We at Daily Kos have been correctly angry at the main stream media's treatment of the screamers. All too often they report the claims of the right wing, but fail to mention that these same claims are patently false. In the New York Times today is an article that finally corrects this.
The article discusses the anger many members of congress are facing, but adds many gems to the discussion.
The queries hurled at legislators from the Atlantic Seaboard to the nation’s midsection reflected deep-seated fears, a general suspicion of government and, in some cases, a lack of knowledge on the part of the questioners.
And more fun.
Senator Charles E. Grassley...found it necessary to tell an audience at the Winterset Public Library that he is against any plan that "determines when you’re going to pull the plug on grandma,"
Mr. Grassley was apparently reacting to groundless assertions that health-care legislation would call for "death panels" to determine who lives and dies (the AARP, the lobby for older Americans, calls such charges "lies"), and provide health coverage to illegal immigrants when none of the major proposals before Congress would do so.
Were he more professorial and condescending, Mr. Grassley might have pointed out that government already has a fairly big role in health care, as in Medicare, Medicaid and, to an extent, Social Security.
And in case you were wondering if our, and Press Secretary Gibbs' call outs to the media are working. The article ends with...
Mr. Gibbs suggested that the media bore some of the blame, for doing too many "X said this, Y said this" stories, without rooting out, and pointing out, unambiguous falsehoods.
But Jessica Yellin, CNN’s national political correspondent, commenting on Senator Cardin’s town meeting in Hagerstown, Md., pointed out what news people already know: when journalists cite outright misstatements by public officials, the American people "don’t seem to trust us."
The MSM gets it wrong so much, that we need to applaud them when they get it right. A hat tip to the editors of the New York Times, and particularly David Stout for finally doing there job.