MSNBC host Ed Schultz laughed off conservatives’ defiance on Thursday following the end to the government shutdown — particularly Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) insistence that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would provoke an “all-out revolt” from Americans.
“Revolt? Who’s gonna be revolting?” Schultz asked. “[Sen.] Ted Cruz (R-FL)? Sarah Palin? Minorities across America who are going to love Obamacare? Small businesses who can’t wait to sign up for it? People who don’t have it — like 40 million? Is this revolt gonna come from 40 million people across America? Is this revolt gonna come from people who can actually not get kicked off the insurance rolls because they got sick?”
Rubio and Cruz, along with fellow Tea Party Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), were among the 18 senators who voted against the bipartisan agreement that ended the shutdown while including funding for the medical law and an increase on the federal limit. In addition, Politifact has refuted many of Cruz’s public statements regarding the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare.
Schultz then played a clip of radio host Glenn Beck speaking at a rather small-looking gathering in Washington D.C. in opposition to the law.
“Where’s the crowd, Glenn?” Schultz asked mockingly. “That looked like a little league football crowd just down the street. Gimme a break. I thought you used to just draw hundreds of thousands of people. But wait a minute — there’s gonna be a revolt.”
Schultz also lambasted Republicans for accomplishing nothing in the course of the 16-day shuttering of government operations, which cost the U.S. an estimated $24 billion, money he argued could have been used for the good of the country.
“This is why Americans hates Washington,” Schultz said. “We feel helpless. $24 billion. Gosh, I wonder if Detroit could have used some of that money. I wonder if Chicago might like to help out their public schools; they’ve only closed 50 of them in the last six months. Distorted priorities. That’s what the Republicans are all about.”
(Sources: MSNBC and RawStory.com)
