Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus appeared on Fox News’s America Live to respond to the growing furor over his comments comparing President Obama to Captain Francesco Schettino, the Italian captain of the Costa Concordia. Megyn Kelly asked Priebus if he stood by his comments, which he strongly defended as “clear.” “Clearly Megyn! When I [...]

Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele says he won’t be a “conservative punching bag” in his new role as commentator on MSNBC. Or, put more bluntly, he has no intention of being the next Alan Colmes. I think people kind of look at it and they go, ‘Oh, gee, you know, yeah, he’s the Alan Colmes,’” Steele tells The Baltimore Sun. “But I don’t think it’s that at all. I think I bring a very different style…I’m not a wallflower. I don’t hold back my views…I want to engage people.”

Michael Steele‘s departure from the chairmanship of the RNC may leave him with significantly less power among Republicans, but for the media, it means Steele is now free to speak unencumbered by the burden of his old responsibility. Tonight, this meant Steele was free to speak unencumbered to Rachel Maddow about his struggles within the party, what he thinks of the job he did, and all the other TV shows he would have done had he been allowed to as RNC chair.

The Michael Steele era of the Republican Party is officially over. The embattled chairman, who was not expected to win reelection after a tenure marked by a regular stream of gaffes and calls for resignation, withdrew from the race yesterday, making way for his temperamental opposite, Wisconsin GOP Chairman Reince Preibus, to man the national ship.

Politico is reporting that Michael Steele will be making a major announcement on Monday morning about whether or not he will run for re-election as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

It’s been a rough year for Michael Steele. In the past few months alone, the RNC chairman has taken on quite a bit of heat over everything from sojourns to bondage clubs to blaming President Obama for a war that started just about seven years before he entered office. Still though, little of this criticism has been as harsh and, more importantly, dismissive as the tongue lashing he received from chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ed Rollins on Face the Nation this weekend. Something tells me that Steele would rather have a dozen clips of Jon Stewart’s wacky puppet than one more of these.

A few hours ago, the Republican National Committee sent out their first memo to reporters discussing Obama’s nomination and in it they seem to have a money quote from Kagan as they point out that she supported the statement that the Constitution, as originally conceived, was “defective”. What they purposefully don’t mention is that Kagan quoted the statement in a tribute to its original speaker, her old mentor Thurgood Marshall. What they also don’t mention is that the statement was attacking slavery.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele made an admission, this week, that was both stunning and obvious. Speaking to a group of DePaul University students, Steele was asked why a black person should vote for a Republican. In responding, Steele put on the record the political equivalent of a Republican reverse-Sasquatch, something everyone knows is real, but pretends is a myth: The Southern strategy.

When news broke last month that members of the RNC had spent $2000 dollars of donor money at a lesbian bondage themed nightclub, the RNC didn’t so much deny the allegations as point out that the DNC does the exact same thing.

It’s been a month of “explaining” for RNC Chairman Michael Steele – and there’s likely to be more coming.

The Daily Caller reports on some excessive spending from the RNC (and Steele personally), including nearly $2,000 at a “bondage-themed nightclub.”

The hits just keep on coming. The Republican National Committee flubbed the roll out of their new web identity in glorious, grand ole, fashion on their own yesterday. Today the dark underbelly of the internet decided to help them finish the job. What’s a conservative to do? Twenty-four hours into the life of the RNC’s new website and parodies of the Faces of GOP web banner are circulating on the internet. Some are apt, some are funny and naturally, most are offensive.