S.E. Cupp Likens Obama’s ‘Lazy’ Comment To Jimmy Carter Malaise Speech

On MSNBC’s Now with Alex Wagner, conservative political analyst S.E. Cupp slammed Barack Obama‘s alleged comment that Americans were being “a little bit lazy.” Alleged, because that’s not what he actually said. Nonetheless, Cupp said “I won’t go so far as to make the argument this means he’s un-American, but we know how badly Jimmy Carter‘s malaise speech went over — when you indict the American public for the societal ills and bad economy, they don’t take kindly.”

RELATED:Rick Perry: ‘Lazy’ Remark Reveals That Obama ‘Grew Up In A Privileged Way’

“Was it really an indictment though?” Wagner cut in.

“Sure it was,” Cupp relied. “He’s asked about the economy and he talks how they don’t have ambition, they’re lazy. Not a smart idea.”

“That’s not what he was doing,” Politico‘s Maggie Haberman interjected. “What he was saying was the US has gotten sort of soft about selling itself overseas as a place to do business here. The problem is, with that argument and Democrats have been saying that for the last 24 hours, that’s not what he was saying, he wasn’t calling Americans lazy. it doesn’t matter because the sound bite getting played over and over again.”

Wagner attempted to play Rick Perry’s ad using the quote but couldn’t due to technical difficulties. The Nation‘s Ari Melber then did a dead-on imitation of the Texas Governor that political impressionists would envy.

Watch the “lazy” discussion below via MSNBC:

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