Will the media onTuesday compare known upcoming budget facts to Bush SOTU?

[papau]

Will the media on Tuesday compare known upcoming budget facts to Bush SOTU ?? :-)

As shown below, Bush is proposing more than $2 trillion in new spending on everything from more tax cuts for the wealthy to a mission to Mars, while proposing no real way to deal with a record budget deficit that "threatens financial stability of the global economy," and while proposing severe cuts in critical health research, job training, housing and veterans programs.

In the proposed Proposed Spending category is the $1 trillion in new tax cuts ("The Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of President Bush's proposal to make his tax cuts permanent at roughly $1 trillion." Source: Wash. Times, 9/5/03 http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030905-120757-2326r.htm ), plus the $700 billion for the mission to Mars (while the White House has tried to fudge the total cost of the Mars proposal, a similar proposal was floated in 1989 which at the time "cost projected at $400 billion to $500 billion" which with inflation, is about $600B to $700B today (sources: AP, 1/12/04 http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0401/12/a03-33069.htm Federal Reserve Calculator http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/ ). There is also the $273 billion for a missile defense system that the GAO advised against moving forward with since it’s an untested missile defense system (Source: GAO report, 6/5/03 http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/060603I.shtml; Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation, 8/14/01 http://64.177.207.201/pages/16_198.html), plus the election base throw away of $1.5 billion to promote marriage – except gay marriage - where the money is spent on “training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain ‘healthy marriages.'" (Source: NY Times, 1/14/04 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/14/politics/campaigns/14MARR.html )

In the Proposed Budget Cuts and Ignored Deficits area we have the cutting of health research "spending on biomedical research" as reported by the NYT – research aimed at curing the most lethal diseases plaguing society (Source: NYT, 1/5/04 http://www.iht.com/articles/123594.html ), and the cutting of job training and employment programs, as noted in the NYT “Work-force training advocates note that the Administration and Congress have failed to recognize how little the government spends on training."(Sources: NYT, 1/5/04; AP, 2/3/03; Salt Lake Tribune, 1/5/04 http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01052004/business/business.asp )

The SOTU will claim to increase these programs – will the media let the lie stand? Indeed the compassionate conservative is cutting housing vouchers for the poor again, despite the Administration already proposing "nearly $2.5 billion in cuts to public housing over the last three years."(Sources: NYT, 1/5/04 http://www.iht.com/articles/123594.html; Nat'l Low Income Housing Coalition, 2003 report http://www.nlihc.org/oor2003/; Sen. Sarbanes press release, 2/3/03 http://sarbanes.senate.gov/pages/press/031003_moco_housing_conf_housing.html), and cutting veterans health care after proposing to cut Iraq combat pay – the media might remember the Bush "proposed last year to double co-payments on prescription drugs for many veterans" and is now considering "increasing pharmacy co-payments for retirees with at least 20 years of military service." The Military Officers Association of America asked the President ""Why do your budget officials persist in trying to cut military benefits?" (Source: NYT, 1/5/04 http://www.iht.com/articles/123594.html).


Again the SOTU will claim love of the military – will the media allow that claim to go over the air without a bit of history, a bit of "context"?

And when the blue smoke and mirrors are brought out to explain how concerned Bush is about the deficit, with Bush saying he will cut the record-deficit in half, will the media remember the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities note that his proposal is based on false budget assumptions which "omit a series of very likely or inevitable costs in taxes, defense spending, and other areas." All told, when the President took office, the projected deficit in 2008 was about $500 per family. That is now predicted to be $84,600 per family. According to the IMF, the Administration's continued neglect of its record-breaking deficit "threatens the financial stability of the global economy."(Sources: CBPP, 9/16/03 http://www.cbpp.org/9-11-03bud.htm; CAP Analysis; NY Times, 1/8/04] http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20040108-9999_1b8imf.html )

Will the media give Bush a free pass again, as they have since 1999, or will we get at least a little history and context in the immediate reporting – the reporting that everyone remembers - as no one recalls any media articles 2 days later explaining what was not quite true Tuesday night?