Martin Bashir: Michelle Obama's Anti-Obesity Campaign Based on Warnings From 'Obstetricians'

NewsBusters readers know that one of my guilty pleasures is pointing out the stupidity of America's television personalities.

The award for the most intellectually challenged comment I saw on TV Tuesday goes to MSNBC's Martin Bashir who on the show remarkably bearing his own name said that first lady Michelle Obama based her anti-obesity campaign on warnings from - wait for it! - "obstetricians" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

KRYSTAL BALL, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: In general she's just been this incredible role model. And as a mother myself, I have a four-year-old little girl, and these are things that I'm thinking through, and how do you balance that fast-paced life with healthy eating and healthy habits. She's someone that I look to to see, you know, how she's managing to balance it all. It's quite incredible.

So Ball, a former Congressional candidate turned MSNBC contributor, actually looks to the first lady - with her huge staff, secret service, as well access to taxpayer funded limousines, helicopters, and airplanes - to see "how she's balancing it all?"

Can the folks on MSNBC get more shamelessly sycophantic?

Actually, when you're on the Martin Bashir show, the answer is always a resounding "Yes": 

MARTIN BASHIR, HOST: But she's been in the vanguard of medical science that is warning us that if we don't take control of our diets, over 50 percent of the nation will be clinically obese in about fifteen years. So this isn't something that she's kind of made up as a political football. She's basing her compassionate desire to improve the eating practices of all of us on science, on warnings from obstetricians and people who are experts in this field.

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Um, Martin? An obstetrician is a doctor that specializes in the care of women's reproductive tracts and their babies during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period.

Obstetricians should not be confused with obesity specialists, dieticians, or nutritionists.

Makes you wonder if Bashir thinks baby bumps are the result of overeating.