Dick Armey: RNC Chairman Steele Is 'Horse's Rear'

Politics has made a “horse’s rear” out of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, says Dick Armey, the former Republican House majority leader.

Steele has taken heat repeatedly for controversial comments and spending.

Asked to assess the RNC chairman on C-Span, Armey said, “Well again, he works with the Republican Party. You know, Armey’s axiom is ‘politics sooner or later makes a horse’s rear out of anybody.’”

Anyone so involved in a political party that his behavior is defined by political choices is “gonna make some stumbling, bumbling choices,” said Armey, who now heads the FreedomWorks political activism group.

“While he’s done many good things, he’s made some fairly dramatic stumbles too. But that’s politics.”

And politics really isn’t that important, says Armey, whose FreedomWorks fights for lower taxes, less government and more economic freedom for Americans.

“Unless you let politics govern you public policy outcomes, politics is at best an amusement and at worst just a counter-productive distraction,” he said. “So I don’t pay much attention to it.”

Crack Republican strategist Ed Rollins has a harsher assessment of Steele.

"Obviously, he's been a disaster," Rollins said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. “Michael Steele has failed miserably in the things you're supposed to do: raise money and basically go out and articulate the message."