In Which The News Journal Phones It In Again

Filed in National by on September 12, 2009

…and show themselves to not be paying attention to one of the biggest legislative efforts of a lifetime.

Today The Editors (a term probably more symbolic than a reflection of the actual work being done) published an editorial in which they intone with all seriousness — Health plan will cost money: It’s time Washington admits it.

Where the hell have these people been all year? Beginning with hearings in the Senate a year and half or so ago though this spring and summer when actual bills have been written and voted out of various committees, there has been an incredible amount of work and horsetrading ongoing on on these bills. And the press has (some better than others) been following lots of the horserace (not as much on the features of the bills) — but one thing you do get if you are paying attention to this is that how to pay for it is complicated and contentious. But they are trying to pay for it.

So how do you — especially if your business is to watch these narratives — come away from the last few months not knowing that not only does Washington know that these programs will cost money, but that they are trying to pay for it?

Apparently the NJ Editors are following some radio talking head who wouldn’t be able to follow legislative ebb and flow if his life depended upon it. And now they’ve published this incredibly misinformed attempt at wagging their finger at a Congress and Administration that not only knows that this costs money, but has been very clear about attempts to pay for it and not add to the deficit.

Every health reform bill out there comes with a way to pay for the programs. Some are better than others and none of them is a silver bullet. I can’t tell you whether any one of them does what it says it will in terms of paying for itself perfectly. But not one of them pretends that these programs don’t cost money.

It simply amazes me that these people can get themselves worked up to scold people for non-existent reasons. The people in DC working on this are pretty clear (as evidenced by the bills they are producing) that they have to pay for this. They may or may not be successful at paying for these programs as they go. In this, however, they are not like the Bush Administration and their Republican Congresses who deficit-financed every single program they implemented — from tax cuts to Medicare Part D to their wars. That profligate deficit-spending deserved more finger-wagging than it got and it is remarkably brain-dead for the News Journal to discover the evils of deficits now, in the middle of a legislative effort that is pretty obviously trying not to add to it. If they weren’t trying to pay for this thing, it would have been passed by now.

Too bad the NJ doesn’t value its own column inches better than this.

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm

Comments (8)

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  1. Democrats are always held to a different standard. Clinton had to clean up after Bush and Reagan and now Obama has to clean up after Bush.

    Where was the editorial – The War Will Cost Money, Why Won’t Washington Admit It?

  2. anon says:

    Great post, Cassandra.

  3. Progressive Mom says:

    Flash….News Journal is shocked, shocked to find gambling in Atlantic City…more in tomorrow’s edition…

  4. cassandra_m says:

    You know, UI, this isn’t even about a different standard. It is about the credibility of a so-called newspaper. How do you call yourself a journalist and not know something as basic as whether or not legislators are trying to pay for a bill or program? It is unbelievably clueless.

  5. nemski says:

    The funny thing with the News Journal editorial staff phoning it in, is that they’re still using rotary-dial phones.

  6. anon says:

    There are three people left on the editorial-writing staff. They have to produce 726 original opinions a year (two a day, minus Christmas and the Fourth of July, when they usually do reprints). That’s 242 editorials per person per year. Add in editing letters, designing the pages and – for Graham and Williams – writing a column once in a while, and you can see how you might want to cut them some slack once in a while. Not every editorial is going to be perfect every day.

  7. nemski says:

    anon, I’m sure that there a many journalists without a job that would like to have that problem.

  8. cassandra_m says:

    Not every editorial is going to be perfect every day.

    Perfection isn’t exactly a standard to measure an editorial page by. It is not unreasonable to ask these guys to know something about what they write about. And what they missed here was a doozy. I don’t think it is unfair to ask the NJ to have higher standards than the average wingnut blogger.

    They may be busy, but it is no excuse for the bucket of wrong they throw all over the editorial page today.