Seattle P-I sells out to Medicare bill

[baby_bear]

I am SO disappointed in the P-I. The title of the editorial is worse than the text.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/149367_medicareed.html

Sunday, November 23, 2003

Medicare reform is good, not perfect

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

<snip>
The Medicare reform bill has been called a "grand bargain" by Senate and House negotiators.

The bill is supposed to cost nearly $400 billion over the next 10 years. Even that number is suspect. But some congressional conservatives have little faith that the Medicare prescription drug bill can be held to its projected cost over 10 years.
Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., who helped negotiate the proposal and who remains undecided, predicts that figure will double.

...
It does add a prescription drug benefit for some 40 million Americans as well as new subsidies for the poor. The bargain side includes an experiment where billions of dollars will be paid directly to insurance companies as incentives for them to offer seniors an alternative to Medicare.

But that private sector competition isn't scheduled to begin until 2010 -- and even then many suspect the law will be amended and the experiments will never occur. That fact alone gives hope to those -- including this newspaper -- who see Medicare as an important step toward some sort of a basic universal health care guarantee.
...
We have said before that helping people cope with the extraordinary costs of prescription drugs is critical -- and for all its problems, this looks like a shaky first step.

</snip>

Doesn't all this sound like a reason to reject this bill out of hand and start over, given that its negatives far outweigh its positives?

s_m

[flamingyouth]

1. Geez, thanks for nothing, P-I

Time for another of my famous letters to them, I guess. <sigh>

[La_Serpiente]

2. What has Cantwell

said about the Medicare Bill?

[david_vincent]

3. Disappointed in the P-I? For this?

Isn't that like being disappointed in Dalmatians for having spots?
So they tried to outflank the Times to the right. It's almost impossible, but hey, give 'em credit for trying. Guess that kind of approach is the only way to sell papers in Seattle anymore. Or is it a self-defeating desperation move, and the farther to the right they go, the more their readership shrinks?

[baby_bear]

7. I don't even begin to understand your argument, david_vincent

The P-I is normally pro-consumer, for the most part, and savvy to the sneaky Trojan horses that are sneaked into congressional bills.

This has nothing to do with the internecine war with the Seattle Times.

Maybe you could clarify and I could better respond.

s_m

[JailBush]

4. The first time I ran for public office, I attended endorsement interviews

with both the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Seattle Times has a deranged owner - Frank Blethen - and some truly evil reporters, several of whom are now elected officials. The Times endorsed George W. Bush.

But the Times interview actually seemed a little cozier than the P-I interview. The Times seated us in a small room with about three or four media whores (including - hold your nose - Mindy Cameron). It was actually kind of a seedy room.

The Seattle P-I interview took place in a spacious room with more than half a dozen media whores seated around a big, fancy table. Some of them were dresed like yuppies, and a number of them didn't even try to look friendly. I recall one woman glaring at me, as if she wanted to kill me.

People who think the Seattle Times is the only evil act in town are sadly mistaken; the Seattle P-I reeks, also.

[baby_bear]

9. JailBush, who are you referring to?

You mentioned "several reporters" who are now "elected officials." I know Jean Godden, recent columnist for the Times (and longer ago for the P-I) might be to whom you refer, but who else? I can't think of anyone else. Compton was only TV as far as I recall.

Help jog my memory please!

thanks
s_m

[pfitz59]

5. Vulcan Corporation..........

Wants to remake Seattle as Bio-technolgy Heaven! Could obscene profi-taking be a motive?

[Myra]

6. Holy crap

I thought they were better than the Times too.
Guess not.

They do however have at least one good reporter:
Joel Connelly.

[baby_bear]

8. Don't forget David Horsey/cartoonist and editorial writer

Mark Trahant on the editorial board is also good, providing perspective from the Native American viewpoint. I actually think they have quite a few good writers. Plus I like Ken Bunting, executive editor.

There is significantly less that I like about the Times, but I like the fact that we have two newspapers and two editorial (and sports) voices.

Long live the JOA--

s_m