Michael Steele vs. Rush Limbaugh, steel cage match
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, rejecting an observation that Rush Limbaugh had become the de factor leader of the Republican Party and insisting that he, Steele, led the party:
“He’s an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh — his whole thing is just entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly.”
To which Limbaugh responds (in only a portion of of his rant):
“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 a 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…
When you send those fundraising requests out, Mr. Steele, make sure you say, we — we — we want Obama to succeed. So people understand your compassion. Republicans, conservatives are sick and tired of being talked down to, sick and tired of being lectured to. And until you show some understanding and respect for who they are, you’re going to have a tough time rebuilding your party.”
UPDATE: Man of Steele taps out.
“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership….
“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking. 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.”
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123 comments Add your comment
I Report/ You Whine
March 2nd, 2009
5:25 pm
Ditto, Mr. Limbaugh.
You da man.
CommunistAJC
March 2nd, 2009
5:34 pm
Rush is right. The Republican party is in shambles. Much like the democrat party 5 years ago. No leadership and they’ve abandoned their conservative principles. Republicans acted like democrats with spending and conservatives left. Jay Bookman and other pundits have stated that the party needs to be more moderate. If thats the case then Mccain would have won. He is a moderate. Anyway, being moderate doesn’t really do anything except lose parties. No one has won the presidency by being moderate. Obama Hussein is certainly not a moderate.
cubalibre
March 2nd, 2009
5:34 pm
Attaboy, Rush– YOU show ‘em who’s really boss of the GOP! No doubt, Steele will soon be making his mea culpas to The Fat One with record speed, maybe even beating out our own dear Gingrey’s backtracking time. The more Limburger blathers, the more these Repube idiots tumble over themselves to tongue-bathe his adipose ar$e. If they keep it up, they’re pretty much going to doom their party to the lunatic fringe, if they haven’t already.
AmVet
March 2nd, 2009
5:42 pm
Too funny.
But really, who cares?
Just like the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, they had their 12 year run…
CommunistAJC
March 2nd, 2009
5:43 pm
Bookman,
Let’s all get one thing straight. Rush has more credibility and leadership than anyone in the republican party. Even though he doesn’t make policy he still commands respect. I mean, this guy gets calls from former presidents and vice presidents. He doesn’t call them. They call him.
Taxpayer
March 2nd, 2009
5:46 pm
Oh no, Jay. Not another Republican (Steele) running around mumbling, I am relevant, I AM relevant, I AM Relevant, no matter what our leader, Rush, thinks. Perhaps, he’ll apologize to Rush and get back in his good graces soon.
CommunistAJC
March 2nd, 2009
5:46 pm
AmVet,
you wrote: But really, who cares?
Exactly, if Rush is a non factor like every single democrat and liberal says he is then why do people like Jay Bookman write about him 2-3 times a week or even twice a day?
I Report/ You Whine
March 2nd, 2009
5:47 pm
I remember the RNC sent me a contribution request a few years back, it was right before Bushie started his little amnesty push, I wrote them back that I would love to give them some money but right now it was all tied up because I had to pay for my kid’s private school, on account of all the illegal aliens non taxpayers that were all piled up on my neighborhood public school.
Back then, the Republicans saw these squatters as “votes,” same as the democrats always have.
What Steele is doing is sacrificing Conservatives on the altar of an expanded voter base, I guess he didn’t get the data showing that 4 million of us sat out of the elections in 2008.
Some of us would rather keep our principles than win an election.
Mr. Steele: Did you not notice how president One Term campaigned as a Conservative so that he could win the election?
Have you not heard of all the new “blue dog” democrats in the US Congress?
Why are you trying to get in good with the libs while they try to get in good with Conservatives?
You cannot see the country fleeing from liberalism?
They did not vote for what these democrats are doing, and the democrats will find this out the hard way, why do you want to be associated with this?
Are you a Conservative or not?
Or are you just a liar like any other democrat?
