But Howard Dean Was A Dangerous Choice To Lead The Party...

Michael Steele has had just about the most disastrous first couple months as the head of the RNC that I've ever seen. Almost from the very beginning, where he had to cooperate with the FBI over allegations of payments from his 2006 Senate campaign account to his sister, he has had an ethical cloud swirling around him. Now local news in Baltimore has found more problems:

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is under fresh scrutiny for more suspect expenditures from his 2006 Senate campaign. WBAL News reports that, at the end of his 2006 campaign. Steele made $64,000 in questionable payments to a firm named Allied Berton, LLC.

The firm’s website indicates that Allied Berton was “in the business of trading commodities, such as minerals, metals, coffee and sugar.” The purpose of Steele’s payments to the company, however, was listed as “political consulting.” Further, “At the time the campaigns made the payments, Allied Berton’s right to conduct business had been forfeited by the state for failing to file the proper paperwork.”

All told, Steele, former Governor Bob Ehrlich, Ehrlich’s running mate Kristen Cox and the Maryland Republican party paid over $400,000 to Allied Berton.

The news report is here.

And these are just the ethical issues. The Steele-Limbaugh flap has emasculated the RNC chair. His statements have been increasingly bizarre. And he simply hasn't done his job.

Steadily becoming a dependable punch line, Steele has brushed back Rush Limbaugh, threatened moderate Republican senators, offered the “friggin’ awesome” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal some “slum love,” called civil unions “crazy” and promised more outreach to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings” via an “off the hook” public relations campaign.

He even threw a shout-out to “one-armed midgets.”

That’s in just 30 days on the job — and that’s just the PR part.

On the organizational side, Steele does not have a chief of staff, a political director, a finance director or a communications director. Last week, one of the two men sharing the job of interim finance director was forced to resign.

For now, “the fourth floor,” as the RNC’s executive suite is known, is being run by a pair of consultants.

“There’s frustration that there’s no discipline, no planning,” said a well-known Republican consultant. “He’s risking being overexposed by accepting every interview, which makes gaffes more likely.”

I think there's a growing segment of the Republican establishment who wants to throw this guy over. He's been an unmitigated disaster. All part of the death spiral of Minority Leader Limbaugh and the GOP.

(David Plouffe really sticks in the knife in that op-ed.)

Note To Cokie

If you don't know what you're talking about, don't open your mouth. Or in your case, don't open your mouth. Because the "don't know what you're talking about" thing is self-evident.

During coverage of the October 2 vice-presidential debate on PBS' Charlie Rose, Rose asked, "Did either of them make any mistakes that you noticed?" National Public Radio senior news analyst Cokie Roberts responded that Sen. Joe Biden "talked about the Bosniaks." Roberts later said: "[I]f [Gov. Sarah Palin] had said 'Bosniak,' everybody would be making a big deal of it, you know." In fact, Biden correctly referred to certain residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Bosniaks. According to the U.S. State Department, as of 2002, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of the following ethnic groups: "Bosniak 48.3%, Serb 34.0%, Croat 15.4%, others 2.3%."

Way to go, Cokie, putting yourself in the illustrious company of The Corner, RedState and Powerline. Your family must be so proud.