Michael Steele’s abortion reversal

Michael Steele is really in trouble now, said Dan Amira in New York. Rumors were already swirling that the Republican National Committee chairman would soon face a no-confidence vote, and now, in a newly released GQ interview, Steele appears, at least momentarily, to have taken a pro-choice position on abortion.

Steele has made a habit of bungling media exchanges in his brief tenure, said Ed Morrissey in Hot Air. He says that when he called abortion an “individual choice” he meant it was something regulated by the individual states, but should be banned by a constitutional amendment. Whatever he meant, it’s clear that Republicans didn't get "the media-savvy spokesman we expected when we cheered his victory."

“Given the seriousness with which Republican leaders take culture-war issues,” said Steve Benen in The Washington Monthly, “it’s safe to assume Steele would have never become chairman if he'd made these comments before the RNC leadership race.” So it’s not hard to imagine that he’ll soon step down to avoid becoming a “distraction.”

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