Should Michael Steele become a Democrat?

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last updated 8 January 2015

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has been a gaffe-prone and frequently muzzled "embarrassment to the GOP" for too long, says DeWayne Wickham in USA Today. So it's time for him to "find a new political home" where he can be himself, possibly as a member of the Democrats' "conservative 'Blue Dog' faction." Unlike today's GOP — "a neoconservative pup tent where those with differing views are forced to kowtow to... ultra-right-wingers" — the Democrats might welcome a moderate like Steele. Sure, breaking with the Republican Party would be a "tough move," writes Wickham, but it would be the right one. An excerpt:

It's time to 'man up,' Michael Steele, time to put your principles ahead of your job as GOP chairman, time to move into another political space — one that will let you be you. It's time for you to become a Democrat....

You called Rush Limbaugh an incendiary "entertainer," then you apologized after he turned his mediamegaphone against you. You told GQ that abortion is "an individual choice," and then backpedaled when the anti-abortionists squealed in protest. And as quickly as you said at a Connecticut GOP fundraiser that the Afghanistan war is a conflict of President Obama's choosing and is unwinnable, you retreated when GOP hawks demanded your resignation.