First lady Michelle Obama's crack that young "knuckleheads" need to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act demonizes an entire demographic, according to veteran GOP strategist Ron Christie.
"It belittles the office she holds. She is the first lady of the United States. It's not in her position to demonize one group of people, insult one group of people that don't agree with her husband," Christie, now a columnist with The Daily Beast, told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"Frankly, if you want to talk about being knuckleheads, you'd have to be a knucklehead if you were a young person, to buy into the Obamacare scheme to get goods and services you don't need that are far too expensive.
"So if you want to call someone a knucklehead maybe she ought to look in the mirror."
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Last month, Michelle Obama appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to tout the Affordable Care Act, telling the host:
"A lot of young people think they’re invincible. But they truth is young people are knuckleheads.
"They’re the ones who are cooking for the first time and slice their finger open. They’re dancing on the bar stool."
Economist Peter Morici, a professor at The University of Maryland, added:
"The Obamas made a big deal at the beginning of his time in office that the first lady was now sort of an official position …
"As a consequence she shouldn't be going around and calling people 'knuckleheads,' especially an attorney with her background and having operated at her level."
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