Rachel Maddow Mocks Sen. Bob Casey's Opposition To Obama Jobs Plan (VIDEO)

Rachel Maddow mocked a Democratic senator on her Thursday show for what she called his "inexplicable" opposition to President Obama's jobs bill.

Maddow was in Atlanta to interview former President Jimmy Carter, but she spent the first part of her show on the bill and its chances of passage in Congress. She began, as she often does, with a seemingly unrelated few minutes on a recent hearings the Republicans held trying to block impending legislation about (of all things) the importing of humongous, exotic snakes. She cited this as an example of GOP dawdling on jobs. Then, Maddow turned to a speech Speaker John Boehner had given on Thursday, where, in her view, he exhibited several bouts of "head on desk, hypocritical inexplicability."

However, she said, some Democratic opposition to the American Jobs Act was also inexplicable. As an example, she turned to Bob Casey, the senator from Pennsylvania. In an interview with the New York Times, Casey said he wanted the bill broken up into pieces because it was too long:

"I think the American people are very skeptical of big pieces of legislation," Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said in an interview Wednesday, joining a growing chorus of Democrats who prefer an à la carte version of the bill despite White House resistance to that approach. "For that reason alone I think we should break it up."

Maddow was flabbergasted.

"For that reason alone? Really?" she said, doing her best "Weekend Update" impersonation. "The objection to the bill is how long it is? What if we changed the font, sir? Would that be better for you? Widened the margins, maybe? How about if we put the whole thing in Comic Sans? That's kind of a compact font. Would that help? The problem is it's too long? Are you serious?"

While she was speaking, a text box written in Comic Sans (which would actually probably make the bill's length longer, but no matter) even popped up on the screen:

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Comments

[HalSparks]

06:04 AM on 10/05/2011

Jack Mirkinson is clearly taking the side of Bob Casey in this article. How dare Rachel Maddow call him out for this? The nerve right? Check Jack's other articles for a long list of BS softballing for the right. My favorite is his characterization of Occupy Wall Street... More Huffpo false parity and thinly cloaked conservatism

[skosta]

04:17 PM on 09/24/2011

There is bipartisan opposition to the bill.

Senate democrats want no part of it and are putting off taking up the bill till next month.

Both democrats and republicans know that raising taxes during a recession (and soon to be a depression) is not a good idea.

[lmn1965]

03:18 PM on 09/24/2011

Gotta love Rachel.

[dennis1943]

05:36 AM on 09/20/2011

Talk is cheap..............pretty soon we'll be debating how many birth certificates can dance on the head of a pin..............

[Joe Galvan]

12:08 PM on 09/19/2011

Chances are most congressional staff are using Comic Sans MS anyway in their publications. Putting the bill in Comic Sans MS might help out for sure. Some of those congressmen are pretty myopic about these sorts of bills.

[hegarty111]

07:22 AM on 09/19/2011

Rachel prefers the all or nothing approach. i believe this is called un-compromising.

[Jake Dogg]

10:27 AM on 09/19/2011

You mean republican?

[augiedog55]

01:00 PM on 09/19/2011

you mispelled democrat

[baconknightt]

08:23 PM on 09/25/2011

Republicans compromise ALL THE TIME. Democrats like to say, "LETS COMPROMISE" but what they mean is:
---"YOU shift your position, we wont move on our issue, and we'll call that 'bipartisan' "

[FNBS Media com]

12:43 PM on 09/19/2011

it sounds as if you do not watch rachel's show. if you do, in fact, watch rachel's show, you clearly are not able to comprehend that about which she speaks. RM m is probably the most rational, brilliant, critically thinking pundit on the tele. this does NOT mean that she does not have a political alignment but rational discourse is not about sharing the same political ideology but about being able to discuss and defend it in a rational, fact based manner. she does that better than anyone on the tube, whether or not you agree with what she is saying.

[baconknightt]

08:25 PM on 09/25/2011

I watch Rachel occasionally. I don't like her, or her politics. AND I have listened to her radio show on Air "America", the now defunct radio shows, that stole from boy scouts.
ANYWAY, Rachel is "uncompromising' but then she complains the republicans don't compromise.????
her POLITICAL IDEOLOGY is this: liberalism is everything.

[llwlknsn]

10:36 PM on 09/18/2011

Considering that she is supporting a usurper in Office, she needs to consider her words carefully.

[Feenicks007]

11:19 AM on 09/19/2011

Who I this usurper of whomyou speak?

[augiedog55]

01:01 PM on 09/19/2011

?? english

[FNBS Media com]

12:44 PM on 09/19/2011

userper??? why is it that you don't actually say what you mean, instead of making statements that are meaningless?

[VikingQuest]

09:48 AM on 09/18/2011

The people aren't really with Obama or Maddow on this one . . .

Polls: Weak support for Obama jobs plan
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63482.html

[iisguy]

05:27 PM on 09/18/2011

that just proves how wrong peoplc can be. Bush was elected twice (well, actually once).

[Dunkleberger Karl]

05:53 PM on 09/18/2011

Polling the veiwers of Fox news is really not impartiaL!

[sevnwolves]

09:54 PM on 09/18/2011

Darn near as impartial as HPost.

