What exactly was controversial about what Limbaugh said about Obama?

[SteppingRazor]

So he said he wants Obama to fail. OK. How is that surprising or at all controversial?

If Rush Limbaugh were president, I would want him to fail. Does that make me a traitor?

I want politicians who hold views similar to those held by Limbaugh to fail, because I believe their policy views are bad for America, and so if they succeed, America is hurt.

Limbaugh -- wrongly, of course -- believes these same things about Obama. So, naturally, he doesn't want Obama to succeed. So, what's the problem here, other than the fact that Rush Limbaugh is an idiot, a fact long ago established by the great poet-philosopher Sen. Al Franken's seminal work Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot (And Other Observations)?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. It's not surprising or controversial.

It just confirms that Limbaugh's a classless ape.

[Taverner]

2. Yeah I don't understand why people are shocked at what Limpballs says

It's like being shocked at Hitler or Mein Kampf

[SteppingRazor]

4. But especially in this case.

I mean, so he said he wants Obama to fail .... Yeeesss? And?


I want conservatives to fail. If they succeed, they hurt the majority of Americans. So, what's the big deal here?

[4 t 4]

25. No If Obama fails

we as the people will fail. Maybe if these were normal times it wouldn't be so bad but if we fail from here where will we be ? These aren't normal times it is very different now. I mean my god there are Tent Cities for christs sake

[SteppingRazor]

3. Well, that's a given, I suppose.

:)



But I've read quite a few comments around GD today expressing outrage, calling the man a traitor, when really, were the shoe on the other foot, I'd be saying the same thing about a President Limbaugh.

[OneGrassRoot]

15. Exposed hypocrisy is always a beautiful thing.

He and his ilk are of the "support the president, especially during times of war or you're a traitor" school of thought and have brow-beaten the evil Left with that line. To see them so quickly put their own words aside to expose their hypocrisy is rather gratifying, IMHO. :) It's not a surprise, but it is gratifying.

[Oregone]

5. Wanting a president to "fail" is equivilent to wanting people to suffer, starve, lose jobs, etc

This Patriot said he wanted to see a president, and subsequently, this entire country, fail.

Failure isn't about not succeeding in implementing policy. Bush implemented a ton of policy, but as a whole failed, because his ideas and policy were terrible. Success and failure, as a president, isn't measured by what you get done, but rather on what effects it has on the average American. There is never a reason for a "patriot" to ever want a president and a nation to fail and suffer.

[SteppingRazor]

7. Bush failed?

For most of his presidency, the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. Until the recent tailspin, the man was a staggering success by Republican standards.

I guess I look at this differently. I don't see a president's success and the nation's success as necessarily going hand in hand.

[Oregone]

19. Well I guess its how you measure success...and also about framing

Of course he got everything he wanted done, but it was all horrible right wing policy, which produces utter failure for the nation as a whole. That makes him a failure. Judging people among these lines most certainly make it tougher for a Republican to succeed, since their policies are so damaging.

And yes, I am looking at it differently. Its an attempt to reframe the issue and convince all people they should have an interest in a president's success, because it means their own success and failure. Framing it like this, you can make any right winger agree they want Obama to succeed, and those that speak hastily like Limbaugh will look like assholes.

[NJmaverick]

6. When you WANT the President to fail, you are rooting against our nation and all of us

I never WANTED Bush to fail, I just knew he would fail (because he was a fool and his ideology is all screwed up).

[SteppingRazor]

9. On the contrary...

If a president comes in who is anti-abortion, anti-regulation, etc., then I want him to fail at, say overturning Roe v. Wade. I want him to fail at deregulating necessary market controls. And so on.

[NJmaverick]

10. I think we now addressing the definition of failure

Bush was a failure because he ruined the nation. Had the nation enjoyed peace and economic prosperity, than he would have succeeeded. I don't think you can define success or failure, based on a President's personal agenda. I think that's what the whole thing boils down to. How you define the success and failure of the President.

[SteppingRazor]

12. I understand what you're saying.

I'm looking at success or failure of a president's agenda, whereas you're looking at the success or failure of the nation as a whole under a particular president's administration. Certainly, no one in his right mind hopes for the failure of the nation. But then, whether or not Rush Limbaugh is in his right mind is anyone's guess.

[NJmaverick]

16. Yeah that pretty much sums it up. I think Rush would like to see the nation fail

just to get his rightwingers back in power.

[petronius]

8. It's a matter of perspective - the things Obama wants to do are good for the

country, so wanting him to fail is wanting America to fail. The things Bush wanted to do were bad for the country, so wanting him to fail was wanting America to succeed. Or something like that.

I'm with you on this one - I think Limbaugh is wrong in most every opinion or belief he holds, but the outrage against this statement is manufactured and kneejerky...

[mojowork_n]

11. It just confirms the fact that The Big Fat Dopehead is nothing more than

.... a full-time, well-paid, whore for the Republican National Committee. Thereby ending the pretense that his program qualifies as "news" or "commentary" or anything even remotely approaching honest, objective "analysis." If Karl Rove paid him enough -- and the RNC stood to gain by it -- Limpballs would fellate a mandrill on national television. He's a joke.

[Mugweed]

13. Not so much shocking as hypocritical

You see, these right-wing a-holes always took the left's pointing out that Iraq (and Bush in general) was a failure to be us "wanting the US to fail" and "hating America". Now that this douche is clearly stating he wants Obama to fail, what he is saying is that he wants the worst possible outcome for America. He hates America and wants Americans to suffer. He needs to be called on it.

[BattyDem]

14. Why would any American want their President to fail?

If the Prez fails, it hurts all of us. I never wanted Bush to fail. I hated the fact that he was our pResident, but I hoped for the best. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine him being as bad as he actually was. He was a HUGE failure! We're suffering because of it. The entire world is suffering because of it. Yet Limbaugh wants ANOTHER President to fail, even though it would mean even more suffering for us and the rest of the world. What a selfish bastard! :grr:

[dysfunctional press]

17. he wants universal healthcare to fail...

mainly because if the dems can do it RIGHT, they should be able to skate thru elections for generations...and the pukes KNOW it.

[paparush]

18. Limbaugh Wants Commander In Chief to Fail to Keep America Safe

Limbaugh is talking like a treasonous terrorist.

Pound this meme, people.

[EstimatedProphet]

20. Controversial? No. Assholish? Yes.

Be honest - you wouldn't really want Limbaugh to fail if he were president. That would mean bad things for the country. What Limbaugh is really saying is that he'd rather see the US in worse shape than change his mind. but it does depend on your interpretation of "fail". If it means fail at trying to implement policies, that makes sense in the context you described. If it means - and it reads to me like it does - fail at leading ghe country, then it's a very different thing.

[KharmaTrain]

21. And What Did People Expect Him To Say?

I'd have been shocked had he offered a sincere wish otherwise. That's not his job, that's not his audience, that's not his "shtick"...remember, he's an "entertainer".

Rusbho does us a service by pushing his horde further off the abyss and alienates others. He's also trying to compete with other hatemongers...each trying to outdo and one-up one another in a shrinking parallel universe. Consider this his noise akin to the sounds of water circling a drain. May he continue to make a fool of himself and help Democrats win in '10 like he did in '06 (remember Michael J. Fox?) and '08.

Cheers...

[caraher]

22. I never wanted Bush to fail

I never wanted 4000+ Americans and many, many more Iraqis to die to prove Bush's policy was wrong.
I never wanted Bush to turn his back on New Orleans.
I never wanted Bush to allow the economy to self-destruct.

All of this and more is what it meant for Bush to fail. All of it was in part a consequence of who he was, his bankrupt ideology, etc. all of which I've loathed since before he took office. I expected disaster. But I never wanted it.

I wanted Bush to - somehow - miraculously - not fuck up. Because real people pay for that.

At this point, the dead, destitute and tortured left in Bush's wake can have some of their suffering redeemed if the past 8 years provides the final nail on the coffin of the extreme right. But I can't say I ever wanted it to come to this.

Which is why Limbaugh's bloviating simply reaffirms his hatred of America. We on the left cannot simply be the mirror image of the right. We are better than that.

[ItNerd4life]

23. Excellent Post!

How many people here wanted Bush's policies to fail? I know I did.

[Dukkha]

24. He said it on Armed Forces Radio

he wants the Commander-In-Chief to fail = he wants the military to fail.

He is esentially being the modern day Tokyo Rose demoralizing the troops by slandering their leader whom they all sworn to follow.

[Political Heretic]

26. I woudln't want anyone - including Bush to fail as president.

However, I can be reasonably sure that certain people would fail as president, simply because I know what their policies would be.

I think its really semantics but... saying I think Obama will fail, is better than saying I hope he fails. But no, in the end this is a tempest in a teapot, really.

[Jack Rabbit]

27. Your post goes a long ways to explain . . .

• Why Obama is president;
• Why you are not;
• Why Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot (observation credited to Senator Franken).