Michael Steele Keeps Stepping On His Tongue

I am in general a big fan of Michael Steele and supported his chairmanship of the RNC, but Steele has made two rather remarkable gaffes as chairman in a very short time.

For some odd reason he decided to take on Rush Limbaugh within days of his election, and now he's scrambling to backtrack on a comment in which he basically came out for choice on the abortion issue and said it should be a state decision. Of course, the official Republican position is pro-life and in favor of a constitutional amendment banning abortion, so needless to say, he's doing damage control.

For what it's worth, I agree with the position that states should make the call on abortion, not the federal government. Roe v. Wade should be overturned because it's bad law to federalize the abortion issue and if the constitution means anything, that issue should be left to the states. If you don't like what your state chooses to do, you can either move or pursuade your fellow citizens to change.

Steele will have to eat crow to keep the party ideologues happy, and somehow he's going to have to really start thinking before he answers questions. At this point he's too easy to trip up.

And, according to some reports, the special election in New York State may make the difference in whether he keeps his job. Hillary Clinton's replacement in the Senate came from a pretty Republican district that the GOP needs to win back. If the party can't win that seat, Steele may be looking for something else to do.