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Steele to Rush: I'm sorry
The Politico ^ | March 2, 2009 | Mike Allen

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.”


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: apology; cpac; halfassedapologies; inarticulate; kenblackwell; leadership; liarliar; limbaugh; michaelsteele; pantsonfire; rinopurge; rnc; rncchairman; rush; rushlimbaugh; steele; talkradio; uncletom; waronrush
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To: Cedric
Actually, the last thing the GOP conservatives need at this time is to destroy the few media supporters they have.
201 posted on 03/02/2009 4:18:05 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (I want Obama to fail.)
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To: Dan Nunn

Mr. Steele,

First you didn’t discipline Specter, Snowe and Collins and shove them out the door - inexcusable and a certain sign that your leadership is all about the same ol’ same ol’.

Secondly, you diss the single biggest reason, since Reagan, that there is a conservative movement. Here’s a clue - Gingrich and whoever else might like to think they are ‘leading’ conservatism don’t hold a candle to Rush.

Third, the single biggest reason that Rush has the popularity, power and influence that he does is that he is actually articulating what conservatives already think and, by doing so, has single-handedly expanded conservatism beyond ANYTHING the pubbie party has done since RR.

Get a clue and join us - that, or take a hike.


202 posted on 03/02/2009 4:19:08 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth (Actually, it all started back in Mayberry. Helen Crump was a traveler and Floyd, well, you know...)
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To: arasina
It wasn’t “running his mouth” that got him 17 standing ovations

Yeah it was.

He stood there and talked.

Did you see him do something else?

203 posted on 03/02/2009 4:19:45 PM PST by humblegunner (Where my PIE at, fool?)
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To: arasina
I have read humblebummers remarks on other threads. He is not worth responding to and has lots to humble about.....Rush was on fire at CPAC and today.....
204 posted on 03/02/2009 4:21:16 PM PST by goat granny
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To: Dan Nunn

Michael Steele - Dim Bulb.

Perfect fit for Chairman of the Stoopid Party


205 posted on 03/02/2009 4:21:41 PM PST by don-o (My son, Ben - Marine Private First Class - 1/16/09 - Parris Island, SC)
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To: ari-freedom

> he still had to prove himself after the hip hop nonsense. This wasn’t it.

Yeah, not Steele’s finest hour. Also, he’s agreed to go on the faux conservative Colbert Report for a “rap battle”. Words fail me. Now we are clowns dancing to the Dim tune? Why or why do they do this?? It’s sad and appalling. Our leaders. Barf.


206 posted on 03/02/2009 4:21:52 PM PST by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: Dan Nunn
Is he sorry for what he said, how it was interpreted, or that his words got so much attention?

I'll take what's behind door number 3, Monty...


207 posted on 03/02/2009 4:22:02 PM PST by COBOL2Java (Obamanation: an imploding administration headed by a clueless schmuck, with McCain as his Kowakian)
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To: Dan Nunn
“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.”

Misleading title.Steele never said "sorry", or apologized in any other way, IMHO.

208 posted on 03/02/2009 4:22:07 PM PST by airborne (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness! Enjoy it while you can!)
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To: Dan Nunn

Steele used the word “UGLY” in regards to Rush’s speech.
In my opinion, a word like that doesn’t just SLIP out. This is what Steele really believes, when he’s chillin’ wit his homies. It’s unforgiveable. Steele needs to be OUSTED for this party to move forward.


209 posted on 03/02/2009 4:22:46 PM PST by Beloved Levinite (R.I.P. My Beautiful America - Land of the Free & Home of the Brave - 20 January 2009)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Rush started the fight.

He knew what he was doing.

He can take it.


210 posted on 03/02/2009 4:23:11 PM PST by Cedric
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i just unsubscribed to the RNC e-mails tonight.

