White House Lets Limbaugh Be Voice Of GOP Opposition

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…White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on CBS's "Face the Nation" the next day: "He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party, and he has been upfront about what he views, and hasn't stepped back from that, which is he hopes for failure."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs added his voice yesterday, saying reporters should ask Republicans "whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said . . . in wishing and hoping for economic failure in this country."

Republican National Chairman Michael S. Steele distanced himself from the radio host's commentary over the weekend, telling CNN's D.L. Hughley that Limbaugh is "an entertainer," not a party leader, adding: "Yes, he's incendiary. Yes, it's ugly."

But Steele said yesterday that he tried to reach Limbaugh to assure him of his "enormous respect," telling Politico: "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. . . . There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”

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