Picture of the Day

Michael Steele has lunch with -- I can't believe I'm even typing this -- Pauly Shore, at Ben's Chili Bowl in D.C.

This is why politics in this country aren't even worth getting pissed about anymore.

If they're not going to take it the least bit seriously I don't see why I should.

In Memoriam

Michael Steele

Chairman of the Republican Party

Clown

Endless Source of Entertainment

Tenure: January 30th, 2009 - January 14th, 2011

"You'll always be in our hearts."

The Huffington Post: Michael Steele Defeated as RNC Chairman/1.14.11

Quote of the Day

"Such is the life of the black Republican: Nobody actually likes you... Michael Steele is the reality of the affirmative action hire conservatives always push. Chosen solely based on his pigment, he’s not actually qualified for the position."

-- Oliver Willis on Michael Steele's attempt to play the race card in defending his own incompetence

Quote of the Day

"(Michael) Steele is widely regarded as a clown by observers of all political persuasions, but he is clownish like a fox. His actions in this incident offer some hilarious and instructive insights into what’s going on in the Republican hierarchy right now as it tries to cope not just with our first African-American president but with a restive base embracing right-wing tea-party populism that loathes the establishment in both parties. And though Steele is black, and perhaps the most enthusiastic player of the race card in American politics today, race was a red herring in his Reid vendetta. It threw most everyone off the scent of his real motivation, which had nothing to do with black versus white but everything to do with green, as in money."

-- Frank Rich, in a great piece in today's New York Times

Quote of the Day

"Now, remember, this is the same leader who, just a few weeks ago, you know, was talking about healthcare in the context of slavery. Clearly, he is out of touch not only with where America and his district are but how African-Americans generally feel about these issues."

-- Michael Steele calling for Harry Reid to resign over comments in which he suggested that Barack Obama doesn't speak in a "negro dialect"

So, yeah, Michael Steele -- Michael Steele -- wants Harry Reid to resign over a supposedly racist comment. At what point does the brazen hypocrisy and laughable irony become so absurd that it barely even registers anymore? The GOP has surrendered its entire agenda to guys like Rush Limbaugh, who are literally unstoppable geysers of Thurmond-esque racism, and Steele -- whose own appointment to nominal head of the party was nothing more than a cynical racial ploy -- has the shamelessness to feign righteous indignation over this crap?

That's "keepin' it real" there, Flav.

You buffoon.

How?

Because I already technically posted a Quote of the Day, I'll label this something else -- especially since it comes from somebody who you could effectively call the Old Faithful of ridiculous gibberish:

"No, no… No, no! But that’s what’s gotten us into trouble, when we walked away from principle. Our platform is one of the best political documents that’s been written in the last 25 years. Honest Injun on that."

That's pretend head of the Republican party and perpetual human punchline Michael Steele on Hannity Monday night. Hannity had just asked him whether he thinks the GOP should shift toward a more moderate stance -- which at this point would entail calling for the insertion of the words "Baby Jesus" into the Pledge of Allegiance every three words rather than every other word, the immediate impeachment and deportation of Barack Obama rather than his summary execution and the appointment of Glenn Beck to the position of "Culture Czar" as opposed to "King of the Airwaves for Life" -- and of course the answer he got was pure Steele buffoonery: inadvertently offensive and racist, and hopelessly misguided.

Jesus, haven't American Indians suffered enough without this boob insulting them by busting out one of the most tired ethnic clichés of the last three centuries?

Incidentally, want to Keep it Real with Steele? Go here.

(h/t Joan Walsh at Salon)

Quote of the Week

"Government cannot run a health care system. They’ve already shown that. Trust the private markets to do it the right way."

-- Pretend head of the Republican party, Humpty look-alike, and perpetual fountain of gibberish Michael Steele making a comment so laughable that as a punchline it pretty much makes its own gravy

(h/t Cesca)

Going, Going...