Appropriately the e-mail from RNC today was from Steele

Bye~Bye

I’m a Conservative!
(small libertarian...lol)


211 posted on 03/02/2009 4:23:51 PM PST by libertarian27 (Never has so many been owed so much by so few)
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To: Dan Nunn

Calling Rush “an entertainer” was a deliberate choice of words. He realizes his mistake, but he’s gonna have to work much harder for me to trust him.

Don’t mess with Rush Michael . . . you’re gonna lose.


212 posted on 03/02/2009 4:23:55 PM PST by adc (Rush '12All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently oppos)
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To: Sarah Barracuda
The whole vid..

Yep that's right. See for yourself....HERE.. the NAZI comment occurs around the 2:20 mark.

213 posted on 03/02/2009 4:24:51 PM PST by topfile
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To: w1andsodidwe

I forget where I saw it (will Google later) but DC was once described as a sweaty, swampy, dreary Southern town.

I love the South but I have to agree with that assessment.


214 posted on 03/02/2009 4:25:17 PM PST by relictele
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To: Cedric
He can take it.

He can, but he obviously doesn't suffer backstabbers lightly. He's not the typical gelding Republican.

215 posted on 03/02/2009 4:25:17 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (I want Obama to fail.)
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To: humblegunner
I have yet to be able equate running his mouth with leadership.

When you get tired of playing with your "gun," and decide to learn something, ask the "Class of '94" about his leadership.

216 posted on 03/02/2009 4:25:29 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Dan Nunn
Due to this "revelation" I could never trust, NOR WILL I SUPPORT any party with Steel at the TOP.

BE GONE, Chairman Steele!

217 posted on 03/02/2009 4:25:35 PM PST by Beloved Levinite (R.I.P. My Beautiful America - Land of the Free & Home of the Brave - 20 January 2009)
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To: Dan Nunn

Michael Steele...RESIGN!!


218 posted on 03/02/2009 4:25:37 PM PST by NoMarxist2010 (Rush: I hope he fails meant Rush wants Obama's SOCIALISTIC PROGRAMS to fail.)
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To: indthkr
Rush Limbaugh has been known to make a lot of good points on his show, and I'd be the first to defend his right to have his show, but at the end of the day, the guy has NO operational responsibility for the functioning of the RNC, or America for that matter.

Limbaugh at this point is basically just a Radio Personality and Entertainer. When the day comes where Limbaugh is measured by something other than selling ad space, maybe I'll take him more seriously.


Though not operationally responsible for any government or civilian positions, Rush has meant more to the conservative cause than any republican or conservative in the last 30 years, other than Reagan. There have been thousands of republicans who have been elected to positions of responsibility who have not come even close to the influence that Limbaugh exerts on conservatism.

As such, he is a leader. He has more followers than any one person in any leadership position right now when it comes to the republicans.

Though he functions as a "radio personality" and an "entertainer", his influence on republicans far surpasses any that Steele or any republican could hope for. He speaks about the conservative cause and understands it a lot better than any one in a visible position right now, and that includes Steele or any elected "republican" official.

If any republican elected official, or "selected" official (such as Steele), wants to trash or disown Rush, then they are in effect also disowning the conservative cause. I would rather follow a Limbaugh than a Steele who would compromise his conservatism for minor gains in political correctness or diplomacy.
219 posted on 03/02/2009 4:26:46 PM PST by adorno
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To: Dan Nunn
Frankly: Why is this nonsense an issue?

Yes, Limbaugh is an entertainer, yes, he is incendiary, because that's what earns him his dinero. Its his role and he plays it to near-perfection. Of course he wouldn't want to be chairman of the Republican party - why have your pay cut?

Do I sometimes enjoy listening to Rush. Sure. Would I vote for him? Probably not. The "yes, it's ugly"-part, ok that one was unnecessary. But Rush's attempt to seperate the Republican party from Republicans per se ("harakiri"), is just as much an insult to those who got out the vote last year. (Ok, when it comes to economic policy, he of course is right with the term "failure").

Why is this breaking news?
220 posted on 03/02/2009 4:27:14 PM PST by wolf78 (Cranky Libertarian - equal opportunity offender)
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