Dumb: Democrats Object to "Obamacare" as "Disparaging" Term

House Republicans and Democrats started Friday morning's debate over whether to defund last year's healthcare law, and as part of this debate sparred over whether members should be allowed to call that law "ObamaCare."

After two House Republicans called it "ObamaCare," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) asked the chairman whether these "disparaging" remarks should be allowed on the House floor.

"That is a disparaging reference to the president of the United States; it is meant as a disparaging reference to the president of the United States, and it is clearly in violation of the House rules against that," she said.

The indirect warning had no effect on Republicans. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), who sponsored the amendment to defund the law, said he refers to it as ObamaCare and said, "You would think he wants his name attached to his signature legislation.

"So we call it what it is," he continued. "It is ObamaCare. It's a travesty. It is big government. It is not controlling healthcare costs, and it needs to be repealed and today we're going to try to defund it to the best of our ability. And if we're not successful this time, we're going to try again and again and again until we either have a Senate that's willing to pass it or a president that understands that we cannot do this to the American people."

ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper has imposed a moratorium on the term "Obamacare" on his blog.  Allahpundit wonders how can the term be seen as pejorative by the White House and Democrats if they're proud of their unpopular, ineffective law -- which they insist they are.  Shouldn't they openly embrace the label, which provides an easy mnemonic device for the American people to easily identify whom to thank for this legislative panacea? 

And lest you assume this idiotic "controversy" must be the dumbest quarrel playing out in Congress this week, Senator Ma'am steps in to disabuse you of that notion:

"They're sleeping in their offices. You tell me one other person that you know, Mr. President, that is allowed to sleep in the office of their corporation that they work for. As far as I know, there is nobody [that does this]," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) complained on the Senate floor.

"They don't pay any rent, they sleep in their offices," Boxer said.

"They don't help with the housing crisis and they sleep in their offices," Sen. Boxer complained.

Note: Many federal lawmakers are sleeping in their offices to save the government money and because they made a campaign promise to their constituents.