|
- |
POLITICALLY UNHEALTHY
MEMBERS of Congress from
Some 49 percent of likely voters (those who voted in 2008) in states with competitive 2010 Senate races pronounced themselves "much less likely" to vote to re-elect their senator if he or she backed the House plan, versus just 25 percent who said they were "much more likely" to vote for such a senator. Another 5 percent were "somewhat less likely" to back a pro-Pelosi bill senator.
The gap in congressional districts was even wider: Fully 54 percent of voters were "much less likely" to support a congressman who voted for the Pelosi measure versus 19 percent who were "much more likely."
But never fear
THE AP IS HERE
Like most U.S. newspapers, The Free Lance-Star gets the bulk of its national and international news from The Associated Press, which on most matters and in most stories reports well and fairly. However, the lead paragraph of our Sunday A1 story on health care by the AP's David Espo said this:
"WASHINGTON--Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united last night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama."
Our view: (1) "Historic" the legislation would be, but so are plagues, pestilences, and planetary asteroid strikes, in which case; (2) Republicans may not be "eager" so much to "punish" anyone as to spare posterity a bankrupting, freedom-gutting monstrosity that would rob millions of high-quality health care.
That's right, what we just wrote shouldn't be the lead of a professedly objective news story. But what Mr. Espo wrote shouldn't be, either.
