Those "pro-America" folks at FOX News were spreading more love for their country yesterday during the two hour wall of Democrat-bashing disguised as a block of business shows, also known as "The Cost of Freedom." But the attacks reached new heights, or, rather, lows, when the Forbes on FOX show held a serious debate over whether President Barack Obama or Bernard Madoff is the bigger scammer. Host David Asman repeatedly suggested Obama is worse. Paging Jon Stewart!
After Asman teased the segment by "asking" who is the bigger scammer, he opened the discussion by saying, "Think Bernie's 65 billion dollar Ponzi scheme is the biggest scam ever? Think again! Steve Forbes says President Obama and his friends in Congress are ripping you off more than Madoff EVER could."
While Asman spoke, a banner on the screen read, "Who's the bigger money scammer? Bernie Madoff or Uncle Sam?"
Forbes acknowledged that Madoff is the criminal but, he added, "In terms of what the current administration is doing in terms of the costs they're applying to the economy, destroying - hitting small businesses with new taxes, taxing capital, wasting tens and hundreds of billions of dollars, that's going to do more economic harm than Bernie Madoff could ever dream of doing."
Thank goodness, several of the panelists disagreed. Quentin Hardy said, "Comparing the government to an ongoing criminal enterprise is just silly and wrong."
But host Asman followed up to suggest that Forbes was right to call the Obama administration worse. "Just one stat: Medicare alone, waste and fraud or waste fifty billion dollars a year. So one government program wastes as much as Bernie Madoff," Asman said.
Michael Ozanian quoted Editor Bill Baldwin when he said, "Madoff's scam is about $20 billion. Barack Obama's Ponzi scheme is two trillion." He added, "He's gotta bring in a lot of scamsters, Obama does, which in this case, really, are taxpayers."
Forbes continued, "Who is more destructive to the economy today, Washington or Bernie Madoff? There is no comparison."
Asman went back to Hardy and attempted to prod him into calling Obama the bigger evil-doer. "It's not the legality issue, it's who does more damage to the market? In that context, who's worse?"
Hardy began, "The great thing Obama is doing is talking about personal responsibility..."
Forbes made a face. Ozanian laughed derisively.
Hardy continued by pointing out that it wasn't the government ripping off Wall Street but individuals in the private sector.
Ozanian stopped laughing. He said, "Obama's Ponzi scheme's doing the same thing that Madoff's did; he's taking money from people not even in the system, taxpayers not even in the system, and he's going to scourge them for money down the road."
This segment was so outrageous, it ought to have been part of the The Daily Show. But Forbes, Ozanian and Asman were completely serious.
Co-authored with News Hounds blogger Brian.
