Maybe you are misreading his comment. Perhaps he's saying he doesn't really run things. Maybe the people who are really running things are "them".

I actually feel sorry for MC Aluminum. He really craves attention, and seems to have almost no self-awareness whatsoever. The neediness makes me cringe.
He also seems to be pretty damn dumb.

"Was Steele suggesting that he would prefer not to be in the public light as much but that 'them' wanted him in front of the television cameras and microphones representing the GOP"

As if bringing him up from the stables to the main house, it was the Republican's way of saying, see - we're not racist.

Maybe "Them" wanted him out front because he is black. Their solution to the Republican diversity problem.

But the only reason they wanted Steele was because he was a black man who could talk street and show that not all Republicans are white. He was meant to be the Republican counter-point to Obama, and I'm not sure he could be more opposite without being a white female one-armed midget.

And so I seriously doubt that Steele was hired to run anything. His job is PR, which is what makes his selection all the more ridiculous. And as for what he told Corn, I suspect that he was totally out of his element and was improvising the best he could; which, as usual, was worse than if he had said nothing and walked away.

Shorter Steele: "If they'd just let me fill my pockets and enrich my friends as I did as county and State chair, I wouldn't have to be out front all the time."

I am convinced that the Republicans deliberately promoted an unqualified black man so that they could then say, "Hey, we tried a minority, and you can see how well that worked. We're going back to white guys now- but we tried!"

"I've always been of the view that party chairs ought not to be seen or heard but should stick to managing the party mostly behind the scenes."

Why would Cornball think this? Seems an odd opinion to state - what would it matter if a party leader were up front, or not? I'm guessing he was joshing.

And why is Steele's seeming lack of smarts so noteworthy - there are hundreds of fairly prominent dumbass Republicans. Is it that none have ever been promoted to party chair?

Is it just that everyone here is a Colbert fan?

Doctor Biobrain,

"But the only reason they wanted Steele was because he was a black man who could talk street..."

Steele talks street like Vanilla Ice does Hip Hop.

"...not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it."
-- Douglas Adams

That's not how I read the exchange. Steele is obviously putting a face on the 'good natured insult', as if there is such a thing, and shining Corn on. The left can be both happily condescending and patronizing while not having the capacity to see human nature for what it is. Maybe Corn wouldn't have been as mystified if Steele had said what I would have said which was - "Why don't you go fuck yourself."

You suggest a level of introspection Republicans haven't attained. Irony is not lost on them, it is drowned in a tsunami of hubris and home schooling. Steele is free to act as he likes while the rest of the crew look for proof Jesus rode a dinosaur.

More and more I find myself thinking Steele always joins with his interlocutor.

If you look at his string of gaffes since January it is (almost?) always the case that his gaffe comes from agreeing with the theme or implication of someone else's comment or question to him.

He just seems to want whoever he's speaking with to like him, period.

And why is Steele's seeming lack of smarts so noteworthy - there are hundreds of fairly prominent dumbass Republicans. Is it that none have ever been promoted to party chair?

I'm not exactly sure that Steele's dumbassery is particularly more noteworthy than the others, as I'm quite positive I read about lots of other dumbass Republicans here too. But I do think Steele's dumbassery sticks out a bit more than the others. When someone like Bachmann or Inhofe says something stupid, it's regarding conservative policy idiocy; like when they attack the theory of Global Warming and whatnot. But Steele's goofs are just extremely awkward stuff, showing how completely out of touch he is with the black culture he pretends to be a part of, which is what he imagines is his strongest asset as party chair.

And beyond that, as party chair of the non-presidential party, Steele is the head of the Republican Party. That makes his blundering more important in regards to the direction of the party. And yes, a party chair should be doing much more behind the scenes. I supported Howard Dean as Dem party chair, but definitely think the work he did behind the scenes far surpassed anything he did on TV. From what we've seen, Steele doesn't seem to be doing ANYTHING behind the scenes. For as bad as he is in public, he seems to be neglecting his real job entirely.

Steele talks street like Vanilla Ice does Hip Hop.

I don't know about that. Vanilla Ice had a hit song that was genuinely liked by many true fans of Hip Hop, at least before the backlash set in. The only people who take Steele seriously are the ones still waiting for Hee Haw to return to syndication.

Michael Steele is no Vanilla Ice. Hell, Steele isn't even Rappin' Rodney Dangerfield, He's more like Simpson's Go Calypso, except that was never made into a real album.

(And yes, my old school references date me significantly.)

And beyond that, as party chair of the non-presidential party, Steele is the head of the Republican Party.

Well, he's the putative head of the party. I have a hard time belieiving that he actually runs anything beyond his mouth.

Here's a thought:

"They" -- the Republicans in charge -- are both reeally smart and reeeeally stupid, all at the same time.

Stupid: elect a black man as head of the RNC to confuse the electorate about which party is which. It's ham-fisted, minority-as-window dressing not seen since Bush's 04 RNC Convention, transparent as hell and awkwardly executed.

Smart: elect a socially-inept, slightly lunatic black man as head of the RNC, and let him loose to a) agree & bond w/the general electorate while it forgets about the neanderthals who really run things. Since Repubs don't know how to bond with the 'New Way', esp since it's so utterly foreign to them, Steele will have to suffice.

But more insidiously, it reflects Repub dinosaur thinking:

Two black men -- one our RNC buffoon, the other the Democratic President whom Repubs revile as 'socialist', etc., etc., etc. -- are both held up and ridiculed. It blurs the cognitive boundaries of their core base, feeding hate on the one hand in a way that confirms that Obama is ludicrously unserious because look--Steele is just a buffoon! Channeling that to stoke anti-functionalgovernment anger in the process.

It doesn't make total sense -- but that's why it's so plausible -- neither do the Republicans.

"Well, I have to say, thank you. You've been good for business."

That made me snort water through my nose!

Steve Duncan: "Irony is not lost on them, it is drowned in a tsunami of hubris and home schooling."

Fantastic line! So very true....