Michael Steele Loses His Script

[ccharles000]

It seems that God really does love Markos, judging by the interview Michael "Dead Man Walking" Steele" did with GQ:

Q: Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?

STEELE: Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.

Q: You do?

STEELE: Yeah. Absolutely.

Uh oh, wrong answer. So today Mr. Steele is clarifying just what he meant by, "Yeah. Absolutely":

I am pro-life, always have been, always will be.

I tried to present why I am pro life ... The strength of the pro life movement lies in choosing life .. the Republican Party is and will continue to be the party of life. I support our platform and its call for a Human Life Amendment.

Apparently this is another case where Steele realized that the "words that I said weren’t what I was thinking."

But Steele's response on abortion wasn't the only thing he said in the interview that will infuriate the GOP faithful. For example:

Q: Why do you think so few nonwhite Americans support the Republican Party right now?

STEELE: ’Cause we have offered them nothing!

And while that honesty may surprise you, it's sure to hack off Republicans. And not because the Party whose most recent outreach to African Americans included "forty acres and a mule" really think they've done anything to earn support from minority voters - but like the crazy aunt in the attic, you're not supposed to talk about it.

And the powers-that-be won't like this:

Q: Do you think homosexuality is a choice?

STEELE: Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap.

Sweet Mother of God, of course it's a choice! What was Steele thinking? If homosexuality is nature, not nurture, then what does that say about all the anti-gay rhetoric that conservatives spew? Not to mention what it will do to those pricey gay deprogramming camps.

But Steele does manage to stick to the script when it comes to gay marriage:

STEELE: ... It’s just that, you know, from my faith tradition and upbringing, I believe that marriage—that institution, the sanctity of it—is reserved for a man and a woman.

Of course it should be noted that earlier in the interview, Steele spoke of that upbringing:

STEELE: My dad—my adoptive father—he, unfortunately, was an alcoholic and a spousal abuser. He died when I was 4, from alcoholism.

... he would take me out on dates when he would go with his girlfriends, or he would take me out to hang with his drinking buddies. It was kind of weird, but that was his way of being a father, I guess.

How considerate of Steele to want to limit that kind of sanctity to the heterosexual world.

And what about bipartisanship?

Q: Do you think bipartisanship can work?

STEELE: No. Look, I’m sorry, I know this is, you know, la-la land and Rodney King time and we all wanna get along, but that is not the nature of American politics. That is not the nature of politics, period.

Now some might say that Steele was really off-message here, given that most Republicans have been relentlessly playing the bipartisanship card since becoming known as the Party of No, but Michael knows who he really answers to:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/11/213050/869/408/707434

[grantcart]

1. "Dead Man Walking" Steele

Maybe the best line that you have ever written Charles.