Andrea Mitchell Phones It In
I was channel-surfing during lunch today when I came across Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, interviewing Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan is the House’s ranking Republican on the Committee On The Budget. I’m not going to get into his policies here, because this post is about what a sloppy journalist Andrea Mitchell has become.
The discussion was on the budget, and healthcare. Ryan asserted that Republicans had been shut out of the healthcare debate, and their ideas are not incorporated:
- tort reform will lead to cost controls;
- insurance companies should be able to compete across state lines;
- small employers should be able to join exchanges, or larger pools to achieve negotiating power;
- preventing the takeover of the healthcare industry by government bureaucracy.
During this entire talking-point tirade, Ms. Mitchell didn’t once point out that all of these ideas are in the two bills waiting to be reconciled, incorporated by bipartisan committees due to the willingness of Democrats to negotiate. And while she did point out that the public option had been killed, so therefore his last point was unfair, she let him continue to spout that regulation would create a de facto government takeover by forcing private industry to behave. Wow.
I know that news isn’t what it used to be, and “reporters” are under tremendous pressure to let their guests spew crap without challenge, but that prompts me to ask: “If all the host has to do is provide a platform for talking points, then why do they have to be experienced and highly paid?”
