Posted on 03/02/2009 3:20:29 PM PST by Dan Nunn
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.”
“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”
The dust-up comes at a time when top Democrats are trying to make Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party, in part by using ads funded by labor. Americans United for Change sent a fund-raising e-mail Monday that begins: “The Republican Party has turned into the Rush Limbaugh Party.”
Steele told CNN host D.L. Hughley in an interview aired Saturday night: “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh — his whole thing is entertainment. He has this incendiary — yes, it's ugly.”
Steele, who won a hard-fought chairman's race on Jan. 30, told Politico he telephoned Limbaugh after his show on Monday afternoon and hoped that they would connect soon.
“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” Steele said. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not."
“I’m not going to engage these guys and sit back and provide them the popcorn for a fight between me and Rush Limbaugh,” Steele added. “No such thing is going to happen. … I wasn’t trying to slam him or anything.”
On Monday’s show, Limbaugh reacted both to the comment and to the assertion on CBS’s “Face the Nation” by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that the radio host is “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.”
Limbaugh said: “I'm not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don't want to be. I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that it's in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it's in, I would quit. I might get out the hari-kari knife because I would have presided over a failure that is embarrassing to the Republicans and conservatives who have supported it and invested in it all these years.”
On the RushLimbaugh.com home page, the transcript is labeled: “A Few Words for Michael Steele.”
In the interview with Politico, Steele called Limbaugh “a very valuable conservative voice for our party.”
“He brings a very important message to the American people to wake up and pay attention to what the administration is doing," Steele said. "Number two, there are those out there who want to look at what he’s saying as incendiary and divisive and ugly. That’s what I was trying to say. It didn’t come out that way. … He does what he does best, which is provoke: He provokes thought, he provokes the left. And they’re clearly the ones who are most excited about him.”
Asked if he planned to apologize, Steele said: “I wasn’t trying to offend anybody. So, yeah, if he’s offended, I’d say: Look, I’m not in the business of hurting people’s feelings here. … My job is to try to bring us all together.”
Michael Steele: “FUBAR!!!”
Too damn late, Steele. Too damn late.
Is he sorry for what he said, how it was interpreted, or that his words got so much attention?
TALK IS CHEAP, MR. STEELE. LEAD, or GET OUT OF THE WAY!
Nobody believed me.. Now look
That’s fine with me. My problem isn’t what he thinks of a talk show host. My problem with him is that he favors gun control and affirmative action. That’s much more important than what he thinks of a radio personality.
Duh!
A couple of sips of that Potomac and they lose their minds regardless of party!
FUMS
How about repudiate Hugley’s racist remarks to you about the Republican party that everyone, including you, are blowing off?
Will we ever get strong conservatives to represent us again? Ever??
Thanks Steele....You enjoying your tea with Obama?
He indeed has a voice.
I have yet to be able equate running his mouth with leadership.
I’m sorry because I don’t trust Steele now. He talks out of both sides of his mouth.
I read on Michelle Malkins site how Steele agreed with Hugley about how the GOP Convention looked like “Nazi Germany” yeah Michael, how can you sit there and nod your head when that kind of crap is spewed
Rush gets insulted all the time - it’s the revelation of Mr. Steele’s sincere opinion that is the problem.
At least it was a start. Now he needs to show action and prove himself. He better do it right now.
Steele has urgently to focus on winning on elections. He has his work cut out... this feud isn’t going to help anyone but the Dems and I hope we get over this. Lesson for everyone in the RNC: you don’t attack your base!
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