False Reporting on the Medicare Vote

Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 25 November 2003 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)

[JulieRNR21]

BRAVO BUMP for your brilliant article.

DRATS...missed Rush today so I didn't hear him read it!

[proud American in Canada]

excellent article--and congrats on it being read on the Rush Limbaugh show.

You just educated several million Americans--definitely something to be proud of. :)

[Quicksilver]

Let the speculation stop there.<

Hoohah! Fabulous!

[Dolphy]

I am beginning to believe that these so called journalists simply lack analytical skills. They believe being cynical is equal to being analytical and don't even notice when the facts don't support their conclusions. I can only guess that this is a result of an education that rewarded viewpoint, not process or logic. I graduated from a liberal university where I learned the value of facts. They were a requirement for my survival since I always had the wrong viewpoint.

[TaxRelief]

I just did a google NEWS Search on 'John Armor' and RushLimbaugh.com came up as the most accessed source for your column.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=John+Armor&btnG=Search+News

(I love doing google NEWS searches for conservative articles. The stories on Google News are ranked by how frequently they are accessed, and its fun to try to bump up the rankings of the conservative press.)

[TaxRelief]

I was actually under the belief that journalism majors were required to take the "Philosophy of Logic". Apparently that is not so. Perhaps journalism is becoming THE field that accepts students that don't have what it takes to major in anything else. No offense meant to the many excellent, well educated reporters like Congressman Billybob. ('Course he is a lawyer. Come to think of it, most of the best political pundits didn't major in English or Journalism. Hmm...)

[nicksaunt]

Dear John/Billybob,

I read your outstanding article this morning, but I missed Rush today, so I didn't hear him read it. Congratulations on the both article and for Rush's reading it to the world. This is great!

[ducks1944]

You did a good job of it toooooooooooo ! ! ! Way to go !

[MHGinTN]

Truly an outstanding piece of reporting, John! FR rules! ... you betcha Rush does show prep using FR work. And why not? Truth is the stock and trade of a truth detector!

[aristeides]

So why did those Democrats change their votes? Did the Democrats decide they didn't want to be responsible for this bill's defeat?

[Congressman Billybob]

Some of the Democrats either believed this was a good bill, or they cynically thought that whatever the merits of the bill, voting against AARP was a very bad political idea. Either way, there was a core of Democrats who did not want to obey the order (and threat) from Nancy Pelosi to follow the party line.

It was that change by Democrats, which lead to the final result.

John / Billybob

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!
Hey, Congressman! I hear Brent Bozell is looking for a few good men.
Seriously, though, nice job exposing the lazy and pathetic American mainstream news media once again.

[ladyinred]

So I heard this arm twisting story all day on the radio news at work and it was all a lie? Excuse me, I mean a mistake of course! :-)

[KSCITYBOY]

bump

[Dolphy]

I was actually under the belief that journalism majors were required to take the "Philosophy of Logic". Apparently that is not so.

That could be true. I didn't mean to infer (though I see I did) that I majored in journalism. I intended to say that in many universities, if you have the right point of view, the appropriate underlying discipline is not as rigorously developed.

[Humidston]

Congratulations, Congressman Billybob! The libs get mad at our side for our so-called "opinions" when we're always factual AND accurate. Go figure....

Good job!

[lowbridge]

bump

[self_evident]

But were such tactics by the Republicans the cause of the passage of the Medicare bill? Absolutely not.

Sorry to burst the bubble, but you are just flat wrong. I happened to be awake and watching. Here is the way it went down.

1. The vote, eventually, came down to 216-218. Much arm twisting occurred on both sides to reach this point. It was clear that several Dems wanted to vote yes, but caved to the leadership. This, however, was the end of the Dem arm-twisting and when the heavy-duty Rep arm-twisting began.

2. Eventually two R's (after about 3 hours) caved, went to the floor and switched thier votes.

3. Gavel falls, vote passes 218-216.

4. Four Dems ask unanimous consent to change their votes to aye. Vote is then 222-212.

5. Two R's (the two that caved) ask unanimous consent to change their votes (back) to nay.

6. Final vote 220-214.

Your are technically correct that the same 25 voted nay as earlier, but they DID change their vote (twice as it turned out) to break the logjam.

[self_evident]

The live thread

[Lee'sGhost]

"How did the Associated Press and various networks, and various "leading" newspapers like the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post, blow the story so badly?"

Your negative evaluation is in the eye of the beholder. As you well know, presenting Repubs in a bad light is the end game for these news outlets. Therefore they "blew" nothing -- they succeeded.

"Because those did not do that, they are ultimately responsible for thousands of news stories that offered lies to the American public as if those lies were true."

And if we all close our eyes and mentally commune with all those who participated in the lie we will hear them say, "What's your point?"