Just a heads-up from Malcontent Central: Obviously if you read the piece below you know that I'm going to be pretty scarce for the next few days.

I'll try to put up a little something here and there -- particularly on Saturday and Sunday. But I can't guarantee much new material besides that (although I'll continue to check comments).

Hope everyone understands.

Until I get back -- here's a picture of Michael Steele and Humpty from Digital Underground, side-by-side.

Quote of the Week (Early Contender)

"The president is personally popular. Pity the fool who paid for a poll to figure that out... This change, my friends, is being delivered in a teabag, and that's a wonderful thing."

-- Pretend leader of the Republican Party and human punchline Michael Steele

Quote of the Week (Early Contender)

"Crazy nonsense, empathetic. I’ll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind. Craziness."

-- Embattled GOP "leader," embarrassing racial cliché, and perpetual fountain of gibberish Michael Steele -- who certainly knows a little something about crazy -- responding to President Obama's statement that he'd seek to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter with someone who has the ability to empathize with those his rulings will affect

By the way, just for laughs, I recommend reading this quote in the voice of Granddad from The Boondocks.

And yes, that's really Michael Steele in the picture.

"I Meant to Do That"

We pretty much knew that ineffectual RNC Chairman Michael Steele was a walking caricature; what we didn't know was that he's a caricature of Pee Wee Herman.

Just listen to this horseshit and try not to laugh.

Quote of the Week (Continued)

"My intent was not to go after Rush. I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."

-- Supposed actual head of the Republican Party Michael Steele, apologizing for referring to Rush Limbaugh as a mere "entertainer" whose rhetoric is "ugly and incendiary," and apparently forgetting the incredibly derogatory term for an African-American who subserviently cowers before a fat, white, powerful racist asshole

(Seriously, at the risk of offending quite a few people, the man may as well bug his eyes out and start carrying a shoe-shine box after this.)

Quote of the Week

""Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man!"

-- Republican Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (of course) shouting praise after a speech by Black Man™ RNC chairman Michael Steele, and obviously fully on board with his new "The GOP: It's Off the Hook, Yo!" promotional campaign

War of Words

When Michael Steele was named chairman of the Republican Party a few weeks ago, there was a lot of back-and-forth over whether the GOP was indeed moving forward into the 19th century or just pulling an opportunistic political fast-one.

I was never one of those people who believed that either A) their hearts really were in the right place when they conveniently appointed an African-American to head the party, or B) the end justified the means regardless. It doesn't take a cynical nature to understand that the Republicans put Steele where he is because they honestly didn't have a choice -- not if they wanted to send the message to voters that they're at least as revolutionary in their thinking as their political adversaries. Unfortunately, the GOP can't escape the kind of backward-ass buffoonery that's been its hallmark for the past few decades.

Case in point: Missouri State Representative Bryan Stevenson -- who yesterday on the Missouri House floor called the Freedom of Choice act, which bars the government from interfering with abortion, the most egregious federal power grab "since the War of Northern Aggression."

Now if you're not either a history major or a dumb redneck, there's a chance you've never even heard of the War of Northern Aggression -- that's because to most of civilized society, it's known by another name: The Civil War.

Only the least evolved and most offensive among us -- the sort of idiots who slap "Forget, Hell!" stickers all over the tail of their pick-ups -- still refer to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression. And yet there's a Republican state representative busting it out like it's second nature.

It's exactly the kind of image the modern GOP is trying to slither quietly away from -- the image it hoped would be involuntarily shot full of holes with the election of Black Man™ Michael Steele as its leader. But old habits die hard, and the inadvertently revealing (or blatantly fucking stupid) words of Bryan Stevenson prove it.

Today's GOP can make all the overtures it wants about being the party of intelligence and inclusion; as long as it continues to be a welcoming home to clowns like Stevenson -- or continues to take marching orders from Rush Limbaugh, a talk radio host, for Christ's sake -- it will never be able to claim that it's put its narrow-minded past behind it.

At least not and be taken seriously.