Rush is just about to take the stage at CPAC. Lisa De Pasquale, who has put on a kickass CPAC this year, is on stage being recognized and introducing Rush Limbaugh.

THIS PLACE GOES WILD.

And El-Rushbo comes on stage. The crowd won’t settle down.

Now they are chanting. And Rush loves it.

Says Fox is carrying live, which means it is his first ever address to the nation.

“My security detail is headed by Joseph Stalin. I’m safe from any liberal attack because they’d be afraid of offending Stalin.”

Tells a good joke at Larry King’s expense. Crowd is eating this up.

[BTW: this is the first pretty much everyone has stayed for the end of CPAC]

Rush says, “Let me tell you who we conservatives are. We love people. When we look out over the United States of America . . . we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups, we don’t see victims, we don’t see people we want to exploit. We see potential.”

“We love the constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”

Rush gives Dave Keane and Lisa De Pasquale the “terrorist fist bump.”

“We look over the country and see so much waste of potential by fifty years of a welfare state. . . . we love the people of this country and we want it to be the greatest country it can. But we understand as people created, we are all individuals and we are all different. There are no two people created created with equal outcomes — that’s up to them.”

“We don’t hate anybody. The racism in this country, let me deal with this head on . . . the racism of this country was on full display in the Democrat primary of last year.”

“It was not us asking whether Obama was authentic. We were asking if he was wrong. We concluded “yes.” We didn’t ask if he was authentically black.”

“We want everybody to succeed.”

“Everyone must pursue their desire with ambition and excellence.”

“Take a look at all the constituent groups depending on the Democrat party to improve their lives and you tell me if you find any whose lives have been improved. You can’t.”

“I want you and everyone around the nation to succeed. … I want any person or force of an overarching big government who would impede you to fail.”

Crowd Goes Nuts.

“Also for those of you in the drive by media, I have not needed a teleprompter for anything I’ve said. Nor do any of us need one because our beliefs are not the results of any contrivances or a deranged psychology. We don’t have to make notes about what we believe.”

“Don’t make the mistake that we are in the minority. The American people may not all vote the way we would wish them to, but more and more Americans live their lives as conservatives in one degree or another. And they are waiting for leadership. We need conservative leadership.”

“President Obama is one of the most gifted politicians, one of the most gifted men, that I’ve ever witnessed. He has extraordinary talents and skills that hardly anyone can surpass. It just breaks my heart that he does not use these gifts . . . to inspire the American people to be the best they can be.

“President Obama has the ability to inspire excellence in people’s pursuits, yet he pursues a path that punishes achievers. He speaks negatively of the country. He portrays America as a soup kitchen in a dark corner of the country.”

“Why does the President want to destroy [our way of life].”

He wants to know why achievement is now the focus of blame.

8 million people live in New York City and 40,000 pay upwards of 60% of New York City’s budget. The mayor won’t raise taxes on them lest they leave.

. . .

“The people who have achieved great things, most of it is not inherited. Most of it is from just plain entrepreneurial hard work.”

“They don’t have the right to take money from the back pocket of producers and give it to ACORN which will just advance the agenda of the Democrat party.”

“He’s so busy fomenting class envy in a created crisis, [Obama] has forgotten it is not his money to spend.”

“Most of the people in this country in poverty have just been beaten down.”

“The Barack Obama administration is actively working to expand the welfare state because he wants to control it.”

Takes on Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. They “get to sit around and act as innocent spectators and get to investigate what’s going on when they had the biggest role in causing it.”

Knocks Obama’s State of the Union. Tells a Joe Biden joke.

“You people at home think I told an ethnic joke about Bobby Jindal. I didn’t. I told a joke about the bigotry of the Vice President.”

“We want the best country we can have. We want the most prosperous country. . . and we just cringe to see capitalism under assault and the people that make this country work be made the enemy.”

Says Obama leaves out the 1982 recession, which was much worse, because we got out of that recession with tax cuts.

CROWD GOES WILD.

“It’s not about revenue to them, it’s about control.”

“President Obama, your agenda is not new, it’s not change, it’s not hope. Spending future generations further into debt is not compassion. . . . It is not their task to tear [this country] apart and rebuild it in their image.”

“Where is the compromise on all this spending? Where is the compromise on all this punishment of the achievers? Where is the compromise between good and evil? Should Jesus have cut a different deal?”

“We’re not quitting. We’re not giving up.”

“Now there are certain realities. We don’t have the votes on Capitol Hill to stop it. But we can slow it down and do the best we can to inform the American people of what’s in the law.”

“They are going to overreach. At some point people are going to realize this stuff is not possible. You can’t have people living in homes they cannot afford. Well you can for awhile, but not forever.”

Mentions the tea parties. Crowd loves it.

“Here’s the big question: where is the evidence that the people offering all this stuff have ever succeeded in any similar plans before? There’s none.”

