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Betsy McCaughey

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Politician

The Resume

    (1948- )
    Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Birth name was Elizabeth Helen Peterken
    Lieutenant Governor of New York (1995-98)
    Opponent of the health care reform plans of Presidents Clinton (1994) and Obama (2009)

Why she might be annoying:

    She has been married and divorced twice.
    When Governor George Pataki dropped her from the ticket for his second term, she switched her party affiliation and tried to win the Democratic nomination for governor.
    Her most damaging claims about the Clinton health plan -- 'the law will prevent you from going outside the system to buy basic health coverage you think is better' and 'doctor[s] can be paid only by the plan, not by you' -- were directly contradicted by the actual text of the legislation.
    She falsely claimed the Obama health care plan 'would make it mandatory … that people [on] Medicare [be told] how to end their lives sooner,' kicking off the 'death panels' hysteria.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her PhD dissertation on William Samuel Johnson won Columbia University's Bancroft Award for outstanding dissertation in American history.
    Accurate or not, her attacks on the Clinton health plan were effective, with Tom Wolfe saying 'that one article shot down the entire blimp.'
    A Washington Post profile (1995) said, 'Her toothy good looks, body-conscious suits, Vassar BA and Columbia PhD reduced right-wingers to mush.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 67 Votes: 65.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 92.86% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 118 Votes: 55.93% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 31 Votes: 61.29% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 150 Votes: 85.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 39 Votes: 51.28% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 37 Votes: 56.76% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 27 Votes: 62.96% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 82 Votes: 63.41% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 390 Votes: 74.36% Annoying