Steele needed to go, and his actions after leaving office, trashing the party for money, does not disabuse me of that notion.
His opponents in 2011 left much to be desired though. Rince, Maria CINO....
IIRC Rince was regarded as perhaps the least bad choice.
I remember saying at the time that incumbent Michael Steele was nothing to write home about, but he was the "least bad" option given how awful the alternatives were. The silly named "Reince Prebius" was a non-starter for me after scumbag combiner Pat Brady endorsed him.
Prebius has proven to be worse than Steele, so I was right all along. The "ANYONE but the incumbent" crowd was proven wrong -- not that they will ever concede that fact.