Jon Stewart vs Betsy McCaughey (1 Viewer)

[Agent Ferris]

For background, Betsy McCaughey got famous by writing an article called No Exit that attacked the Clinton health plan in the 90's. It was instrumental in the health plans defeat, and turned out to be factually inaccurate. The magazine editor it was published in said about it: "I was aware of the piece's flaws but nonetheless was comfortable running it as a provocation to debate".

She next showed up in the public eye in 2007, when she wrote a piece that was used by Rudy Guiliani's health care adviser to come up with cancer statistics, which turned out to be entirely inaccurate. Next up is this year, in which she has published some op/ed pieces in the WSJ, and once again, facts have been her downfall. Factcheck.org and Politifact.com(among others) have torn into her articles and exposed a large number of blatant falsehoods.

Thursday she was on the daily show. They did an extensive interview most of which is only available on the internets. As a result of her performance, she has stepped down from her job as a director of Cantel Medical Corp.

The interview is both interesting, and at times hilariously funny.


Video: Betsy McCaughey Pt. 1 | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

Video: Betsy McCaughey Pt. 2 | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

Stewart is intentionally obtuse and got his ass handed to him. Clasping your hands over your ears and chanting "lalalalalala" is not a legitimate rebuttal especially when she's got the damn bill right in front of her. Stewart, you once had my respect but now you're just a sycophantic little shill.

 

[creation]

Stewart is intentionally obtuse and got his ass handed to him. Clasping your hands over your ears and chanting "lalalalalala" is not a legitimate rebuttal especially when she's got the damn bill right in front of her. Stewart, you once had my respect but now you're just a sycophantic little shill.

What part specifically did Stewart get his ass handed to him? The part where they find the paragraphs in contention? Is that it?

Please tell us.

 

[PogueMoran]

I put some effort into researching my OP, and I did not see any of that in my sources(which was admittedly primarily Wiki). It was not a willful lapse, just that I did not know it. Can you source that? I would be interested in reading the details.

Most of the information I talked about should have been in the wiki. Damato had to issue a release to apologize to Betsy.

Also there's a bit about it in this wapo article from 98
Washingtonpost.com: The Gaffe Heard Round N.Y.

She was going by Betsy McCaughey Ross then. Betsy Ross hmm.

Plus a lot of it is pretty well known to people who live in the area.

 

[Thorgasm]

I think Stewart acted like a dick. Crossfire was just a harmless afternoon debate show. It was probably the TV equivalent of DP. Pretty unimpressive target, if you ask me.

I disagree. Cable news networks have been putting partisan hacks on tv legitimizing their misinformation. It just so happens that DP's partisan hacks watch a lot of cable news and/or visit partisan hack websites.

 

[OxymoronP]

Stewart is intentionally obtuse and got his ass handed to him. Clasping your hands over your ears and chanting "lalalalalala" is not a legitimate rebuttal especially when she's got the damn bill right in front of her. Stewart, you once had my respect but now you're just a sycophantic little shill.

yes and she couldnt find anything to back up her arguments.

 

[winston53660]

Stewart is intentionally obtuse and got his ass handed to him. Clasping your hands over your ears and chanting "lalalalalala" is not a legitimate rebuttal especially when she's got the damn bill right in front of her. Stewart, you once had my respect but now you're just a sycophantic little shill.

I liked the part where Stewart suggested she use post it notes so she could find what she was talking about in the bill

 

[First Thought]

He could have communicated his point without being a dick.

In all fairness, he certainly was not the only one being a dick. It could have been more civil, but it was not.

Stewart attacking the hosts of Crossfire was reminiscent of Don Quixote slaying windmills; their monsters were only imagined.

We can agree to disagree.

 

[Ethereal]

I disagree. Cable news networks have been putting partisan hacks on tv legitimizing their misinformation.

Okay, but this is Crossfire we're talking about; a semi-popular debate show on CNN. Chastising the hosts of Crossfire for being partisan is like telling the morning show people that they're all phonies. I mean, what's the point? So Crossfire kind of sucked in some way...what's the big deal? And what did humiliating the hosts accomplish?

Stewart was just a bully, throwing his weight around in order to slay illusory monsters.

It just so happens that DP's partisan hacks watch a lot of cable news and/or visit partisan hack websites.

One wonders how such behavior manages to persist in the absence of Crossfire...:2razz:

 

[TacticalEvilDan]

Okay, but this is Crossfire we're talking about; a semi-popular debate show on CNN. Chastising the hosts of Crossfire for being partisan is like telling the morning show people that they're all phonies. I mean, what's the point? So Crossfire kind of sucked in some way...what's the big deal? And what did humiliating the hosts accomplish?

