Ed Schultz Attacks Joe Lieberman's Lobbyist Wife: 'Does the Word Whore Apply?'

October 31st, 2009 9:03 PM

How angry are ultraliberal talk show hosts over Joe Lieberman’s opposition to a government "competitor" in the health insurance system, the so-called "public option"? Ed Schultz was mad enough Wednesday to get very personal with Hadassah Lieberman, the senator’s wife, who has worked for several DC lobbying firms. Schultz suggested she was a "whore." He said:

Now, the pillow talk in the Lieberman household in the sack had to be rather interesting, OK? You have got the wife working on behalf of the industry that's lining the pockets of the senator who has now come out against the public option. OK, look, how dumb are we? Is this a coincidence?

He asked: Does the word 'whore' apply? Are we there yet?

Mrs. Lieberman’s interests in the health debate are nebulous, according to left-wing journalist Joe Conason at Salon.com:  

The Lieberman family's financial ties to the health industry are no secret, yet their full extent remains unknown. During her husband's 2006 reelection campaign, Hadassah Lieberman's employment as a "senior counselor" to Hill & Knowlton, one of the world’s biggest lobbying firms, briefly erupted as an issue, especially because the clients she served were in the controversial pharmaceutical and insurance sectors. Exactly what she did for those clients has never been disclosed.

Schultz was also angry with CNBC host Larry Kudlow, who criticized him for hosting a segment on Wall Street with Ralph Nader and Barney Frank and no conservatives: "And by the way, what middle classer do you represent? You're a Wall Street pig and have been for a long time."

Schultz also fulminated on Wednesday about the need for a special prosecutor to investigate CIA lying to Congress. Schultz even nominated Ken Starr for the job:

Now I have to ask the Obama administration. I know you got a lot on your plate and I know you got a lot going on. How much evidence do you need, Mr. Holder? How much evidence do you need before you have the Justice Department decide, you know, where there's smoke there's fire. We're going to get Ken Starr and we're going to give him a $40 million budget to go find out exactly what the hell was going on!