Limbaugh repeats his wish: 'I want Barack Obama to fail' Jeremy Gantz

Published: Saturday February 28, 2009





Print This Email This Rush Limbaugh wants America to know that there's nothing wrong with wanting President Barack Obama to fail. In fact, the conservative talk show host said Saturday, wanting the new U.S. president to fail is "nothing more than common sense."



"This notion that I want the president to fail, this shows you a sign of the problem we've got," Limbaugh said during a long speech in Washington D.C. at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which was cosponsored by a long list of organizations including AT&T, Google and The Heritage Foundation.



"This is nothing more than common sense," he said. "And to not be able to say it? Why in the world would I want...rampant government growth, indebtedness...welfare that is not being created yet is being spent? What is in this, what possibly is in this that any of us want to succeed?"



Limbaugh, who referred to his desire for Obama to fail as "mysteriously controversial," in part defended his comments by saying that Democrats wanted the war in Iraq and former President George W. Bush to fail.



"So what is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?" A huge standing ovation in the packed ballroom followed.



Limbaugh was expounding on what he said on Fox News last month just after Obama's inauguration: "I shamelessly say, no, I want him to fail, if his agenda is a far-left collectivism, some people say socialism... Why would I want socialism to succeed?"



Conservative pastor Pat Robertson denounced Limbaugh for his remarks earlier this month, saying: "That was a terrible thing to say... If [Obama] succeeds, the country succeeds. And if he doesn't, it hurts us all. Anybody who would pull against our president is not exactly thinking rationally."



Comedy Central show host John Stewart labeled that remark "arguably treasonous."



During his remarks Saturday, Limbaugh painted a broad picture of an America under attack by liberalism and ballooning government, changes that directly threaten Americans' liberty and way of life.



"We are in for a real battle. We are talking about the United States of America... remaining the country we were all born into and reared and grown into," Limbaugh said, according to the Huffington Post. And it is under assault, it has always been under assault. But it has never been under assault like this, from within."



President Obama began his presidency last month with the highest approval rating since John F. Kennedy took the office in early 1961. As of yesterday, Obama's approval stood at 67 percent, up 8 percent since his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, according to a Gallup poll.



The following video was broadcast live on CNN Saturday, February 28 in Washington D.C.:











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