For press, there are little or no "risks" for GOP in health care debate

[babylonsister]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909220003

For press, there are little or no "risks" for GOP in health care debate
September 22, 2009 8:41 am ET by Eric Boehlert


I was reminded of that after seeing this Time headline:

The Risks for Dems Going It Alone on Health Care

Time wasn't doing anything unusual with its headline. The Beltway press has been hitting this points for months now: How might the health care battle damage Democrats, which is an interesting angle since there are, y'know, two major parties in American politics. (You're just not going to see many "The Risks for GOP Going It Alone on Health Care" headlines this year.)

Picking up where the press left off with the stimulus "debate," when journalists fretted over how that legislation might hurt Democrats--and only Democrats, and how the GOP won by simply resisting the White House, reporters seem only interesting in detailing potential woes for Dems.

I'm not saying journalists have to conclude that opposing health care reform will hurt the GOP, because I don't think anybody knows yet if that's the case. But it would be nice if, on occasion, the press acknowledged that possibility. It'd be nice if reporters spent time considered both sides of the ledger rather than portraying the health care push as posing serious downsides for only one party.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Certainly no risk for the gop

of losing their michelle bachman loving insane base.

[spanone]

2. it's time for the democrats to take some fucking risks....that is why they were elected

[kentuck]

3. Therein lies the problem with the media in this country.

Rather than ask what the Republicans risk by opposing health care reform for the American people, the question becomes what do the Democrats risk by proposing a fix for the health care problem?

[babylonsister]

4. Yes, and I'm grateful to blogs like MM for calling them out. Some

people are so clueless they don't even know this is going on. :grr: