WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In comments that were broadcast over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he is in charge of the GOP.
"Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do," RNC Chairman Michael Steele has said.
1 of 2 On Monday, however, after a blistering response from the conservative talk-radio kingpin, Steele told the online journal Politico that he "was maybe a little bit inarticulate."
"There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership," Steele said. He added, "There are those out there who want to look at what he's saying as incendiary and divisive and ugly. That's what I was trying to say. It didn't come out that way."
Steele's original remarks came from an interview on CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News." The interview was recorded Thursday. It aired Saturday.
The comments came as Democrats, including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, have tried to paint Limbaugh -- who has said he wants to see the Obama administration "fail" -- as the effective head of the opposition party.
Steele rejected the idea, insisting "I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party."
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You hear that sound?
That is the sound of the hydra eating itself.