The pair were reacting to a clip of Pelosi's interview yesterday with Diane Sawyer in which the Speaker said of House Minority Leader John Boehner that "some people will do anything for the insurance companies." Pelosi cast the bill as tough regulation of the insurance industry.
Scarborough's point, in which Hayes concurred, was that far from punishing insurance companies, the bill that Pelosi piloted through Congress gave them the biggest prize of all: a law forcing all Americans to buy their product.
View video here.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Here's my point, OK? If you [Pelosi] want to say we think it is so important morally to insure 31 million Americans that don't have health insurance, we will do deals with people that we hate. I can deal with that. What I can't deal with is Nancy Pelosi calling insurance companies "villains" for the past year-and-a-half and then saying yesterday on Diane Sawyer something that is just a lie --
CHRIS HAYES: Joe, I totally --
SCARBOROUGH: -- saying the insurance companies hate this, and John Boehner loves health insurance companies. Just tell us the truth, Nancy: don't lie.
HAYES: I totally, I completely agree, that every time, my back gets up every time that a Democrat phrases this as some sort of victory over the insurance companies. I totally agree with you. I think that's a completely disingenuous statement by Nancy Pelosi.
Just a few days ago, I gave Hayes kudos for taking issue with Larry O'Donnell's condemnation of FNC's Bret Baier for interrupting Pres. Obama during a recent interview. Hayes is an unapologetic lefty. His preferred health care solution is Medicare for all, presumably a way station on the road to single-payer. But let's again give Chris credit for his intellectual honesty.
