Charles Krauthammer Offends Mark Shields by Saying 'ObamaCare'
Syndicated columnist and PBS contributor Mark Shields got offended Friday when Charles Krauthammer called the President's signature piece of legislation "ObamaCare."
This interestingly came less than ten minutes after Shields apologized to his fellow "Inside Washington" panelists for saying "Christmas season" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The biggest element in debt is healthcare expenditures, Medicare and Medicaid, that’s where the money is, even more than Social Security. And the problem with ObamaCare is it freezes in place these huge expenditures. It does not cut costs. There’s going to be an additional half a trillion in taxes devoted to the ObamaCare plan. And, it, it, it siphoned off whatever cuts you’re going to have in Medicare, half a trillion, for the new entitlements. So there is nothing available to reduce the debt. That’s the real problem of ObamaCare.
GORDON PETERSON, HOST: Ten seconds.
MARK SHIELDS: Well, the Healthcare Reform Act, I guess it's what Charles wants to somehow denigrate and personalize as “ObamaCare,” that, that’s become sort of a partisan attack slogan. Let’s, let’s call it what it is.
PETERSON: Alright.
So, in the course of roughly eight minutes, Shields apologized for saying "Christmas season" while taking issue with the term "ObamaCare." This despite "ObamaCare" producing over 4.5 million results in a Google search.
More importantly, Shields was never offended when this common term was uttered on "Inside Washington" before. According to LexisNexis, this was at least the sixth installment of IW that Krauthammer used this expression in Shields's presence.
For example, count the number of times Krauthammer said this suddenly offensive term during the October 10 installment:
KRAUTHAMMER: Well, he has another problem which is at the time he supported ObamaCare and now he says he doesn't. Supporting ObamaCare is not something Democrats want to do. I'm not sure there's a single Democrat in the country, perhaps except for Russ Feingold, who advertises his support of ObamaCare.
NINA TOTENBERG: Actually there are plenty.
KRAUTHAMMER: And there are a lot of Democrats who are running ads saying that they opposed it as a way to save their seats. Look, what I think really is overriding here is obviously the economy and certain major issues. One of the complaints against ObamaCare is not only what's in ObamaCare, but the fact that the Democrats spent a year and a half on this which is not high on the agenda of a lot of voters instead of addressing economic issues. And that's a complaint that they've been ideologically driven rather than looking after bread and butter.
That's five times in about a minute without any objection from Shields. Even better, at the end of this installment, the perilously liberal Colby King of the Washington Post also said that which suddenly offends Shields:
COLBY KING: They're not all running away from ObamaCare. And the Kentucky race in which Rand Paul is probably ahead, his Democratic opponent, Conway, the attorney general, said that he supported ObamaCare. People who are uninsured are now going to be covered in Kentucky and he stood up for that.
PETERSON: Okay. Colby, you get the last word. Thanks. See you next week.
So King a little over two months ago closed the show saying ObamaCare twice without any squawk from Shields.
But on Christmas Eve, after apologizing for saying "Christmas season," Shields was suddenly sensitive to the word most Americans - apparently including the Post's Colby King! - use when referring to this year's healthcare reform.
Makes you wonder what got into Shields's eggnog.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Maxie Shields offends
Submitted by killa37 on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 4:51pm.
Maxie Shields offends ME.................just by being there!!!!! Fortunatly, I can turn him off.......but somehow ObamaCare is staring us right in the face!!!
The Chairman called it that
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:00pm.
He called it ObamaCare during the "summit."
Was he offended by it? Can't remember.
-Jon
You mean the 'summit' where
Submitted by killa37 on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:04pm.
You mean the 'summit' where Boy Blunder used up more minutes (because he is President) than ALL of the Republicans...............and also flipped the bird to some of them in his not-so-subtle way???
Classy guy, that Barry Soetoro.....................
Reaganomics was originally
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:14pm.
Reaganomics was originally meant to have a negative connotation but when the economy got better it just became shorthand for Reagan's fiscal policies.
So the fact that President Obama's defenders wish to remove the phrase ObamaCare means that they are afraid it is going to become a dead albatross hanging around obama's neck.
“A dead albatross hanging around Obama's neck”
Submitted by needle on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 7:19pm.
You got that right, MidAmerica.
Looking into my crystal ball, it appears that ObamaCare is just going to become more and more despised as the statists try their worst to set their nasty bit in our mouth with death panels trying to contain spiraling cost while bankrupting hospitals and discouraging those in the medical profession with governmental bureaucracy and inefficiency.
ObamaCare promises to be the gift that keeps on giving to Conservatives, and the plague that keeps on cursing Progressives, as far as I can see into the future.
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
If the political climate
Submitted by shannon76 on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:22pm.
If the political climate hadn't become so testy over the past 3 years, I might have never recognized how hyper-partisan the journalists are. For so long, these people who were, by default, assumed to be nonpartisan reporters of truth and fact, are in fact shills and propagandists. Be it, Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, Mark Shields and Bill Press, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings. These folks are big government whackos in suits. They may as well be wearing long hair, camouflage jackets, and a bong.
