On the same show in which Michael Steele committed a gaffe by not knowing what the minimum wage was, the MSNBC host who interviewed him now has his own poorly worded phrase to explain away. On The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell stated that "Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee." Needless to say, the lapse in judgment was lambasted by pundits on both sides of the political aisle, with one National Review writer observing "I’m not hyper-sensitive, but Lawrence O’Donnell really should not have said this."

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Erik Hayden