What's in the Water in Maryland?

Completing our Maryland Senate Race trifecta, Lt Gov Michael Steele (R-MD) (right) now admits he was the unnamed Republican candidate who blasted his party and President Bush in an interview with reporters.

The Washington Post ran some of his comments:

"On the Iraq war: 'It didn't work. . . . We didn't prepare for the peace.'

On the response to Hurricane Katrina: 'A monumental failure of government.'

On the national mood: 'There's a palpable frustration right now in the country.'"

He also said he wouldn't want President Bush to campaign for him because of the President's low standing. Lt Governor Steele compared the "R" behind his name to a "scarlet letter" in this year's elections.

He suggested President Bush has lost his way and the American people are as frustrated as he is with it:

"In 2001, we were attacked and the president is on the ground, on a mound with his arm around the fireman, symbol of America. In Katrina, the president is at 30,000 feet in an airplane looking down at people dying, living on a bridge. And that disconnect, I think, sums up, for me at least, the frustration that Americans feel."