CNN and Fox News weren’t the only ones to get the initial story wrong about the Supreme Court’s ruling on health care reform. Lame-duck Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) heard the “news” that the individual mandate was struck down — and was very thrilled to hear about it.
A cell phone camera-wielding onlooker spotted Schmidt on her own cell phone, and NBC News posted the video. Schmidt yells out: “Yes! Yes! Oh, what else?”
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Later in the day, after it had become clear that the individual mandate was in fact upheld, Schmidt posted a conventional press release.
I’m disappointed by the Supreme Court ruling. Two years ago, when the Democrats who then controlled the House passed the so-called Affordable Care Act, they were adamant that it wasn’t a tax. President Obama was adamant that it wasn’t a tax. Now, the Supreme Court says it’s a tax. Regardless of how it’s labeled, the law should be repealed.
Schmidt was first elected to her Cincinnati-area seat in a 2005 special election. This past March, she lost her primary in a major upset to Iraq War veteran and 2009 Cincinnati mayoral candidate Brad Wenstrup.
In November of 2005, shortly after her election, she enraged liberals for her floor remarks attacking Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA), a Vietnam veteran who had recently called for an orderly U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. On the House floor, she declared in a message to Murtha “that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”
The House broke out in a round of boos from Democrats. After a call for her remarks to be ruled “unparliamentary” and Schmidt to be forbidden from speaking for the rest of the day, Schmidt voluntarily withdrew her remarks.
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