Around the Obama inauguration, the conservative talker declared of the new president: 鈥淚 hope he fails.鈥� In a CNN interview, Mr. Steele took issue with the host鈥檚 view that Limbaugh is de facto head of the Republican Party 鈥� and then called Limbaugh an entertainer whose show is 鈥渋ncendiary鈥� and 鈥渦gly.鈥� Thus was launched the Steele-Limbaugh feud. Steele eventually backed down, telling Politico: "I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."
The feud sparked criticism from Republicans that Steele wasn鈥檛 doing his job. 鈥淪teele won the party鈥檚 chairmanship five weeks ago,鈥� Republican strategist Scott Reed told Reuters. 鈥淗e fired the entire staff. Who鈥檚 running the place? Who鈥檚 raising the money, recruiting the candidates, designing the voter identification programs and helping work with the congressional wing to design a message? Who鈥檚 doing all this work? No one.鈥�
