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False Reporting on the Medicare Vote
Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 25 November 2003 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)

Posted on 11/23/2003 6:56:29 PM PST by Congressman Billybob

This weekend the entire national media reported that due to "arm-twisting" on Republicans in the House, the Medicare bill passed in the House after an unprecedented three-hour delay between the original vote and when the vote was gaveled to a close.

If everyone is saying this, it must be true, right?

Wrong. You cannot necessarily trust what you read in the papers, or see on network TV.

At 3 a.m., the original voting time on the bill, the tote board on C-SPAN showed that the bill would lose, 216-218. In that tally, which was not final until the gavel fell, 204 Republicans voted for the bill, but 25 voted against. At 5:53 a.m. when the vote was gaveled to an end, the bill passed, 220-215, with 204 Republicans voting aye and 25 voting nay. Contrary to the entire national press coverage on this issue, there was NO NET GAIN among Republicans in the House.

As the record revealed, to anyone who cared to watch the C-SPAN coverage of the event live, the entire change that ultimately passed this bill occurred on the DEMOCRAT side of the aisle. Three Democrats who originally voted against the bill changed their positions (as all Members can do before any vote becomes final) and voted aye. In addition, one Democrat, David Wu (Ore.) who had not voted in the preliminary tally, decided to vote aye.

How could the entire American press get the story wrong, when it occurred in public, in front of God and everybody? The blame belongs initially to one reporter for the Associated Press, Mark Sherman, who got the story wrong initially and in his follow-ups. Most of the 426 major print media stories on this subject (according to GoogleNews) simply picked up and reprinted the Associated Press story. So Sherman's erroneous statements became their erroneous statements.

Some news outlets went further than just the inaccurate AP story. Cable News Network reported repeatedly that "arm-twisting among Republicans" had produced the passage of the bill. David Broder in the Washington Post provided a breathless account of Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson "jawboning members on the floor," and of urgent phone calls from President Bush in the wee hours of the morning.

He also concluded that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert "switched two of the conservative [Republican] Members of the House," Representatives C.L. Otter of Idaho and Trent Franks of Arizona. The record of the vote itself shows that if any Republican votes were gained during the nearly three-hour wait for the final gavel, an equal number of Republican votes were lost. I don't need a calculator to realize that 204 votes aye at the beginning is the same as 204 votes aye when the vote became final.

There are indications in his article that Broder was aware of the truth, that this victory was due entirely to Democrat switches. At the beginning of his lengthy piece he is careful to identify all players by their names and party affiliations. But deep in his article he shies away from this. He refers to a "group of conservative Members" who were approached on the floor. He doesn't name them. He doesn't give their party affiliation. But it's clear from the vote changes themselves that these were not Republicans. They were Democrats.

Mr. Broder does not get caught up in the initial inaccurate reporting from the Associated Press. He does his own inaccurate reporting, by naming two Republicans who voted for the bill "despite their misgivings"as if this had anything to do with the final result. And right after that, he refers to the Democrat Representatives whose changed votes WERE dispositive, without either naming them or stating that they are Democrats.

In all honesty, as I watched the unchanging vote on the C-SPAN broadcast, hour after hour, I thought that arm-twisting to change the votes of at least two of the 25 nay votes among the Republicans would determine the outcome. Arm-twisting on floor votes that any Administration really wants has existed since the Administration of George Washington. It is literally as American as apple pie.

But the truth did not match the assumption. This vote wasn't a triumph of arm-twisting in the House. Instead, it marked the failure of arm-twisting in the House.

In the Democrat House Caucus before this critical vote was held, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned the Democrats that they should expect "negative consequences" if they did not vote with their leadership on this bill. I assure every reader that Nancy Pelosi understands hardball politics, and retaliation for those who do not maintain loyalty to their leaders.

Pelosi is a scion of the D'Alesandro family in Baltimore. Two D'Alesandros, Tommy Jr., and Tommy III, served as Mayors of that City. They wrote the book on hardball politics. They were able to shut down two criminal investigations, one for rape against Tommy III, and the other for corruption against both Tommy III and a close ally, Councilman Mimi DiPietro of East Baltimore. (In the latter case, the key witness simply disappeared, and reappeared in a Las Vegas casino with mob ties, right after the charges were dismissed for "lack of evidence." In case you're wondering why I am up on the D'Alesandro story, they were neighbors of mine, a long, long time ago.)

This was the political environment in which Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi grew up. She understands arm-twisting. But on this Medicare bill, her tactics failed.

On the initial tally of the votes, 12 Democrats broke ranks and voted for the bill. On the final tally, 16 Democrats voted aye.

