Has Steele Promised No Filibuster?

Michael Steele may have put his foot in it yesterday.  If my guess is right, it’s an unprecedentedly stupid gaff on his part.

Yesterday, in an address at Philander Smith College, a historically black college in Little Rock, RNC Chairman Michael Steele implied that the late Martin Luther King Jr. would be disappointed with President Obama’s leadership. “Dr. King would be disappointed in the political leadership of this country for failing to address the least of us,” Steele said. A questioner approached the microphone and quickly turned the tables on Steele, asking whether his party was upholding King’s legacy by blocking health care:

• QUESTION: In all seriousness, I’m curious what you think that Dr. King would think about your party’s current attempts to block universal health care? [applause] …
• STEELE: It’s a great myth that we’re doing all this blocking. I wish we had that kind of control with the numbers, but we don’t. … As I’ve said to the president many times, “If that’s the bill you want, vote it up or down.”

Commenting on racism in our society, Steele told the audience, “What your generation will face is very subtle. It’s very quiet. It’s deceiving. But it is there. And you cannot be fooled into believing otherwise.”

Inserted from <Think Progress>

While that seems innocent enough on the surface, an “up or down vote” is historically what the GOP has demanded as an alternative to a Democratic filibuster.  Having made this statement, Steele has effectively guaranteed, as head of the GOP, a health care vote in the Senate without filibuster.  I’m expecting no such thing, but watching that fool try to weasel (no offence to rodents who may be reading) his way out of this one promises to be most entertaining.  I, for one, plan to demand that he keep his promise. :-)