Michael Steele speaks truth to power

I'm not really sure what to make of this video that has just surfaced of Michael Steele at a fundraiser in Connecticut talking about the Afghanistan war.

It's unequivocal: Steele says that the war was one of Obama's choosing, that we shouldn't be there, and -- crucially -- that history teaches us it's probably a lost cause. That puts him at odds with the entire GOP and many Dems. It's the must-watch video of the morning:

Steele starts off with a standard GOP talking point: That Stanley McChrystal's barbed comments about members of the administration show "frustration" on the part of military leaders towards Obama. But then he seems to veer off in an odd direction:

"Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in."... "It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan."

Let me have a stab at guessing what happened here. I say Steele initially meant to say that the Afghan war wasn't a war of our choosing because we were attacked on September 11th, forcing us to invade. But that came out all wrong because he garbled it by mixing it with an attack on Obama.

Next, Steele tried to attack Obama by pointing out that during the campaign he insulated himself against charges that he's a dove by calling for a ramp up in Afghanistan. Fair enough. But then he compounded the mess by slipping into a kind of auto-pilot mode where he just started criticizing the Afghan war as a disaster and unwinnable because it's now Obama's war. Result: Steele said that Obama chose this war, that we shouldn't be there, and we now can't win.

Anyone got a better explanation?

UPDATE, 10:44 a.m.: RNC spokesman Doug Heye clarifies: