MSNBC's Sharpton Slams 'Immoral, Unjust, Un-American' GOP Agenda
On Friday's PoliticsNation show, MSNBC host Al Sharpton accused Republicans of having "an agenda that is immoral, unjust, and un-American," because of the House GOP's 40th vote to repeal ObamaCare.
After noting talk of more changes to the food stamp program, the MSNBC host asked if Republican leaders "have any shame at all?"
Sharpton discussed the issue with an all-liberal panel in the form of Washington Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott and MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry, with Rep. McDermott charging that the GOP's actions relect a "moral implosion," as he asserted that "There is nothing left of their morality."
McDermott also forgot that Democrats controlled the House for four years between January 2005 and January 2009 as he complained: "They've been here 16 years out of the last 18 years. We have never seen or taken a vote on a Republican alternative. They are bankrupt."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, August 2, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON: Tonight's lead, the national disgrace that is today's GOP, a party with an agenda that is immoral, unjust, and un-American. Today, House Republicans held their 40th vote to roll back President Obama's health care law. Every single GOP lawmaker voted for it. Voting to hurt health care and to take it away from millions of Americans.
NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER, CLIP #1: This was a do-nothing Congress, and now it has gone to something worse.
PELOSI CLIP #2: -the make-matters-worse Congress. We should not leave until we address the challenges that we face.
SHARPTON: That's right. This makes matters worse, Congress. It's celebrating by going on vacation for the entire month of August. And when they get back, some of these Republicans may actually try to shut down the government in order to kill ObamaCare.
Today, we also got some shocking news about the Republican plan for food stamps. They were already calling for a $20 billion cut which would kick about 5 million people off food stamps. Now, they want to double those cuts to $40 billion. It's stunning. These Republicans aren't taking away money from big oil or big banks. They're literally taking food away from the poorest among us, the least fortunate.
Don't John Boehner, Eric Cantor and these other Republicans have any shame at all? These cuts would be a massive human tragedy. This isn't about politics. This is about morality. It's about doing what's right. It's what President Obama is fighting them every step of the way for.
(...)
Congressman, I mean, I'm up in arms about this. You went to medical school. How do you diagnose this ObamaCare obsession among Republicans?
REP. JIM MCDERMOTT (D-WA): Well, it reflects a moral implosion. There is nothing left of their morality. They want to take away benefits which are already in place from ObamaCare which have been going on, putting your kids on till age 26, there's guaranteed, no more keeping people off because they have some preexisting condition. All of those things they want to take away from people.
They want to make it worse, and then they turn around and they're talking now about this whole business of repealing it totally with absolutely no alternative. They've been here 16 years out of the last 18 years. We have never seen or taken a vote on a Republican alternative. They are bankrupt.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