What about . . .
Submitted by Junk Science Skeptic on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:29pm.
What about the phrase "Bush's Tax Cuts For The Rich" that was obligatorily parroted as a derogatory slight about every thirty seconds for the last nine years on PBS et al? How many times did Marky get worked up about that?
Yeah and they still use the
Submitted by MidAmerica on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:36pm.
Yeah and they still use the phrase Bush's Tax Cuts when they are definitely not Bush's anymore, they are Obama's Tax Cuts. Bush's cuts expire Dec. 31 and after that they are a creation of obama. They are now Obama's Tax Cuts for the Rich.
So we have to call Obamacare by its formal name...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:33pm.
...but woe be to anyone who calls Christmas, Christmas. Time to retire Mark.
Bad Habits
Submitted by jaywl on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 5:43pm.
I need to moderate my reaction to many of the people and comments on television: it is not healthy what I do. More and more my response to Gibbs, Pelosi, Reid, even my President is a big FU. Out loud and said with what I believe is a hearty, derisive, contemptuous honesty. Can I take two more years? Can my wife's senstive ears? However that may be, an ass such as Shields deserves my outburst as much as any of them because of the contemptable way he complains only after an obvious session with trusted advisors (should I or not?). One of his friends should have said "But, Mark, you'll look like an assh*le if you act offended now". Perhaps one of them did, to which he replied "Well?"
Damned right it's "not healthy".
Submitted by virginia republican on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 9:56am.
You should do what I do. As soon as I see that the MSM is going to be showing Obama/Pelosi/Reid, I immediately switch the channel. Why should I waste my time listening to their lies? How can I tell when they're lying? When they move their lips.
Liberalism is a mental disease.
Submitted by needle on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 7:28pm.
One way to avoid the sweet mercies of ObamaCare is to never listen to or watch the Liberal media.
I suggest it as a New Year’s resolution
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
Mr. Sheilds's "Healthcare
Submitted by allouchsit on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 6:02pm.
Mr. Sheilds's "Healthcare Reform Act" is no more accurate than is Krauthammer's "Obamacare." The law is offically the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." If Shields can't remember the actual name of the law himself, then he needs to keep his mouth shut about what other people call it. Maybe he is just offended and embarrased that the President had anything to do with such a legal monstrosity in the first place. I know I am.
Would he objects to the real name
Submitted by Tjexcite on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 6:04pm.
Socialist-care, Government-care or the real long form. Health care reform that was not reform but to have government take over and just create the framework to redistribute the wealth care.
I am offended that
Submitted by chsw10605 on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 6:35pm.
I am offended that Krauthammer did not call the scheme "Obamanable Care."
Let's call the Bush tax cuts what they were.. Mark Shields
Submitted by Gary Hall on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 6:57pm.
Let's call the Bush tax cuts what they are then, Mark Shields. The Bush Stimulus Plan... don't denigrate and personalize them, OK? They were for everyone.
(;~/ gary
Dear heaven....
Submitted by NevadanConservative on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 7:19pm.
... that that cretin actually gets airtime or much of our attention.
My worry is that each time these leftists come up with something new and outrageous, we waste valuable time and effort excoriating them. No choice, of course, as they will be emboldened either way to carry on as they do.
It's just so sad and so wasteful.
NVCon
PURPLE IS THE NEW BROWN see below link
http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/17194/2872764590061034863S600x600Q85.jpg
It is rapidly becoming de
Submitted by Richard B. on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 8:14pm.
It is rapidly becoming de rigour for the answer to a statement is, I am offended. I sure that I am offending some person some where by writing this. Screw them.
Shields.....
Submitted by BBallleaper on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 8:30pm.
died years ago right??? If not, he should have!
Maybe the near 80% of us that
Submitted by Emil on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 8:41pm.
Maybe the near 80% of us that believe in Christmas and Jesus Christ should stop watching NPR and F*****g Shields, and force congress to defund them
Let's call it what it is --
Submitted by wascally on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 9:50pm.
Let's call it what it is -- Obamacare!
Or is it an Abomination!?
If not Obamacare what is it then?
Submitted by octavioj on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 10:26pm.
It will forever be called Obamacare regardless of the objections of the left that wants to distance their boy wonder from the pile of manure he created.Shield's is right.
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 10:34pm.
Shield's is right. "ObamaCare" is not an accurate description.
"ObamaHarm"
There, I fixed it.
Shields' punchbowl...
Submitted by KyWriter on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 10:46pm.
...is full of unpleasant things these days and I suspect he knows it is getting worse.
Hummmm
Submitted by donabernathy on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 11:31pm.
no pronlem with the Bush tax cuts for da rich.....
what a FRAUD
roflmao
Political Correctness...
Submitted by Toast of the Town on Sat, 12/25/2010 - 11:31pm.
