Betsy McCaughey

There are quite a few problems with Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar's December 28 coverage ("New fee coming for medical effectiveness research") concerning a new fee (i.e., tax) which will imposed on health insurance companies for each person they cover starting tomorrow.

Several times (twice in the body and once as seen above in the headline), the story refers to the assessment as a "medical effectiveness research" fee (without quotes). Just once, in the eleventh paragraph, does Alonso-Zaldivar call it by its far more widely-known name (written as indicated): "comparative effectiveness" research. But the item which stuck out like a sore thumb with me, and should also do so for anyone else who closely followed how the stimulus bill got enacted into law as well as the Obamacare discussions later that year,, was the following paragraph (bolds are mine):

Since April 8 of this year, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has called former Governor Sarah Palin an "idiot" 22 times on his Countdown show, usually by uttering the words, "That woman is an idiot." But in August 2004, the MSNBC host claimed to be too "naive and old-fashioned" to call a woman an "idiot," as he attacked conservative commentator Michelle Malkin for misquoting him as having called her an "idiot," when, in reality, he had charged that she had "made a fool out of herself" instead. In fact, Olbermann contended that if he had in reality called Malkin an "idiot," it would have been grounds for him to apologize:

We at Countdown were preparing an apology for my choice of language last night after the writer Michelle Malkin went on Rush Limbaugh's radio entertainment program and wrote in her Web blog that I had called her a, quote, "idiot." It was Ms. Malkin, who on Hardball last night, raised the accusation that John Kerry's Vietnam wounds may have been self-inflicted. It's naive and old-fashioned, but I feel you should reserve those terms like "idiot" exclusively for men. Political differences, fault or innocence are all secondary. There are codes. There's also a problem. I never called her an idiot.

But since April, the words, "That woman is an idiot," referring to Palin, have become a near regular part of the show, as the Countdown host has called the former governor an "idiot" during 20 episodes of his show between April 8 and July 8, including once when he used the label three times in one show as he also called her "idiot woman" and "that idiot."

An interesting, yet little known fact about goldfish:  The average goldfish has a memory of approximately one to three months, depending on the stimuli used to train it.

Dylan Ratigan, former CNBC co-host and current MSNBC desk jockey, has a shorter memory than a goldfish.

As the MRC’s Tim Graham noted just yesterday, it is an odd thing when MSNBC hosts wish for more civility in political dialogue.  A mere 24 hours later, Ratigan provided another example of his insincerity during a live segment on health care.  

Former New York Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey (R) took the conservative viewpoint, and Ratigan tag-teamed with Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner (N.Y.) in belittling her every statement.  

MSNBC and its star attraction Keith Olbermann have been asked to issue an apology and a correction for statements made by the "Countdown" host last week.

Don't hold your breath they'll do either.

As NewsBusters reported Sunday, the most disgraceful example of journalism on cable was challenged to a debate by a woman he disparaged on his program last Thursday.

As Olbermann has not shown the strength of character to accept Betsy McCaughey's challenge, the former Lt. Governor of New York has requested he and MSNBC issue an apology for his factless claims as well as a correction (h/t Johnny Dollar):

A health policy expert who Keith Olbermann eviscerated during Thursday's "Countdown" (video embedded below the fold) has officially challenged the disgraceful MSNBC personality to a debate concerning provisions in the soon to be enacted stimulus plan.

In a press release issued Friday, Betsy McCaughey stated (h/t TVNewser):

If Keith Olbermann of MSNBC could defend the health provisions slipped into the stimulus bill on their merits, he wouldn't be resorting to personal attacks on me. Olbermann calls me a shill funded by the drug industry (2-12-2009). That's not true...If Keith Olbermann has the courage, I invite him to debate me on his program...Mr. Olbermann, do you have the backbone (and the facts) to debate me?

Our story began last Monday when McCaughey published the following at Bloomberg: