WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Rush Limbaugh, the most listened to radio
host in America, says recent efforts by the White House and Democrats
to demonize him are actually helping his show in financial success and
personal popularity.
"Revenues at the EIB Network
in the first quarter of 2009 are up 13 and a half percent over first
quarter revenues of 2008," Limbaugh announced this afternoon, "and at
our revenue baseline, that is not an insignificant percentage or amount
represented by it."
He also noted his staff had just finished an
analysis of Arbitron listening data for the first few months of this
year, and said the cumulative audience, meaning "total bodies"
listening, was up 32 percent.
"Now when you're starting at baseline of 20 to 22 million, 32 percent is a significant number," Limbaugh said.
The
conservative icon also said the McClatchy Company, the publisher which
owns the Sacramento Bee among other newspapers, just conducted a national poll finding about a third of Americans have a highly favorable opinion of him.
"That makes me one of the most popular Americans in the country," Limbaugh said.
"If
I have an approval rating above a third, that makes me higher than
Congress, that makes me higher than lawyers, that puts me with a higher
approval rate than Hollywood.
Also my approval number of 33 percent is higher than Obama's numbers
are going to be when his presidency is over in 2012. If my approval
number is 33 percent, that's higher than Vice President Biden's I.Q."
As WND reported last week,
amid reports the broadcaster was being targeted by prominent Democrats
working in conjunction with the White House, Limbaugh invited President
Barack Obama on his show for a face-to-face debate about policies
important to America's future.
"If you take me out," Limbaugh
said addressing Obama directly, "if you can wipe me out in a debate and
prove to the rest of America that what I say is senseless and wrong, do
you realize you will own the United States of America? You will have no
opposition."
The White House rejected the offer.
The debate challenge came after Obama said, in an attack on the
radio host, Congress wouldn't get anything done "listening to
Limbaugh." The dispute grew because Limbaugh said he wanted Obama to
"fail."
Limbaugh explained his statement on the Sean Hannity show on the Fox News Channel.
"Do you want him to succeed?" Hannity asked.
"I
am hearing many Republicans say that very thing. 'Well, we want him to
succeed,' and prominent Republicans! 'Yes, we want him to succeed.'
They have laid down. They have totally. They're drinking the Kool-Aid,
too. They have no guts to stand up for what their beliefs are because
they're afraid of criticism. They're afraid of being called racists.
They're afraid of not having gotten with the program," Limbaugh said.
"Now
success can be defined two ways. I said earlier, 'I don't know about
this guy.' I really don't. I've got my suspicions and they're pretty
close to convictions, but we're going to have to wait to see what he
does. Now if he turns out to be a Reagan, if he adds Reagan to his
recipe of FDR and Lincoln
... if he does not eliminate the Bush tax cuts, I would call that
success. So yes, I would hope he would succeed if he acts like Reagan,"
Limbaugh said.
"But if he's going to do FDR – if he's going to
do The New Deal all over, which we will call here The Raw Deal – why
would I want him to succeed? Look, he's my president. The fact that he
is historic is irrelevant to me now. It matters not at all. If he is
going to implement a far-left agenda ... Look, I think it's already
decided: a $2 trillion in stimulus? The growth of government? I think
the intent here is to create as many dependent Americans as possible
looking to government for their hope and salvation. If he gets
nationalized health care, I mean, it's over, Sean. We're never going to
roll that back. That's the end of America as we have known it, because
that's then going to set the stage for everything being government
owned, operated, or provided," he continued.
"Why would I want
that to succeed? I don't believe in that. I know that's not how this
country is going to be great in the future; it's not what made this
country great. So I shamelessly say, 'No! I want him to fail.' If his
agenda is a far-left collectivism – some people say socialism – as a
conservative heartfelt, deeply, why would I want socialism to succeed?"
This afternoon on his radio show, Limbaugh said he didn't mind the ongoing attacks and media coverage.
"They are spreading my message to new areas and pockets of America," he explained. "I'm happy that it's being heard by an increasingly large percentage of Americans."