| Mainstream Media | Bias Exposed! |
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By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer | |
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TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - The topic most discussed during the final presidential debate — health care and how to pay for it — is getting another round from the Bush and Kerry campaigns on Thursday as they try to convince older Americans they know best how to treat a system that's under the weather. | |
| Portraying Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) as the liberal's liberal, President Bush (news - web sites) called the Democratic health care proposal just more big government and promoted health care savings accounts and medical liability reform as the cure. Kerry countered that people remain in charge of their care under his plan and ... | The point isn't who controls it, the point is who pays for it. In the abstract, everyone knows that if you really need something, and you can't get it for yourself ... your independence is compromised. Whoever you depend on for it, controls you at a certain level. This is why it is a danger to a society who's foundation is government of the people, by the people, for the people to turn healthcare over to the government; it upsets this of/by/for formula. This is the idealogical difference. Bush, cognizant of this danger wants as much as possible to empower people to afford healthcare/healthcare insurance by attacking the root causes of the escalating costs. Kerry is responding by saying he's going to let you pick your insurance plan provider and/or physician ... not really addressing this as a political issue, Kerry's just selling insurance (well, giving it away); letting you select your coverage! |
| ... accused Bush of blocking commonsense cost cutting while throwing the budget off balance with tax cuts aimed at the wealthy. | "commonsense cost cutting" refers to the Canadian Drug issue, a topic covered elsewhere in the debate, while "tax cuts aimed at the wealthy" is just not true, as has been explained ad nauseum. Kerry apparently hopes if he says it often enough, it will become true. It's a label Kerry keeps licking in hopes all the stickum isn't worn off! |
| Following a prime-time debate on domestic and economic policies, the nation's largest lobbying group for people over 50 was providing a forum for their views. AARP, once known as the American Association of Retired Persons, was hosting Kerry and first lady Laura Bush in Las Vegas. | Possibly just an editorial oversight, but this is an article about the prime-time debate and to say "Following a prime-time debate ... " while in the middle of reporting the prime-time debate, leaves us wondering if maybe there was another one we missed.... Unless there was a great need to put down the phrase: "prime-time debate on domestic and economic policies" just before the phrase "the nation's largest lobbying group for people over 50" after which we're going to report that Kerry was there, but (see next paragraph) the president couldn't be bothered. You decide, it might be stretching a point. |
| The president, meanwhile, was bypassing the group's meeting to attend a Las Vegas rally with Republican governors before traveling to Reno and Central Point, Ore. | The previous paragraph set it up so they could say this: "bypass ... to attend a Las Vegas rally ... " its subtle, but doesn't it sound like: avoided an obligation to go have fun? |
| For undecided voters, Wednesday night's debate was a chance to comparison-shop. Kerry cast himself as champion of the little guy and Bush the guardian of the wealthy, branding the president as reckless with the federal budget and the use of American force. Bush labeled Kerry a do-nothing liberal senator with questionable credibility and an insatiable appetite for taxes. | I'm using editorial license here, because the next sentence was part of this paragraph in the article as it appeared on AP/Yahoo, but clearly it doesn't belong here. Let's examine the structure of the remaining paragraph: Kerry gets to say one good thing about himself and three bad things about Bush. Bush only gets to say three bad things about Kerry, and nothing good about himself. As much as it can be obscured in context, a good newsman knows your subconscious is keeping score. Also note: Kerry "brands" Bush, and Bush "labels" Kerry. Aside from what we know about the actual differences between branding cattle and sticking a label on a package, in political circles, the same connotations carry: brand - definite, justified, deserves to stick with the person and not be forgotten; label - implies without merit or substance. |
| A question about federal spending and deficits yielded one of their sharpest exchanges. | |
| "You know, there's a mainstream in American politics, and you sit right on the far left bank," Bush said, charging that Kerry had voted to exceed budget ceilings 277 times. | |
| "Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country," Kerry said. "This president has taken a $5.6 trillion surplus and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see." | Bush took the helm just as Clinton had worn out the prosperity bubble brought on by eight years of Reaganomics and led the country into recession ... then 9/11 hit, with the loss of a million plus jobs. Difficult circumstances at best. A recent (10/7/2004) report from the Heritage Foundation sums up Bush's economic performance this way: "The economy has added more than 1.5 million payroll jobs over the past year and nearly 2 million jobs on the household survey. Most indicators point towards continued growth. Output is booming, the manufacturing outlook is positive, business confidence is high, and productivity continues to set records. Even such favorites among economic pessimists like data on long-term unemployment, manufacturing employment, and worker discouragement are showing marked improvement. Unfortunately for the pessimists, these are the facts that frame the debate on the economy today." |
