Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) accused MSNBC host Thomas Roberts of making "inappropriate" comments on Tuesday after he asked if she hated President Barack Obama's health care reform law "more than you love your country."
Following the announcement of a House Republican plan that threw a wrench in a bipartisan Senate deal to reopen the government, Roberts pointed out to Blackburn that the House was continuing to demand that part of the Affordable Care Act be repealed or delayed even after the president said the law was nonnegotiable.
"Do you hate Obamacare more than you love your country?" Roberts wondered.
"I think that comments like that, that you are making, are just incredibly inappropriate," Blackburn replied.
"You don't think it's incredibly inappropriate to shut down our government and take all the hostages of Americans that you've taken?" Roberts pressed. "No, no, no. It's not inappropriate because you've taken the government hostage through a shutdown. And all the American people, you're now walking them to a cliff, the economy, and you're going to push them over, one by one, based on the fact that you don't like the ACA. That's all it is."
"Listen to yourself! We didn't want a government shutdown," Blackburn insisted. "Just listen to the way you're sounding. My goodness! We didn't want a government shutdown. We don't want a government default."
Roberts reminded the Tennessee Republican that she had told the Economic Club of Nashville that conservative lawmakers should do "everything we can do" to derail the health care reform law, and then she praised the efforts of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
"You have been planning a shutdown since August!" Roberts charged.
"Not at all!" Blackburn shot back. "What you are doing is so inappropriate. We didn't want a shutdown. What we want to do is solve problems."
