The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round!
Mr. Ed speaks to the Wilbur’s of the country.
Ed Schultz spent the entirety of his first segment on Wednesday's The Ed Show trying to downplay Republican David Jolly's special election win in Florida's 13th Congressional District. Nationwide political pundits and both parties were watching to see if Jolly or Democrat Alex Sink would win the seat vacated last fall by the death of former Congressman Bill Young.
As polling places closed Tuesday evening in the district west of Tampa, MSNBC anchors were offering updates while the top and bottom of the hour news updates continually ran alerts that the Jolly-Sink election was a key precursor of November 2014. The race was considered a "referendum" on Obamacare as Jolly had ardently opposed it in his campaigning. Yet the day after Jolly's victory, Schultz took the opportunity to debunk the idea that the Affordable Care Act was responsible, instead urging Democrats to run as its champions. He cried:
Democrats, let this be a lesson. You don't have to fix anything...
He then argued only Democrats with guts will stand with the president and his signature healthcare law,
So any Democrat that runs ads and goes out there and plays into the negative narrative, that 'Well I'm gonna go out there and fix Obamacare.' Is that the first thing you're gonna say in your ad Democrats? No! We're on the right side of history, we're saving money... we're are saving lives... We are headed in the right direction!
Schultz continued that the Obamacare rollout or its supposed future success should not be a reflection of how important or good it is. After his own bloviating, Schultz bashed Fox News and other networks for their coverage of the special election without mentioning how his colleagues had emphasized the importance of the race.
Schultz also interviewed Democrat National Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who warned that the Jolly victory should not make Republicans overconfident about the 2014 midterms. Schultz agreed, noting that in his heart, he knows "progressives" will come out on top in November.