“Buck up or stay in the truck, critics,” she says, insisting that Steele has the right to call things the way he sees them. Not so. In fact, it’s precisely because he doesn’t have that right that so many conservatives have been beating up on him lately. If he wanted to call things the way he sees them, he should have kept his job as a Fox News contributor. Once he decided he wanted to be the official party spokesman, he took on three new tasks: (1) Promote the party, (2) promote the party, (3) promote the party. Calling ’em as he sees ’em has brought us such golden moments as him sitting in silence upon hearing Republicans compared to Nazis, suggesting that some white conservatives fear him, and casually remarking to Hannity that the GOP might not be ready to lead. Presumably she’s defending him here because he’s been wooing tea partiers lately. Guess I’ll be in the truck.

She’s going to win this argument in any case just because it’d be so tough to dislodge him. Exit question: Did anyone see this full exchange last night? I’m leery of trusting Politico’s edit entirely but can’t find a full transcript to check if it’s a fair representation of what was said.