Wow -- to think that this man seriously considered running for Senate as a Republican, until it dawned on him that voters would hear his stump speech and assume he's a Democrat.
Geraldo Rivera starts every hour of his radio show with the tag line, "Not red, not blue, but red white and blue." Catchy line -- and more than a little reminiscent of oratory from a little-known Illinois state senator at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. (Audio after the jump)
Not only does Rivera share President Obama's alleged affection for bipartisan consensus, he boasts over the airwaves about how much he wants Obama to succeed en route to nationalized health care. Hearing this while a guest on his radio show Tuesday was more than "conservative ayatollah" Ann Coulter could take (h/t for audio, Brian Maloney, mrctv.org) --
RIVERA: I'm rooting for this president to succeed, even though he's stuck up and snobby and everything else. I want him to succeed because when he succeeds, we all succeed. But today we're getting word that contrary to what the president told us repeatedly, at least two million American policy holders will not be able to hold onto their current (health insurance) policies. ...
COULTER (after Rivera said he would have preferred massive expansion of Medicare instead of Affordable Care Act): This does explain why people are suspicious when you call yourself a Republican, that you want full socialized medicine. Look, you could have said ...
RIVERA: I want a single-payer (system). I think that's the way.
What's most remarkable about Rivera saying he wants Obama "to succeed" is what he says next -- that at least two million Americans (operative phrase here -- "at least") will lose their health insurance despite Obama's previous insistent claims to the contrary.
In other words, Rivera is saying he wants even more, uh, success from Obama -- in the form of fully socialized health care -- amid mounting evidence of Obama's worst debacle. And Rivera wonders why actual conservatives dismiss him as a RINO? Yeesh!
