Less than 10 days after Fox News presented Sarah Palin to attack President Obama's understanding of the 10th Amendment with regard to immigration policy, she was back on the “fair and balanced” network to lecture him about it with regard to health care reform. While she was at it, she offered her insights into economics and taxes, too. And host Greta Van Susteren – who really is a lawyer – helped further the pretense that Palin was a legitimate expert every step of the way.
The basis for the whole discussion on last night's On The Record, arose from a Palin tweet earlier in the day. Referring to the Supreme Court ruling that the individual mandate in Obama’s health care reform legislation was a tax and therefore Constitutional, Palin tweeted, “Obama lied to the American people. Again. He said it wasn’t a tax. Obama lies; freedom dies.” It’s pretty much the same old, same old Palin. But to Van Susteren, that was grounds for probing her deeper thoughts.
Van Susteren asked, “That’s about 140 characters or less as to how you feel about this decision today. Now tell me, given more chance to amplify it, your view of what happened today.”
Palin said she tended to agree with the term “treachery” to describe Chief Justice Roberts' swing vote. But she said she was optimistic because health care reform is now in the hands of the people and that Congress can repeal it. “I want to see that done in July,” she said.
There’s zero chance of that happening but somehow Van Susteren didn’t want to point that out to the "we report, you decide' network's viewers. Instead, she asked her newly minted expert if Justice Roberts was correct in saying the mandate is a tax. And Van Susteren asked the question in a form designed to elicit an attack on President Obama.
President Obama said this is not a tax. It was Chief Justice Roberts and the majority that has decided, has deemed it a tax… I’m curious, is this a tax or not?
And who better to answer that question than Palin?
Absolutely it’s a tax. It’s nearly a trillion dollars worth of tax - via levies, fines, tariffs if you will, whatever anybody else wants to call them. This is a penalty, it is a tax on the people. It’s a tax on people. It’s a raiding of Medicaid funds which will result in states having to find other funds to supplement their Medicaid budgets. Overall, this is about a trillion dollar more tax put on the, on the American people.
Newly-minted expert Palin added a little class warfare to her rhetoric - as she added economics expert to her growing resume:
The 50% of Americans who are paying their taxes today are going to get hit with even more tax to pay for now this mandate of Obama Care. The other 50% who are thinking that perhaps they’re gonna get a free ride and get some free health care, they’re not. They’re gonna have less availability of health care… It will be rationed. To say otherwise really truly defies economic and common sense… So people who are thinking that this is gonna be a free ride for them? The 50% of Americans who aren’t paying taxes today? They got another thing coming!
Van Susteren didn’t challenge a single statement, didn’t question a single bit of Palin’s “expertise.” In fact, Van Susteren added to Palin’s cred by going on to ask what she expects to happen next with health care reform under either the scenario of Mitt Romney getting elected or President Obama getting re-elected.
That was yet another opportunity for Palin to spew her poison. “If Obama is re-elected, well, America, you will no longer recognize the country that today you truly love and can enjoy all of its freedom and prosperity and security.”
Van Susteren let that comment pass as some kind of normal, letigitimate political comment.
And again, Van Susteren helped boost Palin’s cred by moving on to ask her “How do you foresee that whole Medicaid expansion thing unfolding?”
That’s when Palin announced her superior understanding of the Constitution:
I would like to see governors be tough and opt out of this and exert “our” 10th Amendment rights and tell President Obama – who does not understand the Constitution, he even being a Constitution lecturer and supposed scholar in our Constitution – not understanding, probably never reading, nor absorbing the 10th Amendment to understand that states have rights.
Excuse me? President Obama has just won two key victories in the Supreme Court, one about his signature piece of legislation. And Sarah Palin? Last I checked, she had become the poster child for ignorant politicians and what not to choose in a vice presidential candidate.
But again, Van Susteren let Palin’s ridiculously self-aggrandizing proclamation stand, as if it had merit.
It’s bad enough that Palin should be allowed to say these things on what passes for a cable news network. But it’s even worse that a host, especially a lawyer like Greta Van Susteren, should let her get away with them unchallenged.
Being a lawyer is a path that others chose not to pursue. It far from being an intellectual giant. Obama did not win a thing. The mandate went down and Roberts SAVED Obamacare by adding to the law something that was not voted on in Congress. Palin makes perfect common sense to me. The vote on the Tax can happen in Congress and I want to see how many Democrats running for reelection are in favor of that Tax Hike in Congress.
So it now falls on Obama and the Democrats to either state they want to levy the largest middle class Tax Hike in history or keep Obamacare. They can’t have it both ways. Instead they are out there lying to the American people, stating that bill does not contain Taxes. It contains 21 separate Taxes and the Supreme Ct. ruled that the penalty for not submitting to Obama’s wishes is also a Tax. The penalty is not a Mandate through the Commerce Clause, because that has been ruled Unconstitutional. So Obama, what is it that you want? The largest Tax Hike on the middle class, or remove Obama. The Republicans will remove the penalty.
Either ACA would be struck down in it’s entirety, in which case it would be a MONUMENTAL BLOW to the Constitutional Scholar and his administration . . .
. . . or, it would be upheld — in which case, it STILL has to be some sort of negative for President Obama, and, doggone it, droolers like Hannity, Palin, and Dennis McHale are gonna FIND IT!!
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Don’t forget that she was the Governor of a State that’s basically funded through TAXATION of oil companies. Yet, this woman keeps harping the Norquist screed.
Boadicea/Boudicca was killed.
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.
Zenobia….well, history’s kind of vague on what happened to her (the best ending for Zenobia suggests that, after she was paraded through Rome, she managed to marry a wealthy Roman and lived the rest of her life in relative comfort; actually, that does sound vaguely similar to Palin—following her defeat as VP and her quitting the Alaskan governorship, she’s managed to increase her personal wealth).
Now, maybe Ricky is hoping that Palin follows suit. Of course, unlike Joan of Arc and Boadicea, Palin is largely reviled by her enemies; Joan and Boadicea were actually respected by their enemies.
Check it out….
nutsonthenet.com
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Well, for starters, FoxNoise wouldn’t hire a “decent interviewer.” The network’s sole prerequisite for employment is “a willingness, on the part of the applicant, to follow the Network’s official script, no matter how absurd, no matter how unethical, no matter how repugnant, and without questioning why the script has changed from the script presented at a previous time—whether months, weeks, days or even hours ago.” If the applicant can accept that, then they’re hired; other qualifications (especially real journalistic expertise or even education) are of lesser importance—unless, of course, the applicant’s a woman in which case she must maintain a minimum acceptable standard of attractiveness (blondes preferred but will also consider brunettes if they’re willing to undergo regular peroxide treatments—at their own expense of course).
Then, too, there’s the fact that even Palin’s loathed “lamestream media” have fallen into the same mentality when it comes to the notion of “decent interviewers.” GOP interview subjects get handled with kid gloves while Dem subjects get the third degree.
What the hell everyone, itâs Friday, letâs celebrate our victory with a good laugh from Bill Maherâ¦
Sarah Palin tweeted “Obama lies, freedom dies” – oh cheer up, it just means when one of your kids gets knocked up they’ll be covered.
Van Susteren let that comment pass as some kind of normal, letigitimate political comment.
A decent interviewer would have followed up on that statement by asking “what the hell are you talking about?”
