Conservatives draw battle lines over Rush Limbaugh
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RNC chief Steele: "Limbaugh is more a performer than GOP leader"
* NEW: Limbaugh says Steele appears to back president, House speaker
* Steele says he, not Rush Limbaugh, is "the de facto leader of the Republican Party"
* Limbaugh's focus is entertainment, he said. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly"
* Limbaugh backs earlier comments in which he said he hoped president failed
edition.cnn.com
Conservatives draw battle lines over Rush Limbaugh
blogs.usatoday.com
The Conservative Political Action Conference -- which The New York Times calls a kind of Woodstock for conservatives -- ended over the weekend with Mitt Romney winning a straw poll and Rush Limbaugh delivering a rousing finale.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and 2008 also-ran, won 20% of the vote in the informal contest. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal trailed with 14%, followed by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Texas Rep. Ron Paul tied at 13%. (Last year, Romney withdrew from the presidential race at CPAC).
Redstate.com has a full report on the weekend here, including a rave review of Limbaugh's speech. Townhall's Hugh Hewitt discusses the speech here. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday that Limbaugh is the leader of the GOP. The Washington Times writes about it here.
Limbaugh has a video and transcript of what he calls his "first televised address to the nation" linked from his homepage.
Update at 1 p.m. ET: Hmmm. Republican Party chairman Michael Steele takes on Limbaugh:
politico.com
Update at 2:30 p.m.: So does conservative David Frum:
newmajority.com
In a tough blog post, he compares President Obama -- whom he says appears responsible, disciplined, concerned, never angry -- with Limbaugh: "A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as 'losers.' With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence." He says that Limbaugh "cannot be allowed to be the public face" of the GOP.
We've adjusted our headline to reflect the intra-GOP battle developing over Limbaugh.
Update at 2:45 p.m. ET: Conservative John Hawkins at Pajamas Media has different ideas about where Rush went astray at CPAC:
newmajority.com
Update at 3 p.m. ET: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says Limbaugh wishes and hopes for economic failure. USA TODAY's Mark Memmott has quotes and video at The Oval:
content.usatoday.com
Update 3:50 p.m. ET: The Atlantic's Chris Good analyzes what he calls Steele's nuanced response to Limbaugh, and House GOP Whip Eric Cantor's more clear-cut rejection:
politics.theatlantic.com
Update at 4:40 p.m. ET: And Limbaugh hits back at Steele in what ABC News calls a 20-minute diatribe, telling him to "go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do."
blogs.abcnews.com
Posted by Jill Lawrence at 12:31 PM/ET, March 02, 2009 in Media, Presidential election, 2012, Republicans | |
