GOP's Civil War Rages on: Gingrich Strikes Back at Limbaugh

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 5:47 AM on March 9, 2009.

In his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, hate radio talker Rush Limbaugh repeated his assertion that he hopes President Obama “fails.” In the same speech, Limbaugh took a veiled shot at former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is one of his rivals for the leadership of the conservative movement, saying that people who say the GOP needs to move on from Ronald Reagan must be stamped out.

On NBC’S Meet The Press today, Gingrich fired back, saying that “you’ve got to want the president to succeed.” “You’re irrational if you don’t want the president to succeed because if he doesn’t succeed, the country doesn’t succeed,” said Gingrich.

Asked by host David Gregory if that clashed with the views of people like Limbaugh, Gingrich warned against calling for Obama’s failure:

GREGORY: Do you think that Republicans are discordant on that point, about whether they want him to fail or succeed?

GINGRICH: I don’t think anyone should want the president of the United States to fail. I want some of his policies to be stopped, but I don’t want the president of the United States to fail. I want him to learn new policies.

Gingrich’s warning echoes Bill Kristol’s break with Limbaugh on Fox News earlier this week. “Americans wish a new president well,” said Kristol. “They hope his policies succeed, as they should.”

Transcript:

GINGRICH: I thought Mort Zuckerman got it exactly right. This president has popularity, although the fact is that his current approval rating is about the same as George W. Bush at the same point in 2001. Fifty-eight percent for a new president is very normal because people, you’ve got to want the president to succeed. You’re irrational if you don’t want the new president to succeed because if he doesn’t succeed, the country doesn’t succeed. So, fifty, I mean, that’s not…

GREGORY: Do you think that Republicans are discordant on that point, about whether they want him to fail or succeed?

GINGRICH: I don’t think anyone should want the president of the United States to fail. I want some of his policies to be stopped, but I don’t want the president of the United States to fail. I want him to learn new policies.

Tagged as: rush limbaugh, barack obama, newt gingrich

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.