He had a hard time pronouncing the subject's name, and admitted "I don't pay much attention to the guy," but MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Wednesday actually depicted Charles Krauthammer as a tin foil hatter.
Schultz and Company even had the audacity of making a picture of the good doctor wearing such a hat (video follows with transcript and commentary):
ED SCHULTZ, HOST: This is a story for the folks who take a shower after work. Progressives, a battle against liberal ideas is brewing, and it’s getting bigger than healthcare reform. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthower. Is that? Krauthammer. That’s his name, yeah. I don’t pay much attention to the guy. But anyway, he has drawn the battle lines.
Now keep in mind that Schultz can’t even pronounce the name of the subject he’s attacking, yet he believes he’s intellectually superior:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The irony is that his signature achievement, ObamaCare, is the test of this new liberalism. And today, it hangs in the balance of a website or a promise here and there. So there's kind of a practical reality check on his ambitions. If he does not succeed with ObamaCare, the cause of the kind of expansive liberalism, the kind of entitlement state he's been looking for, I think will be set back a full generation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHULTZ: Krauthammer is trying to make the case that the future of liberalism is based on the survival of junk insurance and the effectiveness of a website? The generation he's talking about will ultimately be better off because healthcare reform is what the nation needs and the American people know it, and that's what they voted for. Now I've been saying this since day one of the Ed Show on MSNBC: a set back on the functions of a website is one thing, but the basic principle of ObamaCare is to give all Americans the advantage and access to affordable healthcare, which is a huge step forward.
Now, before we get into the specifics of what Schultz said, let’s be clear that Krauthammer obtained an honors degree in political science and economics from McGill University, then was a Commonwealth Scholar in politics at Balliol College, Oxford, after which he went to Harvard Medical School.
By contrast, Schultz went to Minnesota State University, Moorhead, on a football scholarship getting a B.A. in history and his Masters in political science.
As such, Schultz certainly has the right to challenge Krauthammer on his views, but likening him to a tin foil hatter is preposterous.
As for who’s right about the future of liberalism if ObamaCare fails, for the past month as problems have materialized with the website as well as with the law itself, pundits on both sides of the aisle have made the case that if this program completely falls apart, supporters of larger government will lose and lose badly.
What Americans have been witnessing since October 1 is proof that government is quite inferior when it comes to providing services to the public.
Maybe more importantly, as millions of Americans now find out that they can’t keep their insurance plans as they were promised, they’re realizing that what they were sold is much different than what they’re being forced to purchase.
As a result, if this program does completely fall apart as is indeed possible, those pushing for a more expansive government role in people’s lives will most certainly lose in the public's eye.
I guess Schultz didn’t learn that at Minnesota State.