Taxpayer
March 2nd, 2009
5:54 pm
Rush needs to understand that he is going to have to make his policies known to his minions eventually. Otherwise, people like Steele will simply continue to embarrass themselves and Rush will continue to call them on the carpet — on their knees — to beg for his forgiveness. It could all be avoided if Rush would only tell those idiots, such as Steele, what they are supposed to think on all the key issues that Republican tax payers are concerned about. What is so hard about that.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
5:55 pm
Jesus.
An overweight, pill popping, thrice divorced pedophile gets “calls” from former presidents and vp’s, asking for advice.
Boxers or briefs, Rush?
Christ.
CommunistAJC
March 2nd, 2009
5:57 pm
Midori,
when did Rush become a pedophile? I must have missed that one.
Ted
March 2nd, 2009
6:02 pm
While of course the more Rush bloviates, the more he undermines his own party, I think for the good of the entire country, conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican, we’d all be better off without him. C’mon, Rush, where’s that drug overdose or massive heart attack you’ve been working towards? Now is the time, friend.
3/2/09 Thumbs down of the Day - Michael Steele | GadgetGumbo
March 2nd, 2009
6:02 pm
[...] glynjeffries on Mar.02, 2009, under Thumbs Down of the Day Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, rejecting an observation that Rush Limbaugh h… “He’s an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh — his whole thing is just entertainment. Yes, it’s [...]
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:03 pm
Midori
You’re reverting….
Observer
March 2nd, 2009
6:04 pm
As discussed earlier, the only people who claim that Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the conservative cause are liberals. I don’t get it.
That’s like saying Cynthia McKinney is the leader of the liberal cause.
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:04 pm
Midori
Hit ‘enter’ instead of ‘caps’ shoulda read
You’re reverting…
Hug time!
AmVet
March 2nd, 2009
6:05 pm
Entertainment, you McCarthyite.
Watching people screw up and cr@p all over themselves is enormously amusing! (Sorry, don’t shoot the messenger.)
Hes not relevant at all, except to you reactionaries and intransigent, hyper-partisan faux conservatives.
How else can you explain this fact — in the past two national elections yours and HeadRush’s boys have gotten humiliated to the tune of 61 – 4?
YOWZERS!
That qualifies as back to back annihilations, wouldn’t you say?
And yet the reality-challenged like you and Head Rush think Einstein was mistaken when he said “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
You and he simply refuse to see there was a sea change in this nation the past few years.
Most rational people are terrified at the prospect of another bungling BushCo “conservative” in the White House. (Apparently you guys didn’t get the memo. And it wouldn’t have helped if you did, as you have no earthly idea what conservatism is and how this repudiated ideology of the past thirty years is damned near its antithesis.)
How else do you explain Lurch Romney, 9/11! Rudy and Hucksterbee winning at circle-jerks like the recent CPAC? That’s not more BushCo???
No worries commie, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you…
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:06 pm
reverting to “what”, Paul?
it’s common knowledge that Pigboy was busted on a return trip from an overseas trip with Viagra that wasn’t prescribed to him –
from a place reknown for visits from American men to have sex with little boys.
Is that the kind of “reverting” you’re referring to, Paul?
CommunistAJC
March 2nd, 2009
6:09 pm
Midori,
it’s not nice to assume. You’d get angry if I said Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster, right? I mean, Bill Clinton did have “relations” with a teenager.
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:10 pm
Observer
May I suggest Olberman for the Liberal side? He’s a more similar example. From what I’ve read, Rush has more original thoughts. Plus he gets quoted waaaay more. But they both say some pretty incendiary stuff. ‘Cept, Rush admits it when he’s wrong. I think. I know that’s not the case with Olberman.
Plus, they both like sports!
Taxpayer
March 2nd, 2009
6:11 pm
By the way, who is going to correct those documents that Rush discovered those errors in. During his much-discussed keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Rush Limbaugh accused Barack Obama of pursuing the “bastardization of the U.S. Constitution.” It was one of the more politically acidic notes in a speech defined by rambling political assaults. But the conservative talk show host wasn’t exactly standing on firm footing. Just a few moments earlier he himself had actually — not theoretically — “bastardized” the Constitution by confusing it with the Declaration of Independence.
AmVet
March 2nd, 2009
6:13 pm
Hi Paul,
I’ve never heard Olbermann’s political shtick.
I only remember he was a riot on ESPN.
