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Why is Betsy McCaughey on MSNBC?

October 06, 2009 10:23 am ET by Jamison Foser

Yesterday, I noted that the problem with Betsy McCaughey isn't that she's a liar -- it's that the media gives her a platform to lie.

Let's be clear about this: it isn't just FOX News and the New York Post that are guilty of promoting someone whose claim to fame for 15 years has been spreading falsehoods about health care reform.

As I write this, McCaughey is on MSNBC, talking about health care.  Why?  What has she ever done to deserve such a platform?

(And remember MSNBC's promotion of McCaughey next time someone tells you it is a "liberal" cable channel.)

UPDATE: McCaughey and MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan just had this exchange:

McCAUGHEY: You're not a very fair moderator.

RATIGAN: Well, you're not a very fair answerer, so there you go.

Right.  McCaughey isn't a very fair answerer.  in fact, she's a liar.  We've known she's a liar for 15 years.  She's famously a liar about the very topic MSNBC is hosting her to discuss.  So why is she on television?  Why is Ratigan interviewing her?

UPDATE 2: Ratigan ended the segment by telling McCaughey: "Betsy it was a pleasure, again, I thank you for spending some time with us, and I do hope you will come back."

Why?  McCaughey is a proven liar.  Ratigan spent the entire interview trying to get her to answer questions and saying she wasn't doing so and saying she wasn't being "fair" in her responses; McCaughey spent the interview attacking Ratigan and basically behaving like Betsy McCaughey.  And Dylan Ratigan wants to put her on television again.

This is why public discourse in America is broken.

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    • Author by bintx (October 06, 2009 10:27 am ET)
      5  
      I have the same question about Liz Cheney.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by DAWUSS (October 06, 2009 10:28 am ET)
        1
      She should be on TRMS
      Report Abuse
    • Author by LORISNJ (October 06, 2009 10:30 am ET)
      2  
      I need more input here. What show is she on? Who is doing the interviewing? If she is going on Morning Joe, then I can see the problem with giving her this avenue to lie. If she is going on either Keith or Rachel, she needs to come in packing more than her usual lies because they will be prepared. So what show is she booked to lie on?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by neon desert (October 06, 2009 10:31 am ET)
      1  
      If K-street money can buy congressmen and senators, why is it surprising that one of big-pharms most prevalent lobbyists would show up in a venue that gets its income from selling ad time?

      I'm not implying anything... just askin'.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by goesto11 (October 06, 2009 10:32 am ET)
      3  
      Wow -- that interview was a classic.

      Kudos to Dylan Ratigan for refusing to allow her to just spew her usual nonsense. She ended up looking like an ill-informed (lying) wacko.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by mk3872 (October 06, 2009 10:41 am ET)
      2  
      "Why is McCaughey on MSNBC"?

      Because it is stinkin' cable "news" where conflict & BS sells $$$$
      Report Abuse
      • Author by goesto11 (October 06, 2009 10:43 am ET)
        3  
        If MSNBC regularly puts Pat Buchanan on, anybody else is going to look like Mother Teresa by comparison.

        Report Abuse
    • Author by GotKids (October 06, 2009 10:56 am ET)
      2  
      Dylan Ratigan just housed McCaughey. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL to watch.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by DellDolly (October 06, 2009 11:15 am ET)
      4  
      Why did he thank her for appearing on his show? Because he's a kind human being, that's why, and that's what a kind human being does. But yeah, that doesn't excuse his suggestion that she'd be welcome to return.

      Rep Weiner from NY tore her a new one in a recent health care debate between the two of them - the story and video are available on Daily Kos.

      And I loved watching Rachel Maddow on the Sunday talk show a couple of days ago. She refused to let David Gregory cut her off before she'd made her point, and she pushed back when someone else on the show tried the false equivalency argument that there's a conservative news network and there's a liberal news network. She asked him about Joe Scarborough. She's good. I have never seen Dylan Ratigan.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by dmhack (October 06, 2009 2:52 pm ET)
           
        Dell,
        I think his comment was a bit tongue in cheek. I doubt she'll ever risk going on the air with him again.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Midnight Kevin (October 06, 2009 12:14 pm ET)
         
      Watching Fox News and many of these crazy conservative idiots is like watching TMZ...

      ------------------------------------
      The Midnight Review
      Mum Is The Word
      Report Abuse
    • Author by david.martin1234339 (October 06, 2009 9:50 pm ET)
         
      Betsy McCaughey's sole aim of existence is to enrich herself through her corporate masters.

      Now wonder Republicans love her... she's a bald-face lying GOP Corporate Hack.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by danasteinbach (October 07, 2009 8:33 pm ET)
        1
      Ratigan did not interview her he attacked her when he didn't like what she said. You chose to pull out an "example" of his fairness towards her?!? Did you see the whole interview? This is another perfect example of shouting down any opposition to your point of view, then resort to calling others that hold a differing opinion, racists, ignorant and mis-informed. Right........
      Report Abuse
      • Author by loislap (October 08, 2009 5:55 pm ET)
           
        He did not "attack" her he simply argued his case aggressively and she started pouting about being "brow beaten" right after calling Wiener "ignorant" of the facts.How can you defend a woman like this in the first place?
        She is a serial liar acting wholly on behalf of corporate interests while millions go without adequate coverage.It's disgusting.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Rixic (October 08, 2009 4:58 pm ET)
         
      She is on MSNBC the same reason as she is on everyone other media outlet: ratings.

      Beside that very obvious fact, Ratigan really gave it to her. He didn't hesitate to pounce on her when her tactic was blatantly adhere to emotional maudlin of "senior citizen Armageddon." Did anyone notice how she was schmoozing herself to the moderator and veneering her entire argument base on how much she "cares" about senior citizens and how this bill would be the end of Medicare coverage while the question was revolving around how we can cut the cost? The ironic part is that her "solution" was to gradually up the Medicare age, from 65 to 70. Great, the savior of senior citizens plans to coerce retirees out of the Medicare program, into the belly of private insurance industry. You know, the age group that has the HIGHEST premium rate, haha. Same age group that probably by then have a thousand medical complications and perhaps are rejected by the very insurance companies she so desperately shilling for.

      The only reason she is pushing to cut the public option out of the equation is that her clients would have to provide lowered prescription drugs in bulk to reduce the overhead. Therefore, if there is no public option, the companies would continue to provide the drugs in smaller doses which result in much larger profit and bottom line.
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