Clock Is Ticking: McCain And This Week Panel Rip Michael Steele To Shreds

Has RNC chairman Michael Steele finally worn out his welcome with the party? In what could be labeled a ‘holiday weekend slam dump’ a number of prominent Republicans have come out swinging against the controversial chairman since his comments on Afghanistan — among other things, he called it a ” war of Obama’s choosing” — became public last week.

This morning on This Week Sen. John McCain, who is currently in Afghanistan, “slammed” Steele saying:

“I think those statements are wildly inaccurate and there is no excuse for them…Chairman Steele sent me an email saying that his remarks were misconstrued…I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican National Committee.”

There’s not much wiggle room there. Later in the show, Tapper’s roundtable went to town on Steele.

Dan Senor, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and FoxbNews/WSJ contributor: “I don’t think the Republican Party can seriously engage in foreign policy

with credibility if its chairman is engaging in this kind of rhetoric.”

Al Hunt, Bloomberg: “First of all, I think Michael Steele, I wonder if he is a Democratic mole. If he had to resign every time he said something silly, he’d be gone about 15 times by now….There’s a larger point here…Many Democrats and more Republicans than you think – there is tremendous anxiety, nobody thinks this war is going well right now. No one sees the light…at the end of the tunnel.”

Cynthia Tucker, The Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Michael Steele is a self-aggrandizing, gaffe-prone incompetent who would have been fired a long time ago were he not black…Of course the irony is he never would have been voted in as chairman of the Republican party were he not black.”

That’s what you call the knives coming out. Big knives. Oof. Also, not the sort of talk that easily gets swept away by a holiday weekend newscycle. The question now perhaps is can Michael Steele last the week. Watch both clips below.