And as far as HeadRush and sports, one has to wonder how many Donovan McNabb jersey were sent to him.
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:13 pm
Midori
I thought you and Mrs. G were setting the tone for an enlightened lovefest?
Don’t know where he was, but if anyone who visits, say, Thailand, is a pedo… or anyone who uses Viagra that isn’t prescribed…
Hey! Wait just a goldurned minute! You’re about to shut down the only successful Taliban pacification program we’ve come up with!!! And I bet you wanna prosecute the CIA agents who ‘prescribed’ the meds, too!!!
Dang libruls!!!!
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:15 pm
commie,
I’ve noticed that you love to keep repeating the “Hillary killed Vince Foster” lie.
However, it is a matter of fact that Pigboy was busted with Viagara, returning from an all-male junket.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0706062rush1.html
Oh yeah – here’s a hug for Paul.
Cherokee
March 2nd, 2009
6:16 pm
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0706062rush1.html
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/38192/
yeah, Paul, Rush is a pedophile.
Taxpayer
March 2nd, 2009
6:17 pm
Paul,
For all we know, Viagra might be illegal in Afghanistan. Off with the violator’s, well, we won’t go there.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:18 pm
another hug for Paul!!!
he’s just sooooo hug-able!!
Observer
March 2nd, 2009
6:18 pm
The problem with the Republican Party is they ceased to be conservative under George Bush. They were elected with the promise of fiscal constraint and smaller government and then proceeded to act like the Democrats they were elected to replace. They doubled the size of government and spent money faster than my wife after the bonus check arrives (God, I’m glad she doesn’t read this blog). It was a classic example of bait and switch.
Now, the people have spoken again and this time it’s the Democrats that aren’t listening. They are making the same mistakes as the Republicans before them and in two years, when the American voters speak again, the Democrats will be very disappointed.
After the 2010 mid-term elections, it will be funny to watch how they blame their lost seats on their favorite whipping boy, George Bush.
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:19 pm
Hey AmVet
Olberman is another one of those cable political entertainers some people take as if it were real political commentary. Stewart pulls it off. So does Colbert. But they’re on COMEDY CENTRAL, for pete’s sake. Trouble I have with him, and others like him, is the over the top rhetoric, especially when he goes into his Nazi mode. It gets repeated. And minimizes the evil done by… Nazis and obscures the real issues regarding those with whom he takes issue.
Some people should stick with sports. But everybody has something relevant to say about politics. //sarc//
I wonder if the jerseys were washed first…
getalife
March 2nd, 2009
6:20 pm
Oh it’s on.
Will Steele cower like the Ga. wingnut and call rush begging for forgiveness?
I Report/ You Whine
March 2nd, 2009
6:22 pm
Hitler, a “great leader” in Bookman’s eyes, blamed Poland for aggression against Germany as an excuse to start World War 2 and slaughter 6 million Jews.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge blamed the “educated” class as an excuse to kill 2 million Cambodians.
Joseph Stalin purged ‘opportunists’ and ‘counter-revolutionary infiltrators’ as a reason to kill tens of millions of Russians.
The democrat party now is blaming Rush Limbaugh as a reason to destroy the United States of America.
pinkos are sick little people, aren’t they?
getalife
March 2nd, 2009
6:22 pm
And he does:
“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.”
Too funny.
The Root of Rush's Anger
March 2nd, 2009
6:25 pm
Good find, Midori. I imagine that most of Rush’s (and his sheep) anger comes from being “limp-d*cked”.
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:27 pm
Cherokee
Didn’t see anything in the link about kids. Which is what pedo refers to. Yeah, he was off with some guys in the Dominican Republic. Doesn’t mean he was with gay guys. So he goes there and hires some prostitutes? Try that here and the media’s all over him.
I really don’t care about peoples’ sex lives. Especially when they haven’t made sex an issue. Maybe he has – but if he’s restricted it to politicians of either party and their hypocricy, then, well, oh heck, I really don’t care.
Hey Midori!
That’s the spirit!
getalife
March 2nd, 2009
6:27 pm
Well, his spine is not made of Steele.
Bow down and apologize to a radio personality.
