Republican approach to ALL foreigners, isn't it?

Who wouldn't want to a full-time bitch for a bunch of old incompetent White guys who can't read polls or understand demographic projections?

You get to be close to people who should rightly be in power in this society.

At least it means something to be a Republican. Sure, everything they stand for is absolute shit, but at least when someone says 'I'm a Republican,' I can make a few basic assumptions about them.

What does it actually mean to be a Democrat these days?

That definition has to included people like Arlen Spector, Evan Bayh, Ben Nelson, and Blanche Lincoln as well as Barack Obama, Ted Kennedy, Russ Feingold, and Al Gore.

The brand has been diluted to meaninglessness by being inclusive for the sake of being inclusive. A small-minded, money-driven block of charlatans have claimed the Democratic mantle and the word moderate for self-promotion, progress and the citizenry be damned.

It's why I find it increasingly difficult to identify myself as a Democrat, and prefer simply to be called labeled a liberal or a progressive.

I'm not sure I belong in a party that would have Bayh, Specter, and Lieberman, let alone allow them to dictate their terms.

So when you invite Joe the Plumber into your house, it's so he can comment on how lovely the drapes are, and not to help with the ever-increasing flow of sewage backing up out of your drains?

(This analogy would work much better if "Joe" the "Plumber" were actually one, and not "Generic" the "Sycophant".)

Steele added: "Also, pick us up some beer on your way in. We'll pass the hat or something to cover you."

Understand that when you come into someone's house ... you come in because that's the place you want to be.

Isn't that kinda the point? If you look around and your house is emptying out, can't you reasonably assume no one wants your company?

doubtful, since 1860 the functional definition of the Democratic Party is the coalition of groups who stood to lose if the GOP gained power.

It's a hodgepodge coalition. That's just the way it is.

Feel free to primary assholes who call themselves Democrats.

Steele's version of the GOP sounds just like one of George Bush's "Town Hall" meetings: screen the attendees before entering; no embarrassing questions during the scripted Q&A; red, white & blue coordinated outfits & signs in the audience; the two black attendees always sit just behind Bush. Don't forget to trace the license plates on cars with the off-message bumper stickers.

Steele sounds creepy, like he works for the Kremlin, or maybe the Vatican. Totalitarianism with a folksy spin. His GOP "house" doesn't just need change, it needs to be razed and re-built from the ground up.

Feel free to primary assholes who call themselves Democrats. -Carl Nyberg

I've already got several small donations earmarked for challengers to a few of them, Specter now included.

I actually think the DSCC and DNC quit calling me for donations because I kept giving them an earful about continuously supporting people who seemed to be actively fighting against the platform.

GOP moderates are all Log Cabin republicans nowadays.

The mind reels....

Fuck them.

I agree with doubtful on Specter and Lieberman. The Democrats should tell those two fuckers to shove off but good. Alas, they never do and it seems that most of them are only there for themselves or their powerful "friends". Specter is a piece of shit and so is Lieberman. Until those two are corked I'm not a Democrat either.

What an odd metaphor for Steele to use. Party members (which I have never been) aren't silent partners; they are active stakeholders in the direction of the party. That's why it's a party.

It's why I find it increasingly difficult to identify myself as a Democrat, and prefer simply to be called labeled a liberal or a progressive.

I'm not elbowing you here; this is a little tangent: I've never understood why people find it important to be called Democrats or Republicans to begin with. I'm a liberal, I'm a progressive, I'm a DFH, I'm a flaming socialist, depending on whom you talk to. I've never been registered with a political party -- no need to in an open-primary state -- and I never call myself a Democrat (although I don't mind if others refer to me that way). With exceptions I can count on one hand (municipal and state elections only, never national), spread across a quarter-century of voting, I vote for Democrats. It is what it is.

Other then that, he is just about the stupidest guy I have ever seen in charge of anything.

I gotta say he really is. He appears to have no control whatsoever over what comes out of his mouth at any given moment. That's indicative of a certain denseness, but also of something seriously wrong on the emotional front.

I'm beginning to question Steele's effectiveness as a party leader...

Are they serving popcorn? I'm about out (again).

Steele has yet to meet up with the right guy (or gal), that's all. Someone who will wise him up.

"Women should be obscene and not heard". John Lennon said that, before he met Yoko.

And afterward?

Well, afterwards John wrote a song entitled, "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World".

And then he got shot....