'Rumor, Gossip. . . Drivel' as 'Inside Information'
Guernica magazine has a new piece by American Prospect co-founder Robert Reich (8/28/09) describing the important cog that corporate journalism represents in the functioning machinery of Washington,...
View ArticleMedia Welcome for 'Baroque Conspiracy Theories' Not Unprecedented
What "surprises" Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik (8/30/09) more than this summer's news full of "baroque conspiracy theories" and "weepy hysteria" is "the idea that these are somehow...
View ArticleWaPo Alarmed: Japan Health Insurance Actually Insures
A September 7 Washington Post report on Japanese healthcare claims that "more than one-third of the workers' premiums are used to transfer wealth from the young, healthy and rich to the old, unhealthy...
View ArticleNYT 'Fact Checks' Obama
The New York Times (9/13/09) attempted to fact check a Barack Obama speech on healthcare. By all appearances, this is in the regular, non-satirical edition of the paper: Mr. Obama opened his 40-minute...
View ArticleReal Journalism Still Exists — Outside of ABC
While within the power-friendly environs of the corporate-funded Newseum, congressmembers John D. Rockefeller IV, Tim Pawlenty and Mary L. Landrieu probably felt pretty good about their ability to...
View ArticleBaucus Plan: No One Likes It, So It Must Be Good
Conservative Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana unveiled his long-awaited health reform proposal yesterday, the results of weeks of negotiations among the Senate Finance Committee's so-called "Gang...
View ArticleNYT: Swerving to the Right Is a 'Middle-of-the-Road Approach'
In a story about the Senate Finance Committee voting down two amendments that would have added a public option to the committee's healthcare bill, New York Times reporters Robert Pear and Jackie Calmes...
View ArticleSarah Palin, Health Policy Expert
A bit of NBC Nightly News last night, from reporter Mike Viqueria: But now Mr. Obama faces more friendly fire. After a key committee passed a plan to pay for reform with a tax on high-cost policies,...
View ArticleWP Healthcare Shocker: Public Opinion Unchanged
The Washington Post reports today (10/19/09)on its new poll on healthcare reform. The headline is straightforward enough: "Public Option Gains Support: Clear Majority Now Backs Plan." But it's not...
View ArticleThe WP's Public Option Polling, Continued….
In the Washington Post (10/25/09), reporter Dan Balz has a piece about the "resurrection" of the public option in the Senate negotiations over healthcare reform. But like the Post's trumpeting of its...
View ArticleNYT on 'Pragmatic' Democrats
The headline and lead of a New York Times piece today: Trick for Democrats Is Juggling Ideology and Pragmatism By ADAM NAGOURNEY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN WASHINGTON — Democrats have displayed a...
View ArticleNYT Charts the Choices of Selfless Politicians
The remarkable ability to engage in in-depth discussion of lawmakers' opposition to healthcare reform efforts without ever mentioning the massive contributions such lawmakers tend to receive from the...
View ArticleLAT: 'Risky' Tax Hikes on Wealthy
A headline in today's Los Angeles Times (11/20/09): "Democrats Risk Taxing the Wealthy for Healthcare." The paper explains: Embracing the progressive–and sometimes politically risky–principle that the...
View ArticleDavid Broder's (Selective) Deficit Worries
Washington Post columnist David Broder rounds up some "non-partisan" budget experts– one of whom, oddly enough, was John McCain's Social Security adviser during his 2000 campaign — to agree with him...
View ArticlePost Mishandles Post Poll
Yesterday's Washington Post (12/16/09) reports that the public isn't sold on healthcare reform. As the headline puts it: Public Cooling to Healthcare Reform as Debate Drags On, Poll Finds The story by...
View ArticleIdeology Versus Pragmatism–Again
Once again, the New York Times is setting up a false debate over healthcare policy, contrasting White House-style "pragmatism" with left-wing "ideology." The lead of Sheryl Gay Stolberg's piece today...
View ArticleHealthcare and Budget Reconciliation…Again
The lead in an article in today's New York Times (1/26/10) tells us that the White House and Congressional Democrats will soon decide "whether to use a procedural maneuver" to pass a healthcare bill...
View ArticleAnother Embarrassing Factcheck From Calvin Woodward
AP's Calvin Woodward, who has the standing assignment of "factchecking" political speeches, continues to be an embarrassment to genuine factcheckers everywhere–substituting his own weird value...
View ArticleE.J. Dionne's Question Answers His Question
Why are liberals and Democrats losing on issues like healthcare?Columnist E.J. Dionne (Washington Post, 2/18/10) rightly points out that congressional Democrats have caved on almost every big issue:...
View ArticleDeath Panels–Again?
In a February 28 pieceheadlined, "Obama Ready to Move Forward on Healthcare Reform," the Washington Post's Anne Kornblut closed on a rather odd note: Republicans have expressed growing confidence...
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