I heard this live on the Curtis Sliwa show on WABC talk radio Wednesday night so I can confirm the veracity of the Politico story.

Here’s a few transcript excerpts of the exchange between the host, Sliwa, and RNC Chair, Michael Steele.  Bold italics is mine for emphasis:

SLIWA: Now, using a little bit of that street terminology, are you giving him any Slum love, Michael?

STEELE: I love it. (inaudible) … some slum love out to my buddy. Gov. Bobby Jindal is doing a friggin’ awesome job in his state. He’s really turned around on some core principles — like hey, government ought not be corrupt. The good stuff … the easy stuff.

…………………………

SLIWA: When you used the hip-hop vernacular, man, Barack Obama has bling bling in this stimulus package, you got people’s attention.

STEELE: Absolutely. There’s a lot of bling bling — the bling bling’s got bling bling in this package. That’s how bad it is.

……………………….

On Meghan McCain (John McCain’s daughter) saying Michael Steele’s “hip-hop” strategy won’t work:

STEELE: I would think that she would understand what i meant when i used the term hip-hop. I wasn’t talking literally the music industry — Ludacris or Snoop Dog becoming Republicans. Look — I’m not stupid I was born in DC on 8th Street. I know what’s up. I know what time it is. I used to hang out in Brooklyn and in the Bronx as a teenager. I know what the real world is like.

……………………….

SLIWA: I gotta call for a little Jay-Z play to give you a little hand here — so that you can go out with that (Jay-Z music playing).

STEELE: There you go, playa.

……………………….

This is how the the leader of the GOP speaks?  I thought I was listening to an episode of the “Flavor of Love” when I first heard it.
 
Granted he’s being egged on by streetwise Sliwa, but come on…..playa, bling-bling…. friggin’???  Friggin’ is slang for a  profane act.
 
If the GOP does make a comeback in 2010 or 2012, it will be a function of Obama being an unmitigated disaster.   And if it does happen, it will be in spite of Michael Steele’s dumb ‘outreach’ ideas and his stupid hood-rat vocabulary.