Pathetic.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:28 pm
Rush is treating Steele just like Newt treated J. C. Watts – with ABSOLUTELY no respect.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:29 pm
Paul,
where the he-ll is my recipe you promised the other day?
no more hugs until you deliver!!!
Paul
March 2nd, 2009
6:36 pm
getalife
[[Well, his spine is not made of Steele.]]
You’re really on a roll! Good one!
Midori,
Hey! I offered you a suggestion and asked if you were interested and you SNUBBED me! Wandered off the boards without so much as a backwards glance. Left me here with nothing to do but talk BSG with Bosch.
How’s that for a first-rate whine? Maybe I can get someone to yell “stop whining!” and Jay’ll ban them!
Hmmmm. I think I offered up a grilled pork with a balsamic cherry glaze. Interested?
Taxpayer
March 2nd, 2009
6:36 pm
Well, abortion shouldn’t be an issue with Rush.
I Report/ You Whine
March 2nd, 2009
6:37 pm
The small, childish, one term White House issues a challenge to a radio personality, hahaha-
“Do they want to see the president’s economic agenda fail? You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend.”-Moron Gibbs
Sounds like you got the dimwits worried El Rushbo.
You da man!
Now, let’s listen to the adults-
Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said Gibbs was trying to create a distraction by responding to Limbaugh.
“What we are seeing is a desperate attempt by Democrats to distract attention away from a multi-trillion dollar spending spree taking place in Washington,” Ferrier said. “Creating a boogeyman to change the subject does nothing to alter the fact that there are 9,000 earmarks in the omnibus spending bill, that the economic stimulus bill contained no Republican input or that their budget would increase taxes on all Americans.”
Poor wittle democrats, shadow boxing with a straw man.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:39 pm
that sounds yummy, Paul.
Yes, I am very interested.
thanks
CommunistAJC
March 2nd, 2009
6:39 pm
Midori,
that smoking gun article doesn’t say anything about little boys. I only brought up Hillary because I needed to throw a conspiracy theory back at you.
bob
March 2nd, 2009
6:44 pm
As an independent, what scares the crap out of me is that Limburger is every bit the entertainer that Jesse ‘the bod’ Ventura was during his ‘bad guy’ years. And look what happened in Minnesodah!
RW-(the original)
March 2nd, 2009
6:45 pm
Geez, I thought the elevator kept leaving me on the wrong floor but it really is more obsessive raving by an opinion writer over an opinion talker.
Jay B. I’m starting to see why your banning stick gets all twitchy when people wander off topic. Once somebody gets in your head they’ve taken you over for weeks. Your Palin rants will be a tough record to break though. Good luck!
GodHatesTrash, Superstar
March 2nd, 2009
6:47 pm
Steel cage match?
Those two sacks of goo? More like a hissy fit, with los of whinin’ and cryin’.
These clowns are pathetic.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:49 pm
Hi Sir Trash
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:50 pm
Steele to Rush: I’m sorry
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.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19517.html
well, that didn’t take long!!!
jasper
March 2nd, 2009
6:54 pm
Gotta give credit to you neosocialists on this one. First Obama declares war on Limbaugh and the rest of you toadies follow suit. Cast Rush as the de facto leader, not factor JAY, and pick fights in the press with him and the true GOP leadership. It creates a great diversion and in the meantime Obama spends us into oblivion.
Limbaugh’s an easy target, and will take the bait everytime, becuase the only thing bigger than his ego is his pompous arse. GOP leadership needs to grow a pair.
Midori
March 2nd, 2009
6:57 pm
Jasper – war was declared, but not by us.
Pigboy has been throwing down (and up) gauntlets for some time now.
And yes – he “is” an easy target.
How on Earth could one miss such a huge target?
I Report/ You Whine
March 2nd, 2009
7:01 pm
A little exercise to show you how truly foolish and naive liberals really are-
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One in every 31 U.S. adults is in the corrections system, which includes jail, prison, probation and supervision, —->more than double the rate of a quarter century ago<—-, according to a report released on Monday by the Pew Center on the States.
More than a quarter of a century ago the murder rate was .0001 in the United States.
Today it is .00005, exactly…………….half.
duh