Who’d have thunk it? A national Republican Party, a Party with a wink and nod attitude toward casual racism, responds to the election of the first African-American President by selecting its own first African-American Chairman; then, driven mad by its own inner contradictions, this GOP proceeds to hobble its new Chairman by openly calling for a diversion of donations to funds newly created by white power brokers; finally, at the next opportunity, said Chairman is dismissed with complaints about his low fundraising totals.

Ah, Michael Steele. We hardly knew ye. Except, of course, we did. And your Party.

Not so different from the national GOP strategy on healthcare, actually. The sinuous drift of their narrative: somehow this spendthrift upstart (of dubious color and birth) snatched control of one-sixth of the US economy, and now we will defund him and Obamacare, until such time as its subsequent failure justifies his replacement.

For Steele, VDB has little sympathy. Live by the sword, die by the sword. He has traveled far by winking himself at his Party’s more embarrassing tendencies.

But we’re not without sympathy, still. Occasionally, in his bumbling, convoluted way, Steele managed to speak truth. Yes, he almost immediately retracted same, when called out by Talk Radio. But truth is truth, however limited in scope, and so we’ll miss Michael when he’s gone, and the merriment and bondage-themed news he dragged in his wake.

Hasta la vista, Michael.