NYT Partner Ben Smith: Conservatives Complaining Over Obama-Care on Twitter 'Totally Insane,' 'Not Very Bright'

June 28th, 2012 3:33 PM

The New York Times's latest TimesCast was wholly devoted to the shocking decision on Obama-Care, in which Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed to the bench by a Republican president, joined the four liberals on the court to uphold Obama's legislation.

In a possible sign of bias to come, the TimesCast will feature commentary from Ben Smith of Buzzfeed.com during the election season. Host Megan Liberman ended Thursday's edition by chatting with a smug Smith, who tastelessly singled out individual conservatives on Twitter unhappy about the Obama-Care ruling, mocking those "not very bright" conservatives for saying "totally insane...wildly over-the-top things" such as claiming "America was doomed" or that they were "prepared to go to war against radical liberalism."

But what really made Smith chortle were threats from conservatives to move to Canada. Never mind that "I'm moving to Canada" is the standard line from liberals whenever Republicans win an election, as the journalists at the Times surely know.

Portions of the chat, starting around the eleven-minute mark of the videocast:

Ben Smith: "I mean, shockingly, people went totally insane and said wildly over-the-top things, we [indecipherable] of twenty-seven people who think America died today....Other people went a little further...They're moving to Canada. That was a fairly com--forget it, I'm moving to Canada, I'm not sure they--"

Megan Liberman: "--understand their health-care policy there?"

Smith: "–-thought through. Sometimes, you know, people are joking."


....

Liberman: "Other than this sort of 'Tales of the Apocalypse' was there anything that particularly struck you?"

Smith: "I mean, the people who said they were moving to Canada and whether, I mean, sometimes people are confused, they're just not very bright, it's hard to know what's going on out there."

Liberman: "Thanks Ben."

Smith: "Thank you."