Harry Reid appears not to be backing down in the face of fake Republican outrage over his comparison of conservatives' behavior 150 years ago to that of today. Good on him.
This, of course, has RNC chairman Michael Steele, who denounced the remarks initially, in quite a tizzy now. He went on Morning Joe this morning and slagged Reid viciously:
Steele: I still say Harry Reid is out of touch, he's clueless. And he can't help himself. I don't think he should be in the leadership, responsible role right now. I don't think if you're going into something as important as the debate on health care, that you have to reach back into one of the darkest parts of our nation's history and to belittle that time and that experience for generations of African Americans, uh, to put it in comparison to a political dispute on health care. To me, it's just plain ignorant.
But then Donny Deutsch chimed in and pointed out that, historically speaking, there's nothing at all inapt about the analogy:
Deutsch: Yeah, I'm still trying to understand why the analogies he's made are wrong. Obviously the issue here is that any great change throughout history, has the naysayers saying, 'It's not time, it's not time.' So why was that an irrelevant analogy?
Steele: I won't even dignify that with a response. This is -- next question. Next question.
Deutsch: What do you mean dignify? It's a genuine question. It's a genuine question.
Steele: I'm sorry, sir, I'm not going to sit here and say that it's an appropriate comparison to slavery.
Deutsch: He's not -- he's comparing it to dramatic change, and the naysayers to change.
Steele: OK, whatever. Whatever. Next question.
Deutsch: That's a great response. That's a very, very intelligent and brave response.
Steele: It is, as was your question.
As if this weren't enough buffoonery, Steele then had an exchange with Mike Barnicle in which Steele became upset when Barnicle asked him: "What are you people for?"
Steele: You people? Who are you people?
Barnicle: The Republicans, what are you for?
Steele: Mike, I just wanted to you define the pronoun, baby, that’s all.
Barnicle: Oh, come on.
As if Barnicle could have been asking anything else. Because Michael Steele is all about racial sensitivity, you see.
Isn't this the very kind of self-martyrdom that right-wingers always accuse liberal minorities of indulging?
