On Sunday, NBC’s David Gregory led off Meet the Press by citing the oft-repeated Democratic talking point that Obamacare is settled law – as though laws, once passed, become permanent features of the landscape, rather than subjects for further legislation or negotiation. Quizzing Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Gregory said:

Let me just raise this issue about ObamaCare, because I want to come back to that.  One of the issues is that for conservatives, this has been such a huge issue, even though the law's been passed and upheld by the court, they still argue, "No, there's a basis to really try to make it better, to replace it, to get rid of it."

He then played a clip of Dr. Ben Carson from the Values Voter Summit stating that Obamacare was “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,” although Carson is not even an elected Republican official. Gregory then noted, “He was second in the straw poll. How much damage does that do to your position that ObamaCare should be repealed?  Is that overstatement that's counterproductive?” When Portman stated that Carson was entitled to his opinion, Gregory shot back, “Well, but is that something that as a senior Republican, you think, is helpful to the debate about ObamaCare?”

It is worth noting that Gregory has never asked a Democrat to speak out on comments made by Maureen Dowd, for example, about the Tea Party.