Steele: Rush Isn't The GOP's Leader -- He's An Entertainer.

Steele might claim that Rush is not the leader of the Republicans, but that's not how it looked at CPAC where he was better received than even Ronald Reagan was.

I understand why Steele is keen to portray Rush as just, "an entertainer", as that implies that his hate filled rhetoric is not to be taken seriously.

The problem for Steele is that many in the GOP do take his rhetoric seriously, indeed they think if more Republicans behaved as Rush did that they would not have lost the last election.

Here is how Andrew Breitbart perceived Rush Limbaugh's most recent speech to CPAC:

It was an address that could have altered the election had it been delivered early last fall by any Republican presidential candidate.

Steele doesn't seem to understand that he is not perceived as the public face of conservatism, as nothing he does elicits anything like the excitement generated by Limbaugh, Coulter and others.

Limbaugh and Coulter currently speak to the heart of Republicanism, as what's left at it's core is a deluded, angry mob. Steele is also implying that, as an entertainer, Rush isn't to be taken too seriously, but that's simply wrong.

Rush means every word that he says. And so do the baying crowds which adore him.

Steele might delude himself into believing that he and Jindal are the new faces of Republicanism, but neither of those two are actually exciting the base. It remains as rabid as it was as at the last Sarah Palin rallies. And Rush and Coulter continue to understand that this rabid mob wish to be fed the raw meat which they are both happy to supply.

UPDATE:

This is hysterical. One of the reasons so many of us say that Rush is the public face of Republicanism is the fact that any Republican who crosses him has to immediately offer an apology and genuflect in front of him. What has Steel done after making these remarks? He's only gone and apologised to Limbaugh:

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.”

So, as he doesn't want to "diminish his leadership" can we finally agree that Rush is leading them?

UPDATE II:



Here is Rush giving Steele a public spanking for daring to contradict him.

UPDATE III:



Here Rahm Emanuel states the obvious. It's Limbaugh who Republicans have to apologise to if they annoy him in any way.

Tags: Steele, Limbaugh, CPAC, Republicans