Column by Andrew Waldner

Michael Steele became the chairman of the Republican National Committee recently, if you were unaware, and has spent the entire time since making weird comments on air and all-around pissing the party off.

First, it was his more-moderate-than-some views, which he quickly swept aside and replaced with hard-line conservative views. In an effort to get the point across, he’s even claimed (and seems to be sticking with it) that he may “punish” the three Republican senators who voted for the stimulus. What?

Soon, the odd comments started, like his desire to put the party’s message in “urban-suburban hip-hop” settings. He began adding “baby” to the end of sentences. He called the stimulus package “bling bling.” Rappers tired of the term “bling bling” a couple years ago, Mr. Steele, so please don’t start.

I don’t know if I’m being a racist for noticing, but how could anyone not? Seeing him use such terminology to appeal to certain demographics or seem “cool” is laughable and pathetic. If he’s doing it in an attempt to attract more diversity, he’s got the right idea and the wrong strategy. If he’s saying the party just needs to be more “cool” in general, he’s right about that too but still doing it the wrong way. Republicans are having a lot of trouble appealing to younger Americans right now and the party is rapidly aging.

Even weirder, after (Kenneth the Page’s) Bobby Jindal’s terrible and deservedly panned rebuttal to Obama’s address to Congress, Steele offered Jindal some “slum-love.” I don’t know whether it was awkward, racist or just plain stupid, but probably all three.

Then came Rush.

In yet another bizarre TV appearance, but this time making a ballsy and unexpected move, Steele downplayed Rush Limbaugh’s importance to the party and called his show “ugly” and “incendiary.” No one with the ability for conscious thought should deny the truth of those two adjectives, but hearing a powerful Republican figure utter them was a revelation. You would have thought someone crossed the proton streams: The sun exploded, cats and dogs became friends and Jay Leno made someone laugh. But the twilight zone didn’t last long. Steele and his not-made-of-steel resolve came roaring back the very next day with a typical and expected retraction and apology.

Rush wasn’t happy with the comments, tearing Steele apart and saying that he was in no way the leader of his party. So, naturally, Steele bowed down before his throne and wept, begging for forgiveness.

This isn’t the first, and most certainly won’t be the last, time a prominent Republican grovels and begs for forgiveness at the foot of Limbaugh the Hutt. Instead of Han Solo encased in carbonite, he’s just got all of their balls encased in carbonite on his walls.

Just earlier this year, Congressman Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., made a comment that the talking heads like Sean Hannity and Limbaugh could be so fiery because they didn’t have to actually fix the country’s problems. Soon after, he actually appeared on Limbaugh’s show and outright condemned his former comments and apologized for them.

All in all it was a typical 2009 day in the Republican neighborhood. Party leaders spent it frantically searching for a new voice or message and failed. In the end, like everything else in the audible spectrum, they were just drowned out by Limbaugh’s big mouth.