Michael Steele's First Big Oops!

Michael, Michael, Michael...why do you fall for the media baiting:

In an interview on CNN with D.L. Hughley, Steele assured that he, not Limbaugh, was in charge of the party before saying that he wanted to put the right-wing talker “into context.”

“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” Steele said. “Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes it’s incendiary, yes it’s ugly.”

Steele’s comments, first noticed by NBC producer Chris Donovan, are sure to rankle Limbaugh in part because they validate the liberal critique of the conservative force: that he’s merely an “entertainer.”

This is somewhat surprising, both from the standpoint that Steele should know better as a Republican, and from the standpoint that Rush went out of his way to defend Steele when he was running for the Senate in Maryland. He even brought him on the show a time or two.

After Rush's first address to the nation on Saturday the mainstream media went into full damage control mode as they sought to find Republicans who would say they didn't agree with Rush or who would somehow otherwise repudiated him. Eric Cantor got sucked into this too.

Repudiating the most cogent voice for conservatism in America today will not help Republicans win in the future. The attacks by Obama, Rahm Emanuel and the media on Rush are designed to make any criticism of Obama and his policies unacceptable and perhaps even racist, and if they can get Republicans to agree with them, they've won the war.

Rush had a very simple response on his show today. Since some prominent GOP members do not agree with Rush that he hopes Obama fails, Rush asked them to explain which policies of Obama they want to succeed? Nationalized health care? Higher taxes? Hugely expanded government? End of welfare reform? Continued declines in the stock market and shrinking 401k balancs? He even offered them time on his show to explain how the success of Obama's policies will be good for America.

Brilliant response.

So far, no takers.

From what I'm hearing Steele and the RNC are getting an earful today from outraged conservatives. He also got an earful from Rush in the third hour of the show, and Michelle Malkin gently upbraided him on her blog. The RNC made the mistake of disregarding conservative principles in the last couple of elections. This isn't going to help and Steele better work to fix it...quickly. The GOP's a mess.

Of course, Obama and crowd are secretly loving this. They want nothing more than for the GOP to sink into a mire of intramural squabbles. Everybody needs to start singing from the same sheet music.

UPDATE: Excerpt from Rush's show:

"I’m not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don’t want to be,” Rush said. “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.”

Rush then mocked those who have criticized him for saying he wants Obama to fail, and directly challenged them to choose: You either want Obama to succeed or fail at his goal of dismantling conservatism.

“So send those fundraising requests out,” Rush said in a sneering tone, in an apparent reference to Steele, adding: “Make sure you say, `We want Obama to succeed.’ So people understand your compassion.”

“Republicans and conservatives are sick and tired of being talked down to, they’re sick and tired of being lectured to,” Rush continued. “And until you show some understanding and respect for who they are, you’re gonna have a tough time rebuilding your party.”

UPDATE: Steele apologizes. That didn't take long. Note to Rosie O'Donnell - it looks like fire does melt Steele.