Is Rush Limbaugh the Voice of the GOP?

(March 3) -- In political circles, all eyes seem to be trained on Rush Limbaugh these days. Democrats are working hard to tie the conservative radio talk show host to the Republican Party's policies. And Republicans seem unable to distance themselves from him, even though some are clearly uncomfortable with his message.

The storm around Limbaugh has its roots in comments he made during the transition of power at the White House. Days before President Barack Obama took office, Limbaugh told his listeners that he hoped Obama would fail. (Here's the transcript of that Jan. 16 broadcast.) Soon after Obama was sworn in, Limbaugh declared that new president was "obviously more frightened of me" than he was of Republican congressional leaders.

The latest development in this ongoing controversy is the spectacle that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele created over the weekend. In an interview on CNN on Saturday night, Steele blasted Limbaugh's rhetoric as "incendiary" and "ugly." "Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment," Steele said. You can watch his comments below:

Limbaugh fired back at Steele on his radio program Monday. "Why do you claim you lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it that President Obama succeeds?" he said. "...If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it's in, I would quit."

That led Steele to apologize late Monday, saying he regretted that the Limbaugh kerfuffle "helped the Democrats in Washington to take the focus, even for one minute, off of their irresponsible expansion of government." He also called Limbaugh a "national conservative leader." For a roundup on their sparring, check out this report by The Associated Press.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a rising GOP star, told CNN's Larry King that he was glad Steele apologized. "I think Rush is a leader for many conservatives and says things that people are concerned about," he said. You can read more about his comments, and see a video clip of his conversation with King, at The Huffington Post.

Steele isn't the first Republican to eat his own words after running afoul of Limbaugh in recent weeks. In late January, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., apologized after an interview with Politico in which he suggested it was "easy" for Limbaugh and other pundits to "throw bricks" at politicians. "You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of thing," he said in that interview.

After the comments were published, Gingrey appeared on Limbaugh's show and pleaded temporary “foot-in-mouth disease.” He praised Limbaugh and other conservative pundits as "the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience." A Feb. 8 report from the Los Angeles Times recaps that dust-up and examines how some Republicans are uneasy with Limbaugh's suggestion that he is the party's de facto leader.

All the GOP infighting must have Democrats rubbing their hands together in glee, because they're going after Limbaugh too. Over at The Fix, a washingtonpost.com blog, Chris Cillizza of looks at the Democrats' coordinated effort to link the GOP and Limbaugh in the public's mind. He mentions the ad campaign by Americans United for Change, a liberal group that is airing anti-Limbaugh spots on television. Check out the group's first one below:

The Fix also rounds up recent anti-Limbaugh comments from top Democratic officials, including party chairman Tim Kaine and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. The most inflammatory quote of the bunch is from Democratic strategist Paul Begala, who called Limbaugh "the bloated face and drug-addled voice of the Republican Party."

All rhetoric aside, would Limbaugh really want to lead the GOP? At least one Republican found that idea laughable. Ken Blackwell, a Steele supporter and a former Ohio secretary of state, said it "would be a step back for [Limbaugh] ... that's a smaller box." You can read more about Blackwell's remarks in this posting by Matt Lewis of AOL's Political Machine.