Jokes are jokes - even ascerbic, politically-motivated ones - and, as you've noted above, Limbaugh has used his own brand of "extreme comedy" over the years, so I find no foul in this all. If you can dish it out, you should be able to take it in stride. It will be interesting to see Limbaugh's response on his show - he may surprise us all and tell everyone to shut the f*** up.

However, his statement, "I hope Obama fails," has been one of the most bitterly maligned, misconstrued, misinterpreted lines Limbaugh has ever uttered. If you have listened to his commentaries, rants and diatribes on the topic [and I'm sure you have, as your site represents clear-headed thinking] you would know that he has said over and over again that his comment simply means this: he cannot wish that the president's policies will succeed, because he believes they will take this Constitutionally Limited Republic closer to a Socialistic State than it has ever been in it's history. He believes that if this administrations' policies succeed in an overall way, that they will bring the country to financial ruin. And he backs up his statements with the entire content of his show - at least from his political viewpoint.

So, to be fair to Limbaugh, he never intended his remarks to be held as a personal attack, but rather as a statement of political philosophy. Ask yourself if you have ever wished a certain president or political figure's policies would fail? If so, you are no different than Limbaugh when it comes to his wishing the Obama Adminstration will fail at what he believes to be their implementation of socialistic policy. He hopes they will fail at what they are attempting, because he believes it will destroy the country, not because he is making some cruel, petulant attack against the president. Limbaugh never said nor even implied he hoped the "Country" would fail.

Just as with Sykes comments, it all has to be put in context to the intent behind the words.