CNBC's Maria Bartiromo needs to stick do doing what she does best: standing around on the floor of the Stock Exchange looking like a cross between Sophia Loren and that thing that co-piloted the Millennium Falcon with Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi. God knows she shouldn't be allowed to speak. Two weeks ago, she went after Matt Taibbi like a rabid pit bull during his appearance on that daily bulwark of unrestrained blather, Morning Joe. Then just three days ago, during an interview with Democratic New York congressman Anthony Weiner, she unleashed this gem: When Weiner explained to her that there's already a public health plan in place in the United States -- that would be Medicare -- Bartiromo asked him, astonishingly, that if Medicare provides such quality health care, "How come you don't use it? How come you don't have it?"
Why isn't Anthony Weiner on Medicare? Because he's 45 years old, you nitwit.
Bartoromo's one-dingbat crusade against any sort of public option health insurance reform package isn't surprising; being someone with an all-access pass to every corridor of Wall Street, she hasn't just drank the Kool-Aid -- she's let herself be bukkaked with it. But what it says about her journalistic integrity -- and how it calls into question the ethics of any member of the media who cozies up so shamelessly to those he or she is supposed to be holding accountable -- should really leave a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who demands a certain level of objectivity from the people bringing them the news they need to come to an informed opinion.
It's insulting that Bartiromo, who obviously has a lemon wedge for a brain, is being allowed to sit there on television and tell you what to think. It's even more insulting that she and many of those like her in the media are purposely railroading the chance for serious health care reform in this country.
A couple of decent takes on the whole thing:
Talking Points Memo: Bartiromo Asks Under-65 Congressman Why He Isn't On Medicare/9.1.09
True Slant/Taibblog: Maria Bartiromo Shows How Media Is Sandbagging Health Care Reform/9.2.09
(Before anyone corrects me, Anthony Weiner was 44 at the time of the interview with Bartiromo but has since had a birthday.)
