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Olbermann Threatens To Serve Jail Time Over Health Care Reform

» 26 comments

olbermann-health-reformWhat one Special Comment giveth, the other taketh away: two months after devoting an episode-long Special Comment to the urgent need for health reform, Olbermann announced last night that he had given up on the health reform bill as it had evolved, calling it a scheme for “medical mobster protection money.”

Olbermann even made the (just a bit melodramatic) claim that he would go to jail rather than buying whatever government health insurance emerged from the “hollow shell of a bill:”

In a Daily Kos piece he released yesterday afternoon as a teaser for the Special Comment, Olbermann described the bill currently in consideration — and the leadership pushing it — as such (h/t Raw Story): ”Seeking the least common denominator, Sen. Reid has found it, especially the “least” part. This is not health, this is not care, this is certainly not reform.”

But this was only a warmup for what was to come on the show: (transcript via MSNBC)

I call on all those whose conscience urges them to fight, to use the only weapon that will be left to us if this bill becomes law. We must not buy federally mandated insurance if this cheesy counterfeit of reform is all we can buy.

No single payer? No sale. No public option? No sale. No Medicare buy-in? No sale. I am one of the self-insured, albeit by choice. And I hereby pledge that I will not buy this perversion of health care reform. Pass this at your peril, Senators, and sign it at yours, Mr. President. I will not buy this insurance. Brand me a lawbreaker if you choose. Fine me if you will. Jail me if you must.

 




Related: Howard Kurtz on the trend of “liberals jumping off the health care ship”

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  • Pat Doherty

    What would we do without Keith?

  • ImNotBlue

    Just replace him with a Muppet… at least that way, when he’s this far over the top, it won’t seem so strange.

    On second thought… a Muppet might not be as funny.

    (PS- It looks like my, “Moment of Keith” got picked up! How exciting.)

  • germ

    I actually enjoyed yesterdays Special Comment, once he got done with his attacks. I think Olbermann would be much more likable and probably have higher ratings his show would return to it’s roots, instead of the attack show that he has created.

    His story about the fans at the Yankees game I can relate with. I live in Seattle and although I would consider myself socially liberal, here I am considered an uber-conservative because of the extreme progressive nature of Seattle and can’t walk down the street in my old Army PT gear without being yet at, threatened, or spit on. The main difference though, is that he is a TV commentator and I am just a regular “Joe”, there is nothing in “public view” about me.

    While I understand what he is saying, he doesn’t receive any sympathy from me and it just seems like another “poor me” session.

  • dhg

    He does well with sports as it is his only experience.Why MSNBC ever thought he was credible as a political commentator is beyond me.Don’t expect the attcks to go away,it’s the real Keith.And let that be a message,it’s the real Keith.He’s an angry liberal robot capable of regularly making a fool of himself.Yeah Keith go to jail,that I’d love to see,but in the end he’ll do what he does which is essentially talk and nothing else.He’s a member of NATO,No Action Talk Only.

  • http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

    As if Olbermann has actually “bought” insurance ever. His is provided for him at no cost by his network. Just like the liars in Congress (all 535 of them) and the pundits on both sides, Olby has health insurance. He has no clue what the real world of getting insurance is like. He has probably never once even had to think about it.

    It is easy for those with FREE insurance to dictate to everyone else. Ask tubby the trasher when the last time was that he had to call an insurance company to fight over a prescription or test. Ask Beck or Hannity the same thing. Ask any of the thieves on Capitol Hill this question. They can’t answer the question because they have better coverage than most Americans.

    He pledges not to buy something he already has no need for? How brave….not. Another idiotic “Special Comment” from another idiotic hypocritical liar. Same with Hannity’s endless railing against the legislation. What does he care? News Corp takes very good care of his insurance needs.

    The sad, sad truth is that not one of those involved in the debate, be they elected charlatan or self-appointed pundit has any actual interaction with the real health care system. How dare them pretend to know the reality out here.

    For the record, I oppose any public option regardless of the name. I support the ending or pre-existing condition exclusions, policy cancellation and the like. I totally oppose any mandate. That is just wrong. I support tort reform with 2 words – Loser Pays.

    I think Olby, Hannity, their fellow travelers and the Fools on the Hill should be forced to buy individual policies and live with what the rest of us have. The first time any of these self-appointed experts has to deal with some undereducated insurance company bureaucrat over the need for a doctor ordered test will be like the proverbial boot to the behind.

    My big question: Who lies more and bigger? Pundits, politicians, journalists or insurance execs?

  • germ

    Keeva,

    I think you missed the part where Olbermann state he self-purchases his own insurance, “granted, it’s a personal choice.” I take that to mean that he could get health insurance through the company, but instead decided to self-insure.

  • roxsteady

    I’m with Keith. I’m not buying it either. I’ll just pay the fine.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-D-Lynch/899580289 James D Lynch

    Keith is finally right about something! No one should be forced to buy Health Insurance a product that should have never existed in the first place. He should however be allowed to have a Health Savings Account that would allow him to buy Catastrophe Insurance!

