Hold on! So who’s really leading the Republican Party these days?

This past weekend, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel insisted that Rush Limbaugh – the bombastic, liberal-baiting, Obama-hating shock jock – is the heart and soul of the conservative movement in America. Emanuel’s comments came a day after Limbaugh repeated to a GOP gathering that he hopes Obama fails in his efforts to reform the economy and transform American politics.

But Michael Steele, the bona fide leader of the Republican Party, isn’t feeling Limbaugh, or those responsible for crowning the radio host king of the right wing.

"I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party," Steele snapped to CNN on Sunday. “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."

Of course, the vociferous Limbaugh didn’t take the comments in stride. Lashing back on his radio show Monday, he accused Steele of being in cahoots with the honchos of the opposition party – President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Steele seems like he’s "obsessed with seeing to it President Obama succeeds," Limbaugh bellowed. "I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda. I have to conclude that he does, because he attacks me for wanting it to fail."

He apparently got to Steele, who wasted no time extending an olive branch to the mighty Limbaugh.

"My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh," Steele told Politico. "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership. 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. I went back at that tape, and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking.”

Huh? What do you think of Steele’s apology to Limbaugh?