“Then how’s he getting it done? Dumbed down public education. Emotions. And the ongoing . . . you know he could wipe out the GOP by inspiring this country to be the best it can be . . . he wants people to be fearful because that clears the deck for him to come in with his agenda, which is abject failure.”

“They’re not trying to build up the people at the bottom. They’re trying to tear the people down at the top. You’re successful, they whack you.”

Takes on John Kerry. Great punch.

“Obama has tried to emulate the lifestyle he’s attacking.”

“They want you to be happy because they’re going to get revenge for you. Your life won’t get any better, but somebody else’s life will be destroyed. And that’s sick.”

“58 million people voted against Obama. This was no landslide. It would have been more if we had a conservative nominee.’

“We do have an organizational problem. We do have factions seeking power . . . to redefine conservatism. The Declaration of Independence does not need to be redefined and neither does conservatism. . . it is not something you can bend and shape and reform . . . it is forever.”

“You never hear a liberal say the era of FDR is over.”

“Obama can’t appeal to the American people without appealing to Reagan voters and we’ve got people on our side who want to throw them out. We’ve got to stamp this out or it will destroy us.”

“That we have to figure out how to get the Wal-Mart voters, we’ve got most of the Wal-Mart voters already. . . . there’s ego here too. These people want to lead. There will be difference factions lining up to define what conservatism is. Be wary of those whose definition is making liberals like us. They’ll never like us as long as we’re conservative . . . in the political arena they are our enemy.”

“There’s nothing stale about freedom. There’s nothing stale about liberty. Nothing stale whatsoever.”

“Freedom is the natural yearning of the human people . . . and the United States is the place where freedom flourishes.”

Takes on the conservatives who Obama had dinner with. “Some of these are the ones who say the era of Reagan is over.”

Rush tells the story and says that those conservatives Obama had dinner with got less coverage than him and he didn’t even know about the dinner because the media all assumed he’d been there.

“You owe [your children] the truth. You owe them the truth about values, morality, about politics. Next thing, we’ve got to stop treating voters as children. Somebody says they want something that’s bad for them, do you give it to them? You still have to have the ability to tell people right from wrong.”

“We’ve got to stand for what we believe and treat people as adults and understand they can learn. It’s called optimism.”

“Joe Biden again . . . Biden was on the CBS Early Show and he was asked . . . the anchorette, the anchor did a man on the street question and a man asked what was in the stimulus package for small business. Biden was clearly stumped because there isn’t anything in there. Biden said if there was a bridge between you and your customers, we’re going to build that bridge.”

Biden asked for the website number. “I realize those of you at home have never heard liberal democrats made fun of in this way. Get used to it.” Another fist bump.

“The President’s stimulus and TARP rely on one thing — the complacency of the American people. It relies on them being able to convince the American people that only government can fix it. . . . They don’t understand that Americans are a competitive people. We strive to win. Liberals have made efforts to shut aspects of that nature down. Wherever you live, when you were a child, in youth sports, are told not to keep score because the losers, it’s just not fair. . . . so let’s not keep score. Well here’s the dirty little secret — the kids are keeping score. You know they are. The kids don’t want to lose.”

“The complacency of the American people is something they are going to rely on along with authoritarian control. . . . We’re not going to sit idly by while the American dream is restructured.”

“We want the best - happiness - for everyone.”

“Now about my comment that I want Obama to fail . . . I love the Pittsburgh Steelers - - 15 seconds left in the game, I wanted Kurt Warner to fail.”

“This notion that I want the President to fail, this shows you a side of the problem we’ve got, this notion is just commonsense. Why in the world would we want rampant government growth? What possibly is in this that any of us want to succeed. Did the Democrats want the war in Iraq to fail? They not only wanted it to fail - they proclaimed it a failure.”

“They called General Petraeus a liar before he even testified.”

“We’re in the process of winning the war and it’s the last thing they wanted. They hoped George Bush would fail. What’s so strange about saying Barack Obama should fail if he’s going to structure this country so capitalize and individual liberty fail? Why would I want that to succeed?”

Crowd Goes Wild.

“I want the country to survive as you and I know it.”

“I don’t give other people the power to offend me and you shouldn’t either.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the Democrat party has not just actively sought the failure of Republican Presidents and policies and now wars, the Democrat party . . . destroys lifes, reputations, and character.”

“Am I supposed to want this President to succeed?”

“We are in for a real battle. We’re talking about the United States of America . . . remaining the country we were all born into and reared into it. And it’s under assault . . . but it’s never been under assault like this before, from within.”

“so as you leave here, optimism, confidence, not guilt — it’s not worth it. . . realize there’s a way to persuade.”

“Stop thinking that we’re in the minority. Stop thinking that its being in the minority that liberates you. It is your freedom, your liberty, and your confidence that liberates you.”

Ends thanking the audience. Off hand libertarian reference to leaving people alone in their bedroom.

CPAC presents Rush the Defender of the Constitution award, which is a framed document written by Benjamin Franklin.