Nina Easton Has No Idea What She is Talking About

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Last Sunday on Meet the Press, Nina Easton of Fortune Magazine, referred to the CBO scoring of the incomplete Senate HELP Committee health care reform bill. She repeatedly claimed that the CBO scoring dealt with the “public plan.” It did not.

She said, “And I think the, the big speed bump this week, of course, was that CBO, Congressional Budget Office study that said that the costs of a public plan are going to be well beyond what they expected.”

This is incorrect because the CBO study did not include the public plan.

She later in the show said, “And again, going back to that CBO study, showed that 16 to 23 million people would lose their private or other type of health insurance if that public plan went through.”

Once again the CBO did not study the public plan. The CBO determined that 16 to 23 million people would lose their current coverage if the health care exchange was put in place without a employer mandate. In the CBO study, the health care exchange did not include a public plan.

If Nina Easton had bothered to read the CBO study or even basic reporting about the CBO study, she would easily know that it did not study the public plan. Either Nina Easton has no idea what she is talking about, or she is purposely spreading lies about the public plan. Either way Nina Easton has proven that she is not qualified to discuss health care policy on a “news” program. Unfortunately, David Gregory did not correct Ms. Easton incorrect statements.

Goodbye, Mr. Russert

Tim Russert passed away on Friday, June 13th. He was one of the greatest journalists of all times and set the gold standard for television interviews.

He showed that fairness in journalism was always asking the tough questions, but never with malice or anger. He gave every guest the opportunity to explain themselves, but never let them dodge the issue.

With his passing, the nation will become a slightly less informed and civil place. Mr. Russert, you left us just when we needed you the most.

Ralph Nader is Not Newsworthy

Ralph Nader announced on Meet the Press this morning that he was launching his third long shot presidential run. Ralph Nader’s announcement has been covered by all the major news outlets. He is not newsworthy.

The man does have the backing of a minor party. He will likely fail to get on the ballot in most states and in 2004 Nader received only 0.38% of the popular vote. Nader barely beat the Libertarian candidate, Michael Badnarik, by only 68,385 votes. It is entirely possible that Ralph Nader will receive fewer votes than the Libertarian, Constitution, and/or Green party candidates. I doubt that the major news outlets will cover the announcement of these three parties’ presidential candidates. While one can argue the new worthiness of long shot presidential candidates; a consistent standard should be used. Given the current media standards, Ralph Nader’s quixotic campaign is not worthy of its coverage.