If I call it O-Ham-a-care, will it piss off dems AND Muslims?
What else is interesting here
Submitted by Van Halen on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 12:06am.
What else is interesting here is that Shields proves that Totenberg lied when she said she wasn't apologizing for saying 'Christmas'. Apparantly, not saying 'Christmas' is the new chic in Liberal circles.
And I Love It.
Submitted by Tenebrous on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 2:27pm.
For liberals to keep reinforcing the suspicion that "they ain't like the rest of us" is a beautiful thing, and it keeps building that wall between their asylum and the rest of the country. I hope they keep it up and wholeheartedly shun Christmas, almost as if they were waging a war against it...:)
Visions and Principles blog
Let’s cut Shields a little slack here…
Submitted by JPR1 on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 12:19am.
Obamacare is not entirely accurate.
The fact of the matter is our weak-teet, lilly-livered, candy-a$$ed comander-in-thief pretty much handed the whole enchilada over to Madam Pelosi and her diminutive sidekick in the Senate.
Boy Barry was much too busy golfing, hosting White House soirées or planning family vacations to really sink his teeth into the details of “Health Care Reform”.
Just like he was much too busy golfing, hosting White House soirées or planning family vacations to realize the Russians had horn-swaggled him during the Start Treaty negotiations.
Pelosicare work for you Shields? Just not as catchy imo.
Good thing Dr. K didn't call it what it really is
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 1:13am.
CommieCare.
I bet Shields would have had a conniption.
LOL - Heck, they might have had to wheel him out to a waiting ambulance.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
when you buy a suit-
Submitted by JIMMY1660 on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 10:15am.
is it a suit or Armani-Dolce Gabbana /Obama care-this suit is BHO-
Its a piece of garbage this guy will wear forever.
just like Willy plays with little girls. that's Billy Boys legacy So it will be for BHO.
you are what you are.BHO is not even educated-lets see his transcripts-and papers
he shows it each time he speaks, can not speak from the heart-only from a teleprompter from someone else's brain. not one original thought.
so Charles really does know what it is or is not.
BHO=Obama-Care
etched in history
Crybaby
Submitted by Tyler Durbin on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 11:01am.
I don't remember ever hearing Shields and his liberal MSM cohorts objecting when the Strategic Defense Initiative (STI) was referred to as the "Star Wars" program. That was certainly a much more partisan and judgemental moniker.
"Hey Lama! How about a little something (you know) for the effort?"
I wish.....
Submitted by almostacowboy on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 11:56am.
I could get a reading on what's gonna "offend" Prog/Lib/Commies. They're offended by "ObamaCare" but not "abortion"? They're offended by Christmas but not the "Gay Pride Parade"? They're offended by "toys in Happy Meals" but not Michael Moore? They are offended by the Tea Party but not by Hugo Chavez?
See, if I could figure out what's going to offend them, I could make a list and be sure to include several of those things in any conversation with a Lib. I like seeing them turn colors.
Speaking of Michael Moore…
Submitted by needle on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 7:36pm.
…Have you seen this. Certainly moore people need to see it.
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
Man....
Submitted by almostacowboy on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 8:10pm.
talk about irony.
If he likes it so much, why not have his name on it?
Submitted by StarAZ on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 1:14pm.
And now--they are sneaking the death panels back in...NYT today!
DId they...
Submitted by NevadanConservative on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 3:18pm.
ever really take them out?
The whole premise reminds me of the old Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man", wherein the state judged a librarian obsolete, as the State had banned books.
If anyone in here thinks these death panels, if enacted, will not have a political bent, I have to tell them that they are taking the short end of a very long bet. That, or they see themselves as the judges on said panel, and the rest of us as (in thier 'minds') as their lawful prey.
This has to have appealed to BHO greatly, as I don't think he has ever been in any sort of a tangle at all, coddled and all as he was. To blood himself without fear of retribution, show he is a Ruler 'cause he can order people's lives to end.
It still eludes me, aside from sucking up on the public dollar, how sixty million people could have voted this one in. But having them ostensibly at his back, he best get used to having the millstones he wants to crush the rest of us with hung FiRMLY around HIS neck, labeled with HIS name. And if that is too hot for him, than he needs to get out of OUR White House, stat.
NVCon
And tomorrow...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 8:14pm.
...the NYT will compare Jon Stewart to Edward R Murrow. No, Really! Drudge said.
oh, I think I just threw up in my mouth........... :-(
Once again, Sarah Palin is proven correct!
Submitted by Free Stinker on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 8:19pm.
Obama Embraces 'Death Panel' Concept in Medicare RuleOnce again, Sarah Palin is proven correct!
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Mark Shields is such a pathetic loser
Submitted by WarEagle01 on Sun, 12/26/2010 - 9:07pm.
Hey shields this crap sandwich that you liberals forced on the rest of us is called Obamacare whether you like it or not. Save your faux indignation you liberal dbag. Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare.