The Friday List-down: 14 Ways to Remember Michael Steele

Michael Steele has been all but officially booted from his chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, but he may have been the most entertaining person to hold that position to date. Let’s take a moment and reflect on his ridiculousness.

1. While trying to hold onto his job this week, Steele says War and Peace is his favorite book, and then cites the first line of A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Sure looks like it might be the latter for Steele. (Video is here.)
2. He’s one of those weird climate skeptics who doesn’t believe climate change is real.
3. Steele once forgot it was Republican Party policy to support all wars at all times and had a brief stint as an anti-war protestor, saying the Afghanistan war is unwinnable. He said President Barack Obama has “not understood that you know that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan.” He also said that Afghanistan was a war of “Obama’s choosing.” That didn’t win him many points with other Republicans.
4. Remember when Steele came under fire for the RNC’s spending spree? One of the most eyebrow-raising expenses included a $2,000 tab at Voyeur West Hollywood, a risqué bondage nightclub in Los Angeles. He saved himself by firing someone over it. You can bet The Daily Show also took this one on.
5. Steele once said that African Americans “have no reason” to vote for Republicans. Great outreach strategy.
6. Perhaps not realizing that Rep. John Boehner might be (R-Ohio) might be Speaker of the House one day, Steele agreed on television that Boehner and the rest of the Republican leadership were “an absolute freakin’ joke” in 2009.
7. He enjoys kicking back to P. Diddy and the Pack Rat Rat Pack, according to an interview with GQ.
8. Steele once dismissed Rush Limbaugh’s show as mere “entertainment” that was both “incendiary” and “ugly.” He later had to grovel to Limbaugh for forgiveness.
9. Who could forget the conservative rap battle on The Colbert Report? (OK, OK, that wasn’t the actual Michael Steele, but it was still hilarious.)
10. Under Steele’s reign the RNC redesigned the GOP website to be terrifyingly interactive, complete with an animation of Steele walking across the screen to introduce the new site. (Links to the original site are dead, but this website managed to co-opt the animation for its own site.) Jon Stewart skewered it pretty effectively, comparing the animation to the Microsoft paperclip.
11. That new website also included a blog titled “What Up?” that started by asking the question, “Why are you a Republican? Think about that for a minute.” Um, ok. Perhaps realize the name was silly, the title of the blog changed to “Change the Game” the next day.
12. This was all probably part of his effort to give the GOP a hip hop makeover. He wanted to take the party’s policies and “apply them to urban-suburban hip-hop settings.” Whatever that means.
13. That time Steele posed with GOP interns. Possibly the most hilarious photos of all time.
14. Also who could forget the Michael Steele puppet?

What can we say? We sure will miss you, Michael Steele.

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