CNN

Limbaugh told an interviewer the media couldn't 'break' him.

(CNN) – Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is dismissing Democratic campaigns to paint him as the man steering the Republican Party, and media frenzies over his most controversial comments.

"The media didn't make me, and they can't break me," he said in a portion of an NBC interview that aired Monday.

"I am not the leader of the Republican Party. Don't want to be the leader of the Republican Party," said Limbaugh. "It's silly for them to keep talking about how I'm the leader of anything, it's just creating more curiosity about me. It's 21 years, more popular than ever. Lord, thank you for my enemies."

In interview excerpts released by the network, Limbaugh said he had been moved by the election of the nation's first black president - "but I got over it pretty quickly."

Obama's election has heightened racial discord, he said. "I predicted to you it was going to exacerbate racial problems, and it has," said Limbaugh. "There's a race industry in the country. They make money off it. They have fame and fortune off of it. And I predicted exactly what's happened.

"Any criticism of President Obama is going to be said to be oriented in racism. And if you don't like his health care bill, it's racist. If you don't like his cap and trade, it's racist."

Limbaugh also said grateful for the prescription drug addiction that forced him into treatment six years ago.

"I actually thank God for my addiction," he said. "I learned more about myself in rehab than I would have ever learned otherwise."

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