[cne43]

01:12 PM on 09/20/2011

Polling FOX viewers is like asking GWBush if he prefers Republicans v, Democrats. The network is so far right it borders on fascism.

[mjune]

09:39 AM on 09/18/2011

This is the benefit of the free press, corporate-owned though it be---thank-you to Rachel for speaking up on behalf of what is only right: Pass this jobs bill right away!

[Bob Trahan]

04:21 PM on 09/18/2011

Why didn't he do that when he got into office? He was too busy pushing something on the people that they didn't want and only hurt the country more. He likes the european style of goverment so he should move there and leave our constitution alone.

[mjune]

05:23 PM on 09/18/2011

The stimulus that he did pass--even as much of the spending potential was blocked by Republicans--saved this country from plunging into a deeper recession or depression.

As for the Health Care Reform--every poll shows that a vast majority of U.S. citizens want not only what did pass but more, including a public option. Even my TP neighbor is counting down to that 2014 date when pre-existing conditions can't prevent a person from changing to different insurance.


President Obama has accomplished an unprecedented amount in his short time in office in spite of the "we hope you fail" approach advertised by McConnell and others.

[mjune]

05:24 PM on 09/18/2011

And, by the way, what, pray tell, is "the european (sic) style of goverment (sic)?"

Also, he has not proposed any change to the U.S. Constitution. In fact, he is a Constitutional lawyer. Just thought I'd mention that.

[baconknightt]

08:32 PM on 09/25/2011

F that 'jobs' bill. IF it were so danged important, he would've done it his 1st year. Oh wait, he did with a TRILLION dollar 'stimulus' .SO, if a TRILLION dollar one didn't work, what makes us think that a $450 billion one will do any different?
ESPECIALLY when its democrats deciding WHO wins and WHO loses (SOLYNDRA). How about cutting taxes, cancelling MFN with China, and bringing jobs home?
How about cutting taxes on gas, opening up our own drilling?
THAT costs NOTHING and would give us jobs.

[Razorback Guy]

09:00 AM on 09/18/2011

Pros: New job opportunities to work with animals (and others) in the great state of Florida for those that like to live 'on the edge'
Cons: You have to capture huge invasive tropical snakes alive that Could make a meal of you!
Pay; $7.75/hour + accidental dealth and burial coverage (If not already digested)
Apply at your local American Jobs Act location or online.

[djaikins]

08:30 AM on 09/18/2011

Senator Casey deserves all the criticism he gets. He is one democrat who badly needs an opponent in the next election, but this time a real democrat.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

06:20 PM on 09/18/2011

Who would that Democratic be? Depasquale? How about Admiral Sestak ?

[achleyboy]

08:14 AM on 09/18/2011

Is Maddow from the John Conyer school of government: who has time to read a bill? Or is it the Pelosi school of government: pass the bill then you will know what is in the bill? This new bill is just a rehash of the stimulus bill and now we need to tax the rich more? What's next, Obama bailing out Europe?

[ByeByeBushie]

09:51 AM on 09/18/2011

Rachel Maddow has a degree in Public Policy from Stanford, a doctorate from Oxford and was a Rhodes scholar.

Not only does she read what she comments on, she has the ability to comprehend it.

She is also one of the "rich" who would be taxed at the same rate as everyone else (gasp!) when Obama's proposal goes through.

By the way, I don't recall the President suggesting that he wanted to bail out Europe, so that was simply an inflammatory suggestion you threw out to make his proposal sound dire and foolish.

It backfired.

[ohohyeah]

01:50 PM on 09/18/2011

F and f.

[aHorsewithNoname]

02:26 PM on 09/18/2011

Already done:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/exclusive-feds-600-billion-stealth-bailout-foreign-banks-continues-expense-domestic-economy-

[marijam]

07:25 AM on 09/18/2011

The Blue Dogs have got to go, as do the Tea Party republicans.

[baconknightt]

12:39 AM on 09/26/2011

Blue dogs and Tea party has to go? So.... everyone has a right to speak, protest, UNLESS they are opposite of what you like, then "they have to go"?????
There wouldn't be a TEA PARTY, if Obama didn't pass "health" care, or SPEND TRILLIONS of dollars in just 3 years.

[RealistBC]

07:09 AM on 09/18/2011

Your blind liberalism in backing Obama is costing you my support, Rachel. It's a bad bill, and Casey is right to talk about breaking it up. It is what the Republicans WILL do to it so that they can push the tax cuts they like and eliminate the part that benefit people, which they don't like. Casey is only being realistic about this - and for the correct reasons.

[djaikins]

08:33 AM on 09/18/2011

Are you saying that Senator Casey only wants to make it easy on the republicans? I don't follow your reasoning here. And what has realism ever had to do with republican positions?

[dollyfedup]

04:23 AM on 09/18/2011

These democrats are nothing but Herman Cain supporters who are looking for bills no longer than 3 pages.

[baconknightt]

12:40 AM on 09/26/2011

Any bill LONGER than 3 pages isn't needed. 1,000 page "laws" or health care bills do nothing but make LAWYERS rich. BUT hey, Obama is a lawyer, he protects his own.