FNC Host Neil Cavuto Defends Ann Romney After MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Mocks Her Use of Horse Therapy to Combat Multiple Sclerosis: "I've Had Enough"
Recent remarks made by MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell on his show, "The Last Word," are garnering criticism by some after he used Ann Romney's use of dressage equine therapy to combat the effects of her multiple sclerosis as campaign fodder. The wife of the GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney reportedly got increasingly involved with horses following her diagnosis; O'Donnell called the "sport" a method that "wildly rich people" use to "deal with this difficult personal health problem."
Fox News and Fox Business host Neil Cavuto is no stranger to the disease, as he himself lives with multiple sclerosis. On Wednesday's 'Your World,' he spoke out against O'Donnell's remarks, saying they were factually incorrect and he couldn't remain silent.
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"I promised myself, 'Neil, don't
get involved in this one,' that defending Ann Romney on riding horses to help her deal with her MS might seem self-serving ... [but I'm] charging in, because I've had enough."
Enough, he says, of "condescending commentators at another news channel whose incredible ignorance of an illness I know all too well risks being accepted by an audience that might not know the facts that well."
Cavuto continued by saying he wanted viewers to understand that he and Ann don't need sympathy, just to have the facts laid out. "It's called hippo-therapy," he said, referring to dressage, and at its core, the method refers to the use of horseback riding as a treatment for many medical conditions. Many doctors believe it helps relieve some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
Neurology Care, a widely renowned medical handbook, said the following of horseback riding as treatment for the disease: "...some people treated with riding therapy exhibited improvement in balance, emotional functioning, pain and muscle stiffness."
Other studies site improvement in mood and walking ability, and the list goes on. "Do I use it? No. But that's only because I'm generally bigger than the horses, and I don't want to hurt them," said Cavuto.
"Ann Romney doesn't need my defense, but her critics need to use some common sense. Just because you might find such therapy strange, let me tell you, this disease it helps treat is a lot more strange and a lot more cruel. So go ahead and have a good stupid laugh over Ann and her horses and whether they have anything to do with her illness," he said.
"Just check your facts before you joke about it, because right about now, you condescending sanctimonious twits who are allegedly healthy, you are proving you do not know the benefits of hosrseback riding one bit, but you sure are good at piling on the lies and shoveling what amounts to unadulterated horse ... well ... stuff."
Watch Neil's full remarks, below, as well as the original MSNBC segment to which he refers:
For reference, below is the video from the MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" segment:
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