Sunday, February 6, 2011

Michael Steele plays along on the Daily Show

If you haven't followed the Daily Show's running puppet satire of Michael Steele (former chairman of the RNC), this video might not make much sense. Steele's resemblance to the blue Muppet who frequently had something wrong with his soup morphed into Wyatt Cenac's rhyming-version of Steele, whose speech was filled with lots of extra "bibbles."




Once the jokes were over, Steele was pretty candid about his ouster as RNC Chairman... kind of refreshing for the RNC, whose language is usually cloaked in the typical motherhood and apple-pie BS. Among his interesting comments were that the Republican Party has "a bit of a blindspot" when it comes to the legacy of Ronald Reagan, and noting that fiscal responsibility hasn't been that important for many Republican administrations (raising the debt limit, deficit spending).




Steele, in his media appearances, always seemed like a bumbling idiot, making countless gaffes. In this appearance on the Daily Show, he seems pretty free-wheeling and honest, like perhaps he was meant to be a back-room deal-maker, a fixer, not a front-man. The amount of diplomacy that goes into being the face of an organization is remarkable, and a lot of talented individuals just aren't cut out for it.