Outrageousness never seems to take a holiday on Fox News. This week's contenders for our Outrageous Quote of the Week include Mike Huckabee waxing sentimental about patriotism (for other people), Art Laffer worrying that too many people will get medical care under ObamaCare, "Sweatin' with the Oldies" Richard Simmons making a pass at Neil Cavuto and more. I hope you are rested up from the holiday, dear readers, because you've got your work cut out for you.
And the nominees are:
Chris Wallace to Sarah Palin: “Martin Bashir, the MSNBC anchor, has had some ugly things to say about you. A couple of weeks ago, you made, frankly, I think fairly unobjectionable remarks, saying that—comparing our debt to slavery and saying that eventually we’re going to beholden to our foreign masters.”
Martha MacCallum, discussing ObamaCare: “Unlike other issues, Katrina or the Iraq war that we’ve seen in the past second term, this is something that touches so many peoples lives across the country, and you don’t know whether the President is going to be able to successfully dodge it.”
Richard Simmons to Neil Cavuto: “I’m just finding it so hard to talk to you because I want to climb on this desk and just get closer…”
Dr. Keith Ablow blaming President Obama for people feeling depressed about the state of the country: “(T)his is about a message from Washington that you ought not practice autonomy, that you are not the master of your destiny, that you need help in order to make the right decisions and you’re going to have to buy things that we want you to buy, like health care insurance, even if it isn’t the best product or the one you would choose. A disempowering message from the government, just like one from a family, is depressing.”
Art Laffer discussing ObamaCare: “(Y)ou know, you really can’t have a program where you give away health care benefits for free and then expect people not to over consume them, not to have everyone gaming the system.”
Tracy Byrnes, on workers protesting Wal-Mart wages: “Why is it up to Wal-Mart to raise the standard of living?”
Mike Huckabee, addressing his audience and attacking the patriotism of neighbors of a New Jersey Naval Weapons Station who complained about the volume of the national anthem: “If you hear some noise coming from a military installation near you, instead of calling city hall and whining about it, how about a call to heaven and tell God that you appreciate being an American and maybe you would ask if he’s please keep an eye for those folks who are making the noise.”
Little Martha deserves the award. As every teabagger knows, a temporary computer glitch is far worse than thousands rendered homeless by Katrina or thousands killed in a senseless war.