maybe the RNC should find anyone else to talk about health care to national audiences, rather than force Steele to pretend like he knows what he's talking about.

Such as? Do they have anyone who knows the subject? They have so little talent, it's a disgrace to the concept of an opposition party.

sweet jeebus on a stick! these people are sick beyond the help of single payer universal healthcare. they are incurable.

they are a threat to their children, themselves and others...

Oh no! Steele knows more about this issue because he was the Lieutanent Governor of Maryland than Obama does.

He says so himself.

;-)

what dj said...plus...isn't steele the guy who picks the spokesmen for whatever...? if the rank and file in the rnc start telling the leader that he's doing a crappy job picking people to discuss hot topics, how does that make him look?

"maybe the RNC should find anyone else to talk about health care to national audiences"

Shh! Why on earth would we want anyone else to lead the Republican campaign against health reform? Did Sitting Bull send letters to the War Department asking them to send a savvier leader than Custer? Hell no!

"...maybe the RNC should find anyone else to talk about health care to national audiences, rather than force Steele to pretend like he knows what he's talking about."

How about Joe Scarborough?

When the head of the RNC can't even answer softballs from Scarborough then yeah, time for another spokesman.

He better stick to the fried chicken and cornbread, was it?

Come to think of it, I wonder if the RNC even provides insurance--that might explain why he couldn't answer that question.

Poor Mr. Steele, too stupid to be a lowly sociopath.

"Steele, trying to diffuse the situation..."

Steele was trying to DEFUSE the situation, not to DIFFUSE it. Then again, Merriam-Webster's definion of diffuse is "being at once verbose and ill-organized," which suits Steele perfectly.

Ignorance, thy name is Republican.

That bugs me so much when Benen keeps acting like it's "their job" to demean the administration...or it's their job to be in opposition because they are the "opposition party"...not when they are in opposition to the American people.

Their "job" is to work with each other in finding answers to America's problems...but now it is clear it is really a class war between the wealthy and everyone else. The GOP and the RNC are not in opposition to the dem party as much as they are for protecting the holdings of the wealthy and the business of their multinational corporations. What else is it becoming but a democracy vs a corporatocracy.

Steele is not doing his "job" by criticizing this administration when he clearly has no alternatives to offer and states that he doesn't even understand the issue (or cares to). That's the point...saying "I know you are but what am I" at press conferences just makes a mockery of his job which should be to support and put forth Republican alternatives. It's not a functioning party anymore but a mockery of a political party...which could be presented by MADD Magazine more appropriately.

Thanks much, KTiO.

Fried chicken and potato salad, I think it was, GT.

Whaddaya mean, they need somebody else? Steele has reached his highest-and-best use, hasn't he? Heh.

Damn! I have no words. Damn.

Steele comes right out of the Palin tradition of GOP policy analysis -- talk publicly about stuff you don't understand and then either talk over your questioners or claim you're being attacked when the media questions your facts.

Oy, my head hurts. Are we sure no child was left behind?

bjobotts is spot-on.

Steele is trash-talking because that's all the Republicans have. Repubs do not have a legitimate counter-proposal to fix the nation's health insurance debacle, nor is it their party's position to actually want to see any positive change occur.

Republicans simply want to defeat Democrats because government in a quagmire represents their best chance to re-assume some of the power they have lost and it's in the interests of their funders to see nothing happen.

Quit assuming the Republicans actually care to govern or do the right thing for the American public: they just don't want to see the other party look good.

I think Steele is trying to make the point that Negros don't belong in politics and hopes some of that opinion rubs off on Obama. He seems to be acting in the way that Republicans conceive of Blacks (ignorant but bribable with fried chicken and potato salad).

Clearly what the GOP should do is send Eric Cantor out to speak in favor of a "Judeo-Christian" health care policy.

MonkeyBoy: I said this many months ago: Michael Steele is the Republican poster 'boy' for the case against Negros holding any kind of position requiring intelligence and literacy. "See, those people are not capable of grasping complex ideas and delivering them to the rest of us. We should not have one holding the highest office in the land. Michael Steele proves our point."

peace,
st john

You still be da Man! - Michelle Bachman.

"One can reasonably make the argument that it's not Steele's job to be able to speak intelligently"...period.

st john: "Michael Steele proves our point"

plus when things on the Republican agenda are defeated they can always blame their boy that tried hard was not really a true core American. Their defeats stem from hiring the wrong sort of help and thus multi-culturism is the enemy.

""Don't break anything, because Daddy can't afford to fix it."

That's the GOP approach to health care in a nutshell, at least for us unwashed masses.

Incredible, just painful.

Does Steele have coverage to (re?)connect his mouth to his brain?

One of the comments under the original article suggested Steele's detractors are racist (quel surprise) and closed with the anguished, "...why don't you just call him an Uncle Tom?".

OK, he's an Uncle Tom; a coconut - brown on the outside and white on the inside. I don't mean to suggest every black man should loudly agree with Obama just because he's black, but you know and I know that Michael Steele is paraded before the viewers and given his talking points precisely because he is black. The trouble is, Michael Steele doesn't know it, or doesn't care. The former would make him an Uncle Tom who is also a patsy, and the latter simply an Uncle Tom. Whichever, he's allowing himself to be used to rebut Obama, and be the sharp end of obstruction efforts, as a function of his colour.

If Hillary had won the presidency, it would have been Sarah Palin in the Republican driver's seat, because of her gender. The Republicans are image-sensitive enough to want their criticism to come from a source beyond the complaint of racism or misogyny.

Off the hook! Take your phone off the hook, Michael.

Steele is treading water as fast as he can until HBO brings "The Wire" back. He could fill ever so many roles.

Steve,
Are you concern trolling for the GOP again?

Seriously though, the rhetorical conceit ('perhaps the GOP/conservatives/loonies should consider getting a better spokesperson/poster-child' or the variation 'need better lunatics') is getting a little stale.
Then again, I read your stuff almost every day, so it can't be that big a deal.

It's all politics.

Use the 'mutt' (meaning a stray dog, not pure bred) to make outlandish claims against Pres. Obama so they can avoid being called a racist.

When Sotomayer gets her seat, they will find a latino to bash Sotomayer, so they can avoid being called a racist.

FYI, no mention of Rev. Rick Warren since he attended the inauguration.

Not too much mention of Jindal since he didn't meet the expectations of the GOP's debate against Pres. Obama.

"Steele has reached his highest-and-best use, hasn't he?" lotus @ 4:15

First, love the land appraisal reference. Second, yes he has. His highest and best use is as a token for the RNC, if not an actual Uncle Tom, at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Sets both racial minorities AND repubs back at least a hundred years. Their highest and best use is... what? Pasture? No. Scrub range? No, not even that good. Waste acreage?

Everyone stand up and shout "Quisling"

Doesn't matter what Steele says now. Like anyone with half a brain saw coming, they already made the public option just as shitty as your private plan, and it's going to wither and die. Suckers!

Let's see, we're supposed to take guys like Steele seriously. Not only do they not know what goes on in Canada and the UK regarding healthcare, they don’t know what goes on in their own household.