Rachel Maddow Mines Alleged Humor From Name of Congressman 'LaTourette' - Get It?!

Hey, if you can't poke fun at someone whose name dovetails with that of a potentially devastating neurological disorder ...

MSNBC cable show host Rachel Maddow demonstrated what passes for humor on her show Aug. 12 when she said this about Republican Congressman Steve LaTourette of Ohio --

MADDOW: Next up on the bizarre health-care debate circuit, Republican Congressman Steve LaTourette attended a town hall event in his Ohio district yesterday. There, he very responsibly urged his audience to be civil. (cuts to footage of LaTourette)

LaTOURETTE:  That's why we're having this forum and I would just indicate that nobody shouted you down and I would appreciate it if nobody shouts anybody down. We're here to listen to people ... but it needs to be done in a respectable way. I mean, yelling at somebody we don't agree with, you're not going to convince him what's going on.

MADDOW: A call for civility from the congressman, that's awesome. His follow-through? Not that awesome (cuts to footage of LaTourette interviewed after forum, by unidentified man clearly seeking ambush)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You're really not going to vote for this, are you?

LaTOURETTE: Don't know. There's nothing to vote for ...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN (interrupting): Oh come on now. That's why we're so civil in here.

LaTOURETTE: Do you want an answer to my question or are you going to ...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN (interrupting again):  Yeah, you're not really going to vote for this, are you?

LaTOURETTE: I will not vote for H.R. 3200 in its present form but we're not done yet, are we?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You're not voting for health care under any form, are you?

LaTOURETTE:  That's a bulls**t question.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN (feigning surprise): Really?

LaTOURETTE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well that's why it's so civil in here 'cause everyone knows you're not going to vote for it.

LaTOURETTE: That's a bulls**t question.

MADDOW: In case you are adding up all the irony to see if this story exceeds your recommended daily irony content, for the record, that was the follow-up to a call for civility from a congressman named (pauses for effect) LaTourette (smiles, tilts head for further emphasis) who chose as a setting for his spewing expletives to his constituents the Ohio town that is named Chagrin Falls. Again, not kidding!

What's this, there's actually a recommended daily limit of irony for liberals ....?

Upon first hearing this segment, I asked myself, is Maddow implying what I think she is? Namely, that LaTourette is a hypocrite in calling for civility at a public forum, followed by him uttering the mildest of expletives afterward to a moonbat with a camcorder (and not to the congressman's "constituents," as Maddow claimed), and this conduct is what you'd expect from someone named ... wait for it ... LaTourette?

Any doubt this is what Maddow implied vanished when I saw the wording in a graphic next to a photo of LaTourette -- "What's in a name?"

It's worth noting what Maddow talked about just before segment, of Dr. Stephen Hawking, among 16 recipients of the Medal of Freedom that day, having praised the medical care he's received from Britain's national health service.

Maddow steered clear of poking fun of Hawking, despite the fact the brilliant physicist has been confined to a wheelchair most of his life from neuro-muscular dystrophy (early draft of Maddow's reporting -- Stephen Hawking is clearly on a roll ...)

And did you happen to notice how Maddow exudes abundant health and apparent intelligence?