Limbaugh: Student petition against conservative commencement speaker means 'we've lost the country'

Rush Limbaugh was apopleptic on Friday over Johns Hopkins University medical students petitioning against new conservative favorite Ben Carson.

"Medical students! Not social workers, medical students," Limbaugh said, in a clip posted by Media Matters. "To me that's evidence that ... I don't know what it is. We're losing the country or what have you."

Carson, who had gained prominence as a budding political figure in recent months, said earlier in the day that he was willing to relinquish his speaking engagement at the university's commencement ceremony, in response to a student petition.

"They don't want him there," Limbaugh said. "They don't want him there. Do you understand why I said this is inevitable now, folks?"

Limbaugh also said he "forgot to mention" that the outcry against Carson stemmed from his remarks saying that "no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality," should have the chance to "change the definition" of marriage.

Talking Points Memo reported that, according to a transcript of his show, the outcry against Carson signaled the beginning of mob rule.

"In the midst of all this talk about 'equality,' folks, in the midst of all this talk about the pursuit of happiness and equality, Dr. Benjamin Carson -- who is the epitome of grace, by the way -- is not allowed to voice his opinion," Limbaugh said. "Which is a formally mainstream position, by the way. He's not allowed to do that without being punished. The First Amendment applies to vile, hateful people, but not to a thoughtful, brilliant surgeon."

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