MSNBC Mocks Ann Romneys Multiple Sclerosis Physical Therapy

MSNBC strikes AGAIN .. and refuses to apologize AGAIN. This time, instead of selectively editing tapes (Zimmerman, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney) to make the people look racist or stupid .. they have mocked a woman with Multiple Sclerosis and the physical therapy she uses. :shk: The physical therapy is 'dressage' and it is something that the Multiple Sclerosis society itself promotes. I'm not sure exactly how dressage helps .. but MS has lesions in the back and dressage uses back muscles etc etc .. so I'm guessing it has something to do with that.

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease. It's an awful thing to have. MS. Lupus. Sjogrens. It effects different people to different degrees. We get relief wherever we can find it. To mock someone like this is sickening. Lawrence O'Donnell is sooooo passive/aggressive with what he said .. claiming that he wasn't mocking her but at the same time he definately was. SICK SICK SICK - IMHO.

Lawrence O'Donnell Attacks Ann Romney for Riding Horses to Combat Multiple Sclerosis

ROMNEY: Yes, it’s the sport of dressage. Not many people are familiar with it, but something for which she has a passion, and frankly, her getting back on a horse after she was diagnosed with MS was able, she's convinced, to help her regenerate her strength and renew that vigor.

O’DONNELL: Now, this is not in any way to make light of Ann Romney’s difficulty with MS, it's obviously a very difficult thing to bear. And there are a lot of things you can do to try to deal with MS. But, come on, dressage does not appear in any of the more traditional courses of treatment. And if it's true that dressage is how wildly rich people deal with this very difficult personal health problem, then why, why does the horse appear on Mitt Romney’s tax return as a business expense, that in 2010 produced a $77,000 business deduction. Not a healthcare deduction, a business deduction for the Romney Limited Liability Corporation that owns the horse as a business.

Mitt Romney was afraid to identify a single tax deduction that he would eliminate or reduce, but I think we can be sure that the Olympic athlete in the Romney family, the horse that masquerades as Ann’s horse, but that is never actually ridden by Ann, would continue to be a fake deductible business expense if Mitt and Ann ever get to watch their Olympic athlete on a TV in the White House

MS Sufferer Neil Cavuto's Response

...As their industry bible "Neurology Care" noted last year, and other studies have found that, and I quote here, “…some people treated with riding therapy exhibited improvement in balance, emotional functioning, pain and muscle stiffness.” Other studies have pointed to improved mood and walking ability. Still others, more energy ...

So go ahead and have a good stupid laugh over Ann and her horses and whether they had anything to do with her illness. Ignore the fact she got really into this big-time about the time she was diagnosed with this illness. You might want to look that up. It just seems odd to me that a network with the very letters “MS” in its name wouldn’t resist making fun of someone who has to live with MS every day ...

Ann Romney doesn't need their pity, just their accuracy. She’s got a lot of money, but it clearly has not bought her a path from a lot of hell, has it? ....

Take it from the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Academy of Neurology, the European Neurological Society, the MS Research Center, the Child Neurology Society, and so many others who devote so much to an illness that is so bad and chronicle the very real benefit of horseback riding that they all report has a proven history of doing some good.

**Media or Polical Madness .. not sure which.
**This is media .. but the story line was because of partisan politicing on the part of MSNBC.

If you watch the whole clip they're actually attacking the fact that the horse was put down as a "business expense"...now regardless of whether his wife has MS or not, putting a horse down as a "business expense" then opening admitting that they bought it purely for his wife to enjoy... yeah, that's pretty shady....

Originally posted by LordGoofus
then opening admitting that they bought it purely for his wife to enjoy

The horse was used for physical therapy. If anything .. it could be a medical expense.
But that's not the point. The point is that this guy spewed against Ann Romneys choice
in physical therapy .. mocking it .. basically saying it wasn't physical therapy at all.
that was just plain WRONG.

reply to post by FlyersFan

I have witnessed people die slowly from this horrible disorder with my own eyes and find this disgusting. Shows that media/journalists today have absolutely no empathy left.

Yes, MS is a terrible disease. I've seen some people afflicted with it.

But dressage is one of the western world's most EXPENSIVE and pointless and veblenistic hobbies.

Tell me, are the expenses for dressage covered in Massachusetts by Romneycare?? Does Medicare cover these expenses? Are they a tax deductible as a medical expense? Does Romney count them as a medical deduction on his taxes?? Can I persuade my doctor to prescribe dressage for me (and I want a big big horsey with a long mane)??

I didn't see anyone attack Ann Romney in those comments.

I saw them attack Mitt Romney for taking a 70k tax deduction for a horse...that is more than most people make in a year...and he is taking a tax deduction of that size. And he is taking the deduction as part of his business. That is the main point of this criticism...why does the LLC own a horse that they use for personal health issues???


Why are Conservatives using Ann Romney as a victim? They did this with the whole "working" comment as well. Hilary Rosen made a comment about Mitt Romney taking advice about the job market from someone who has never worked in the job market...and Conservatives used Ann as the victim in that case too.


Come on Conservatives...stop being the poor helpless victims.

Originally posted by Shoonra
But dressage is one of the western world's most EXPENSIVE and pointless and veblenistic hobbies.

- The Romneys can afford it. They don't have to apologize for being successful.

- A 'pointless hobby' to you isn't pointless to others. The whole point of a hobby is to make someone happy.

- This isn't just a hobby for her .. it's her PHYSICAL THERAPY. Neurologists and the Multiple Sclerosis society both agree that it has helped many, many people with MS.

Originally posted by OutKast Searcher
I didn't see anyone attack Ann Romney in those comments.

You wouldn't. :shk:

reply to post by FlyersFan

You wouldn't.

And of course you would just dodge all the substance of my post.

Keep being that victim...you and all the Conservatives.

reply to post by FlyersFan


MSNBC Mocks Ann Romneys Multiple Sclerosis Physical Therapy

Wow is that all they got, must be having a hard time digging up dirt on her.

FWIW, I don't see where Ann's choice in MS therapy was belittled. But I did see Mitt ridiculed for deducting the horse as a business, and not a medical, expense.

Typically, medical expenses must exceed around $5,000 per year (it changes each year) in order to be deducted from taxes, should one be itemizing. I wonder if the medical establishment doesn't consider riding horses to be MS therapy yet (not that it shouldn't, or won't at some point). It sounds to me like the medical establishment should be trying to catch up to modern MS therapies. But I don't see how that excuses deducting a $70k horse as a business expense.

Unless she rode him to work on the horse. I guess that might be okay then.

From article,

As for Romney's taxes, it is safe to assume that their LLC purchases horses as an investment just as most people do. Income is derived from breeding and/or selling them. As such, expenses associated with their training and upkeep are deductible.

O’DONNELL: She's the athlete. That's what Mitt Romney just said. She's the athlete.

Actually, that’s NOT what Romney just said. He said, “But in this case, it's not her personally, but she along with two other people purchased a horse and have trained it up.”

Exactly what about that clarification to Schieffer’s question wasn’t clear enough for O’Donnell to understand?

The host of Face the Nation said, “I hear you've got an Olympic athlete in the family,” and Romney replied, “But in this case, it's not her personally.”

Read more: newsbusters.org...