diff -r 95badf936353 Lib/test/test_itertools.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_itertools.py	Wed Oct 02 22:31:47 2013 +1000
+++ b/Lib/test/test_itertools.py	Wed Oct 02 22:36:34 2013 +0800
@@ -947,7 +947,6 @@
         self.assertEqual(list(repeat('a', 3)), ['a', 'a', 'a'])
         self.assertEqual(take(3, repeat('a')), ['a', 'a', 'a'])
         self.assertEqual(list(repeat('a', 0)), [])
-        self.assertEqual(list(repeat('a', -3)), [])
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, repeat)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, repeat, None, 3, 4)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, repeat, None, 'a')
@@ -965,6 +964,11 @@
         self.assertEqual(take(2, copy.deepcopy(c)), list('a' * 2))
         self.pickletest(repeat(object='a', times=10))
 
+    def test_repeat_with_negative_times(self):
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', -1)), "repeat('a')")
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', times=-1)), "repeat('a')")
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', times=-2)), "repeat('a')")
+
     def test_map(self):
         self.assertEqual(list(map(operator.pow, range(3), range(1,7))),
                          [0**1, 1**2, 2**3])
diff -r 95badf936353 Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
--- a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c	Wed Oct 02 22:31:47 2013 +1000
+++ b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c	Wed Oct 02 22:36:34 2013 +0800
@@ -4046,9 +4046,6 @@
                                      &element, &cnt))
         return NULL;
 
-    if (PyTuple_Size(args) == 2 && cnt < 0)
-        cnt = 0;
-
     ro = (repeatobject *)type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
     if (ro == NULL)
         return NULL;
@@ -4087,7 +4084,7 @@
 static PyObject *
 repeat_repr(repeatobject *ro)
 {
-    if (ro->cnt == -1)
+    if (ro->cnt < 0)
         return PyUnicode_FromFormat("repeat(%R)", ro->element);
     else
         return PyUnicode_FromFormat("repeat(%R, %zd)", ro->element, ro->cnt);
@@ -4096,7 +4093,7 @@
 static PyObject *
 repeat_len(repeatobject *ro)
 {
-    if (ro->cnt == -1) {
+    if (ro->cnt < 0) {
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "len() of unsized object");
         return NULL;
     }
@@ -4125,8 +4122,8 @@
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(repeat_doc,
 "repeat(object [,times]) -> create an iterator which returns the object\n\
-for the specified number of times.  If not specified, returns the object\n\
-endlessly.");
+for the specified number of times.  If not specified or times is a\n\
+negative integer, returns the object endlessly.");
 
 static PyTypeObject repeat_type = {
     PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)