Maddow Hates it When (GOP) Politicians Don't Read Bills They Support

May 15th, 2012 6:00 PM

Rachel Maddow is perturbed that Republican Sam Brownback, governor of Kansas, said he will probably sign anti-abortion legislation he had not read.

Yes, you certainly have heard something along these lines before. Back in March 2010, two weeks before Obamacare became law, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unloaded a quote that will almost surely grace her obituary, saying of the 2,000-plus page proposed legislation, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy." (video after page break)

On her MSNBC show last night, Maddow slammed Brownback for a remark that echoed Pelosi's from two years ago --

That bill passed the Kansas House last week, doing all of that. And right now it appears to be stalled in the state senate. But the state's Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has already told reporters, he told reporters way back in February, that even though he had not yet read the bill at that time, he'd probably sign it. Regardless of what's in it? He knew he'd sign it before he read it?!

Not so funny thing is, Maddow interviewed Pelosi only two days after Pelosi made her infamous comment about the alleged need to pass Obamacare before anyone "could find out what is in it." And this was no quickie interview on the run -- it lasted more than half an hour and was broadcast across four segments of the Maddow show on March 11, 2010.

At no point in the extended interview did Maddow ask the donkey-in-the-room question, one that every sentient adult in America was wondering after Pelosi's remark two days earlier -- Uh, just out of curiosity, Madame Speaker, have you read the health reform bill? You know, the one with repercussions that could last decades? That one.

In lieu of this, viewers were treated to another guffaw-worthy remark from Pelosi when she described Maddow, an unabashed left-wing propagandist, as "non-partisan."