If RNC chairman Michael Steele is trying to convince the American people that the party he now leads can be described as a "big tent," his latest rhetoric isn't likely to forward that goal. Take a look:

Here's how Gateway Pundit writes up the exchange above:

Yes! RNC Chairman Michael Steele told Neil Cavuto that he is open to cutting GOP funding for the 3 Senate traitors who voted for the Generational Theft Act [better known as the popular Obama stimulus bill].

This is pretty shocking stuff. In the most simple terms, the head of the Republican Party is saying that he would be willing to punish those within his party who are willing to support Barack Obama's legislative agenda. Does Steele also want to punish the third of the Republican base that supports President Obama? Does he want them out of the party?

You know were it the other way around -- say, for instance, had Howard Dean upbraided a conservative Senate Democrat two or three years ago while he was still DNC chair -- the Beltway press would be having a field day with these comments. So where are they now?

Update [2009-2-24 13:25:46 by Jonathan Singer]:Greg Sargent writes, "This one passed unnoticed last night, but it’s definitely noteworthy — yet another measure of the degree to which the Republican Party has bet all its chips on opposing the stimulus package."