His point was that they have an audience that watches them, and that they could use the opportunity to do more than be hacks, and yet they insist on being hacks, and ultimately the proliferation of hackery does more harm than good.

Stewart was just a bully, throwing his weight around in order to slay illusory monsters.

Throwing what weight around? Stewart made it clear that he knows what his position in life is -- the host of a comedy show on a comedy network that follows a show where puppets make crank phone calls.

He came on Crossfire as a dude with an opinion and a book to market, not as some kind of media superstar.



One wonders how such behavior manages to persist in the absence of Crossfire...:2razz:[/QUOTE]

 

[Fiddytree]

His point was that they have an audience that watches them, and that they could use the opportunity to do more than be hacks, and yet they insist on being hacks, and ultimately the proliferation of hackery does more harm than good.



Throwing what weight around? Stewart made it clear that he knows what his position in life is -- the host of a comedy show on a comedy network that follows a show where puppets make crank phone calls.

He came on Crossfire as a dude with an opinion and a book to market, not as some kind of media superstar.



One wonders how such behavior manages to persist in the absence of Crossfire...:2razz:

[/QUOTE]

I hope he stays in the role of the class clown, and I think he does for the most part. However, his audience is not really helping the situation by giving him some sort of political clout a la Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olberman by doing crap like, "Yo, Dude, did you see Stewart pwning such and such conservative? That will teach those conservative scumbags who is boss in this country! Go Stewart woooOO!".

 

[Thorgasm]

Okay, but this is Crossfire we're talking about; a semi-popular debate show on CNN. Chastising the hosts of Crossfire for being partisan is like telling the morning show people that they're all phonies. I mean, what's the point? So Crossfire kind of sucked in some way...what's the big deal? And what did humiliating the hosts accomplish?

Well, it's probably the most youtubed Crossfire clip. You tell me what it accomplished. People identified with it, obviously.

Stewart was just a bully, throwing his weight around in order to slay illusory monsters.

I love the irony of you saying he was "throwing his weight around". He made points that silenced Begala and had Tucker dancing like he should have won Dancing on the Stars.(sic)

One wonders how such behavior manages to persist in the absence of Crossfire...:2razz:

There are a lot of copycat shows.

 

[Redress]

Well, it's probably the most youtubed Crossfire clip. You tell me what it accomplished. People identified with it, obviously.

That probably has something to do with Steward being more popular than most Crossfire guests.

 

[Agent Ferris]

yes and she couldnt find anything to back up her arguments.

p. 432

''(A) IN GENERAL.--For purposes of reporting data on quality measures for covered professional services furnished during 2011 and any subsequent year, to the extent that measures are available, the Secretary shall include quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that have been adopted or endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if appropriate. Such measures shall measure both the creation of and adherence to orders for life-sustaining treatment.

''(B) PROPOSED SET OF MEASURES.-- The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register proposed quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that the Secretary determines are described in subparagraph (A) and would be appropriate for eligible professionals to use to submit data to the Secretary. The Secretary shall provide for a period of public comment on such set of measures before finalizing such proposed measures.''.

House Health Care Bill (Pages 401-443)

Thanks for playing.

 

[Redress]

Factcheck.org has put up an article on this interview: ‘SpotCheck.org’? We Disagree. | FactCheck.org

She claimed that we failed to note a section of the bill that she says sets up a "penalty" for doctors who fail to give patients such advice and that "if there’s a penalty, it is mandatory." But she’s actually pointing to a section that would make "quality measures of end of life care" one of more than 150 quality-of-care factors to be considered when awarding physicians a 2 percent bonus under Medicare. And physicians only have to report on a small subset of the measures in order to receive the bonus. That’s a far cry from creating a specific penalty for failure to counsel patients, much less making consultations "mandatory," as McCaughey originally claimed.

Furthermore, McCaughey went on to claim that doctors would be penalized "if the patient or their family changes their mind about their living will." But the bill says nothing of the sort. As one expert tells us, advance directives can be changed at any point.

The article is quite long, and to summarize, Betsy McCaughey is dishonest.

 

[UtahBill]

Factcheck.org has put up an article on this interview: ‘SpotCheck.org’? We Disagree. | FactCheck.org



The article is quite long, and to summarize, Betsy McCaughey is dishonest.

It is sad that so many politicians think that most of the voting public is so gullible, and even sadder that it may be true...

 

[snodog]

This is what made me become such a big fan of John Stewart:

YouTube - jon stewart on crossfire

Thanks for sharing this.