| Both candidates said they believe marriage should remain a union of man and woman but that gay Americans should be treated with respect. Kerry cited Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter and an official in his campaign, as a lesbian who probably would say being gay is not a matter of choice. | Definitely a low blow by Kerry, and called on it by Lynn Cheney (see next paragraph). Consider this: cite-To quote as an authority or example. (Houghton Mifflin online dictionary) ... did he have a quote? No. "Kerry cited Mary Cheney ... who probably would say ... " ??? What is that? Here's Kerry quoting what he imagines a gay woman would say about being gay.... Could you get any more farfetched? Short of Edwards' recent: "... if John Kerry had been President Christopher Reeve would have gotten up from his wheelchair and walked ..." This is about the most outrageous thing I've heard in this campaign. In fact, I'd like to cite John Kerry, who probably would say: "I'm ashamed of myself, and really you should elect George Bush our next president." |
| That drew a rebuke at a post-debate rally from Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife. She called Kerry "not a good man" and his reference to her daughter "a cheap and tawdry political trick." | |
| The debate ranged over virtually the entire landscape of domestic issues and exposed deep differences: | |
| Kerry said a hike in the minimum wage to $7 an hour is "long overdue," and blamed Republican congressional leadership for preventing a vote on it. Bush mentioned a Republican senator's minimum wage plan that he said he had supported. | |
| On the assault weapons ban that expired last month, Kerry said it was a "failure of presidential leadership" that Bush had taken no concrete action to renew the law. Kerry said the law's expiration could help put more guns in the hands of terrorists and criminals. Bush said background checks at gun shows and vigorous enforcement of existing gun laws were the way to keep deadly weapons off the streets. | |
| On affirmative action, Kerry said he opposes quotas but the nation has not moved far enough along to eliminate affirmative action. Bush also opposes quotas, but said he supports programs that help low- and middle-income families fund college, or small businesses get loans. | |
| Kerry said he would not appoint judges who would overturn the Supreme Court's 1973 abortion rights decision of Roe v. Wade (news - web sites). Bush said he had no issue test for judges, and reiterated his support for the ban on so-called partial-birth abortion. | "... so-called partial-birth abortion." An obvious spin to soften a solid position for good, right and just. The news about partial birth abortion, which Bush also raised in the debate, but is not here reported is that Kerry, despite strong bi-partisan support for outlawing this barbarous practice, voted against the measure! |
| The last of the three debates offered fewer fireworks and more statistics than the two previous encounters, at times sounding like a dry dissertation on the bureaucracy. Each candidate threw out a dizzying array of figures and an alphabet soup of government acronyms. | |
| Bush seemed to find his stride after two debates that most viewers and analysts thought he lost. He stifled most of the facial expressions that marred his first performance, ending each answer with a smile, though the camera occasionally captured him dropping it abruptly a few seconds later. After letting his voice rise to a shout during the second debate, Bush toned it down, speaking more softly. | Let's sum up by reminding the reader what an underdog and a bad debater Bush is/has been, discussing all the things he did wrong in the last two debates, and how he tried to correct on them for this one! I guess we have to be mollified with the phrase " ... found his stride ... " in spite of himself, the reporter can't avoid reporting who won, although I've never seen a positive so buried in subliminal "he's really a loser underneath" innuendo as in this and the next paragraphs. |
| Kerry was seen as the winner in two of three post-debate polls, while the third found the two tied. | ... no wait, I was wrong! It was only a tie! If you caught the last article we did, you learned about the polls/statistics games being played. On Monday, the news was Kerry ahead by three points, when another poll the same day, with a larger statistical sample and lower margin for error put Bush ahead by four. By Tuesday prior to the Wednesday debate, the news was Bush had closed the margin and they were at that point in a dead heat (tied ... like the debate was, right?) the facts revealed by the same source cited in the last newsmediabias.com article were that on Tuesday, when the tie was reported, there were six major polls available for reference Tuesday with the same date as the Zogby poll they'd been quoting. Of the six, four showed Bush leading by 3-5 points, two showed Bush and Kerry tied. The news as reported that day(?): Bush and Kerry are tied! |