Were there "arm-twisting," "strong-arm tactics," and "pursuit of Republican holdouts" as the various news accounts report? Absolutely. (Also, were such tactics used on the Democrat side of the aisle to hold Members in line? Absolutely.)

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

The numbers don't lie. Four more Democrats voted for this legislation at 5:53 a.m. than had voted for it at 3 a.m. That was the only net change.

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?

It would seem to me that any major, competent news organization – print or broadcast – would assign a couple of flunkies to watch the two C-SPAN channels whenever the House or Senate are in session. Admittedly, this would be a screechingly dull assignment. It would be similar to how I describe whitewater rafting: "hours of boredom relieved by moments of stark terror."

Still, there are only two ways to cover an actual vote in either House. One way is to be at the Capitol; the other is to watch it on C-SPAN. Either way, the watcher should have a book to read, or some other productive activity, while waiting for something to occur. When something does happen, the C-SPAN watcher should punch the TiVo button, and capture and transcribe what just took place.

This is plain as the nose on my face to this country lawyer, deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It ought to be equally obvious to the editors at the Associated Press, CNN, the Washington Post, etc. If those editors had done that, they would have reported this important story honestly and accurately. 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.

How hard is it to watch television, and then write down on a piece of paper what you've just seen? Apparently for the American press on the Medicare vote story in the House, this was an impossible task.

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About the Author: John Armor is an author and columnist on politics and history. He currently has an Exploratory Committee to run for Congress.

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(C) 2003, Congressman Billybob & John Armor. All rights reserved.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Free Republic; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California; US: Maryland; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: congressmanbillybob; deceit; georgebush; healthcare; johnarmor; mediabias; medialies; medicare; medicarevote; nancypelosi; northcarolina; oldnorthstate; rushlimbaugh; tommythompson
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To: Congressman Billybob
BRAVO BUMP for your brilliant article.

DRATS...missed Rush today so I didn't hear him read it!
81 posted on 11/24/2003 2:53:21 PM PST by JulieRNR21 (One good term deserves another! Take W-04....Across America!)
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To: Congressman Billybob
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. :)
82 posted on 11/24/2003 3:01:20 PM PST by proud American in Canada ("We are a peaceful people. Yet we are not a fragile people.")
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To: Congressman Billybob
Let the speculation stop there.<

Hoohah! Fabulous!

83 posted on 11/24/2003 3:10:37 PM PST by Quicksilver (FreeRepublic.com is show prep for Rush)
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To: Congressman Billybob
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.
84 posted on 11/24/2003 3:22:35 PM PST by Dolphy
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To: Congressman Billybob
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.)
85 posted on 11/24/2003 3:46:34 PM PST by TaxRelief
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To: Dolphy
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...)
86 posted on 11/24/2003 3:53:16 PM PST by TaxRelief
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To: Congressman Billybob
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!
87 posted on 11/24/2003 4:35:02 PM PST by nicksaunt
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To: Congressman Billybob
You did a good job of it toooooooooooo ! ! ! Way to go !
88 posted on 11/24/2003 4:35:19 PM PST by ducks1944
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To: Congressman Billybob
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!
89 posted on 11/24/2003 4:43:09 PM PST by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: Congressman Billybob
So why did those Democrats change their votes? Did the Democrats decide they didn't want to be responsible for this bill's defeat?
90 posted on 11/24/2003 4:52:51 PM PST by aristeides
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To: aristeides
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

91 posted on 11/24/2003 5:49:40 PM PST by Congressman Billybob (www.ArmorforCongress.com Visit. Join. Help. Please.)
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To: Congressman Billybob
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.
92 posted on 11/24/2003 6:21:23 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: Congressman Billybob
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! :-)
93 posted on 11/24/2003 6:26:09 PM PST by ladyinred (Talk about a revolution, look at California!!! We dumped Davis!!!)
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To: Congressman Billybob
bump
94 posted on 11/24/2003 6:27:57 PM PST by KSCITYBOY
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To: TaxRelief
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.

95 posted on 11/24/2003 6:51:25 PM PST by Dolphy
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To: Congressman Billybob
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!
96 posted on 11/24/2003 7:02:12 PM PST by Humidston (Two Words: TERM LIMITS)
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To: Congressman Billybob
bump
97 posted on 11/24/2003 9:25:23 PM PST by lowbridge (As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. -Mr. Carlson, WKRP in Cincinnati)
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To: Congressman Billybob
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.
98 posted on 11/25/2003 4:17:20 AM PST by self_evident
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To: self_evident
The live thread
99 posted on 11/25/2003 4:20:01 AM PST by self_evident
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To: Congressman Billybob
"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?"
100 posted on 11/25/2003 5:19:45 AM PST by Lee'sGhost (Crom!)
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