  • Fidoohki

    Olbermann in jail? we are not so lucky.

  • rmbltmbl

    This is all his idea of how to become a politician.. listen to the guy. How asinine.

  • Fidoohki

    Keeva says:

    Beck has said repeatedly about the troubles he had with getting insurance for
    his workers.

  • Tater Salad

    “Let us be clear”, if this loon goes off to the hootch-cow, I wouldn’t want any prisoner to have to go 1 hour with this whack-job Olbermann in the cell next to him and have to listen to his rantings and whinings. This one self inflicted fool we all have here.

  • http://www.swissarmyjew.com Keeva

    Ask Beck and Olbermann who pays for their insurance and who actually makes the phone calls and deals with the looniness of the health insurance companies.

    Both guys are trying to make a point that neither understands.

  • ChrisNH

    These pictures you continually show of Olbermann…are they the same one, or is each one ‘different?’ I see seething rage and blood-bursting eyeballs in every picture of the guy. I can only conclude that this isn’t the ‘raining candy’ administration he thought he’d get once Obama became President. It’s been nothing but blood-curdling rage from Keith and those of his ilk. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

  • Fidoohki

    Keeva says:

    Beck owns his own business in New York that isn’t a part of his Fox gig. He knows from the small
    business person standpoint.

  • blueblogger

    KO is not as angry as the majority of the people that post on here. Who are you guys trying to kid???

  • Jelperman

    Germ, you are such a pathetic liar. People don’t spit on veterans in uniform, period. It’s a lie that was first invented by Hermann Goering as part of the right-wing Dolchstosslegende (“We would have won the war if it weren’t for Jews, queers and others who stabbed the Fatherland in the back!”) during the early days of the Nazi movement. I wish right-wingers would at least make up some new bullshit rather than coughing up an old Nazi fur-ball that’s almost 90 years old.

  • germ

    Jelperman,

    You are right, I WASN’T in uniform. I was wearing my old PT shirt (you know, the gray ones that say ARMY across the front) on my way to the gym. I had been out of the army for about 2 years. I was sitting at a red light next to a Anti-War rally (I had no choice where I stopped, unless I wanted to stop in the middle of the hwy) they saw my ARMY plates, my unit stick on my back window and started yelling at me through my window. One saw I had my army shirt on and started yelling “He’s One! He’s One!” At this point I started to get my windows up, only to have a loogy land on my cheek and three more hit my driver side window once it was closed. I gunned it as soon as the light turned green, I didn’t care if I hit anyone or not. I was more frightened at that time than I was at anytime I was overseas.

    But, hey, I guess you know better than I do since you weren’t there or anything. So, just because some deranged person made something up 70 years ago, it couldn’t happen today.

    How open-minded of you, you progressive fucktard.

  • ImNotBlue

    blueblogger says:
    December 17, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    KO is not as angry as the majority of the people that post on here.

    Two quick points:

    1) KO is the same guy who told the President, on television, to “Shut the hell up!” And then later said the only reason he said that, was because he couldn’t say “F**k” on TV.

    “Not that angry” indeed.

    2) KO has a television program… we have a someone else’s website to write a comment. They’re not really on par.

  • blueblogger

    Sorry Blue if you took my comment personal. I didn’t mean it for you. I saw the show you are talking about and I didn’t think his anger was unjustified,

  • Jelperman

    Germ, your tall tale (like all other tall tales) improves with age, doesn’t it? Too bad you can’t keep your own bullshit story straight. First you claim you can’t walk down the street without being spat upon by DFHs (Dirty Fucking Hippies), now you claim you were driving and terrified of the DFHs. I find it hard to believe that someone who served in the armed forces (even if it was only REMF duty) would have just scurried away when some hippie attacked him. If your story is commonplace, no wonder this country hasn’t won a war since V-J Day. Wanker.

    By the way, I think it’s hilarious that you, like Baron Munchausen, when confronted by someone who can smell the horseshit you’re shoveling, you ask if I was there. Well, I wasn’t in the backwoods every time some hillbilly claims he was abducted by aliens, but since all previous stories of such things were nothing more than tall tales, I have no reason to think the latest one was true. Anyway, logic dictates that the person making the claim provide evidence, not for skeptics to disprove them.

  • MikeLI631

    This man is a CLOWN.

    He thinks he is Nelson Mandela, when he really is Lou Costello.

  • Ben Linus

    here
    Hippie protest here
    The spitting happens around 6:20 (while he is talking to someone else) by some…thing. Sure, the guy videotaping isn’t wearing his uniform, but it is a Iraq veteran getting spit on. She didn’t know he was a war veteran when she spit, but when he tells her, she sarcastically says, “Oh, no. I spit on a war veteran.”

  • Jelperman

    This proves Germ’s bullshit story how, exactly?

  • Susancai

    Is there any great progress? We are looking forward to knowing it. business directory |jobs|adjustable beds

  • alex020588

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