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Times Watch for
July 9, 2003
Conservatives
Versus...Democrats
The labeling disparity began in reporter Robert Pear’s first sentence: “Senate Democrats set the stage today for a possible showdown with conservative House Republicans over legislation adding prescription drug benefits to Medicare.”
Pear's Wednesday story noted that Democrats, led by (unlabeled) Senators Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle, issued a letter objecting to several provisions of the House bill, “including one that encourages people to establish tax-free savings accounts to help pay medical expenses. Conservatives favor such accounts as a way for people to take more responsibility for their own health care.”
Perhaps there’s a political rationale for the labeling imbalance, conservatives versus Democrats, since all Democrats and more moderate Republicans seem to have no ideological or fiscal objections to creating a massive new entitlement program. Only the conservatives are trying to create private options. But it still leaves readers with a misleading picture where only one side of a debate over a burgeoning set of elderly benefits appears to have an ideology.
The C word pops up again a couple of times when the White House enters Pear’s picture: “Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that he wants to sign a Medicare drug bill. But on many of the most divisive issues, he and his aides have not said whether they will side with conservatives, push for a bipartisan compromise or simply leave the details up to Congress. One of the leading House conservatives, Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, the majority leader, said it was too early to make demands.”
Pear didn’t find a place in the story for another important word: deficits. Medicare payouts are apparently never part of the national debt.
To see Pear’s complete story, click here.
• Medicare | Robert Pear | Ted Kennedy
Waldman, who moonlights as a “contributing editor” to the liberal Washington Monthly focused on the town council in Abu Ghraib, a few miles west of Baghdad, and its new town council, led by 64-year-old Dari Hamis al-Dari. As the tribally elected middleman holds court, Waldman reported that al- Dari is losing faith in the Americans:
“He could do nothing for the multitudes complaining of cars, weapons, or relatives taken by American forces, other than give their names to the Americans. He could do nothing for those lacking drinking water and food rations. ‘What do you tell the people – have more patience?’ he asked rhetorically. ‘Till when?’”
Mr. al-Dari told the Times that “Conditions have never been worse...We’ve never been through such a long bad period.” Waldman underlined the problems: “Abu Ghraib...has had only one to three hours of power a day in recent weeks. Drinking water cannot be pumped without electricity, so people take water from dirty canals. The food ration system that functioned smoothly under Saddam Hussein is breaking down, out here at least. Trucks leave Baghdad laden with food, but it gets mysteriously offloaded at markets along the way. Crime, rare under the old government, is rampant.”
Do the locals really pine for the placid days under Saddam Hussein? Waldman only mentions in passing that Abu Ghraib was “home to Iraq’s most notorious prison.” For another take on it, try Dan Rather, who in April called it “one of the biggest and most elaborate prisons in the world.”
Waldman didn’t want to remind Times readers of Saddam, but rather the salad days of the Vietnam quagmire. "I'm not threatening you with another Vietnam — God forbid," al-Dari said to her. "I'm just trying to get help for the people before something happens." She quickly adds that something is happening: “Out here, as across much of Iraq, the attacks on Americans are stepping up. Colonel [Jeff] Ingram said his company is being attacked at least once a day, fortunately by men who are not very good shots.”
The story concluded with historical memories of imperialism: “Mr. Dari is just old enough to remember when the British had an air base just west of here. They told Iraqis they had come to liberate them from the Ottomans, he recalled, and they stayed 40 years. ‘I hope history isn't repeating itself,’ he said.”
For Waldman’s complete story, click here.
• Iraq War | Amy Waldman
E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org