Maddow Finally Gets It Right About Alito's Reaction During State of Union Speech in 2010
Better belated than never.
More than two years after she dishonestly claimed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was caught "heckling" President Obama during his State of the Union address, Rachel Maddow has finally come clean on what actually occurred. (video after page break)
On her MSNBC show Jan. 27, 2010, right after Obama spoke before Congress, Maddow said this --
This year both the speech made some news and the theater around the speech made a tiny little bit of news. One moment of pure political theater tonight was a quasi-reprise of Congressman Joe Wilson's "you lie!" moment from last year's speech on health reform. As President Obama was describing last week's Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations the world over to spend without limit on American politicians and political campaigns, incredibly, a justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Samuel Alito, shook his head (footage shown of Alito's reaction) and said "not true" or possibly "simply not true." A Supreme Court spokeswoman told NBC's Pete Williams tonight just moments ago that Justice Samuel Alito who was himself unavailable for comment on the heckling ...
Not so incredibly, Maddow's dubious claim about Alito "heckling" Obama was accompanied by her parroting Obama's patently false claim of the Citizens United ruling allowing corporations "the world over" to spend "without limit" on politicians and campaigns in America.
What Alito did here, at least according to Maddow, was engage in a seldom seen example of silent heckling. Close your eyes and you'd miss it; politicians and comedians invariably do when this happens. More forceful examples clearly rise to the level of hate speech as dutiful thought cops like Maddow will remind you.
Lapsing into candor this past Monday, Maddow recounted the episode more accurately --
MADDOW: Even before the Obama administration's health reform law was taken up by the Supreme Court this past week, the court's conservative majority had already come under fire from the administration, and from the president specifically, for their last very controversial ruling, in the Citizens United decision.
OBAMA (from 2010 State of Union speech): With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations to spend without limit in our elections.MADDOW: That was when the conservative justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words "not true" back at the president. Remember that? Watch again, it goes by fast. Watch (footage shown again). By the way, (this?) is how a Supreme Court justice yells "you lie!" at the president at the State of the Union.
How refreshing that Maddow has also stopped referring to Joe Wilson's "scream" at Obama during his health reform speech before Congress in September 2009.
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Comments
You know....
Submitted by c5then on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 2:35pm.
It's an old and tired metaphore, but in this case it is absolutely accurate...You can tell when Rachel Maddow is lying because her lips are moving.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
She's the best newsman on PMSNBC, right?
Submitted by WhoIsJohnGalt on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 2:52pm.
RIGHT?
She's the ONLY man on MSNBC!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 3:26pm.
.
Obama insulted the court right to their face in front of America
Submitted by NeoKong on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 3:02pm.
But somehow Rachel wants us to believe that Alito shaking his head was the equivalent of some outrageous act of disrespect.
They are going to have a little surprise in November.
They think that getting more fringy, obnoxious, dishonest and openly hostile to more than half the country is somehow gonna' keep them in the White House.
I say go for it.
Particularly when Obama misrepresented the . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 3:09pm.
. . . Supreme Court's ruling on the case, knowing full well that the justices are bound by tradition not to comment while they attend the SOTU address. They were used as involuntary props in what appears now to be Obama's deliberate attempt to de-legitimize the Constitutiional authority of the Supreme Court.
There isn't anybody that man respects.
Submitted by NeoKong on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 3:41pm.
He basically called them a bunch of incompetent clowns right in front of Congress.
It was blatantly rude and unbelievably arrogant.
It was unnecessary and gratuitous.
I hope they provide a little payback in June.
It would serve him right.
Obamao's arrogance is only surpassed by his stupidity.
Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 3:51pm.
How can a constitutional law professor believe that there "are precedents out there" that will help uphold Obamacare?
How could the POTUS be so arrogant as to think that it's OK to bitch slap another branch of government without consequences?
Well, Rachel got two years
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 4:06pm.
Well, Rachel got two years worth of disdain for Alito from her friends, so it was a lie well worth it, and she can own up now.
Do all
Submitted by Okieflyover on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 4:08pm.
Of the students who took constitutional law from ObAma get their money back now?
I
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 5:44pm.
am kinda like Wilson and Alito. Everytime madcow opens her yap, I say "not true........you lie"
I repeat. The best thing the Justices can do is
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 10:29pm.
to not what until June and shoot down this nightmare now and let these morons posture ranting threats until their tongues fall out and they are creamed in November.
Ok I give up. Who is this
Submitted by Speedy1952 on Thu, 04/05/2012 - 10:47am.
Ok I give up. Who is this Rachel person ?