Post Dispatch Editors Show Clear Bias On Roy Blunt Healthcare Reform

Roy Blunt was the subject of a story by Bill Lambrecht in the Post Dispatch Sunday.  I headed over to the site to see if there was any mention of the Washington Tea Party. There wasn't, but there was a disgusting display of liberal bias.  Observe.

This is what greeted me on the front page of StlToday.com.

That's the player on the front of StlToday.  When you click on Healthcare, you get the title, "Roy Blunt opposes what voters favor."  hmmm - that's a strange title for a news story.  Let's take a look at it.

This is Bill Lambrecht's headline and story.  The title is: "Missouri's Roy Blunt heads up GOP effort on healthcare reform."  I've spoken to Bill before, and consider him a professional.  It is not likely that he would publish a story with a title this blatant.  He didn't.  When you click on the link to the story, it has the second title.

Bill presumably doesn't post his own stories to the web, so who authorized and published this to the front page flash player? That's the question.  Who wrote that title? Who deliberately attempted to hijack Bill's story with a biased headline you'd expect to see at FiredUp and not at the Post Dispatch?  Anyone want to share?

Clear bias.  Naked for everyone to see.  Everyone did see.  But the story itself has some factual problems.  The poll Lambrecht discusses in the story and that the editor presumably uses to create their headline? It was garbage.  They oversampled Obama voters 2-1 over McCain voters (go to the last page) to get the sample they wanted.  In other words, the poll is garbage, but it's convenient if you want to indulge in agenda journalism.  That's one of the problem with newspapers - they don't link to original resources, allowing their readers to analyze their statements, but I'll do it for you.    

 

This is the CBS/NYTimes poll that Lambrecht references.  Keeping in mind the numbers are way out of whack with reality, the poll can be useful - to point out that even those Obama voters who favor a "public option" don't want to spend more, think it will impact the quality of their healthcare, and favor their own healthcare (but think everyone else has it bad).

77% say their healthcare is currently affordable, 22% say hardship.
46% think taxing healthcare benefits is bad, 20% good.
50% are satisfied with their healthcare costs
75% think insurance coverage should cover everyone, but it drops to 56% if they have to pay more.
57% would pay higher taxes for everyone to have health insurance (down from 63% in 1993), but even that number drops to 49% if it's $500 a year.
37% think the economy will be hurt if the government covers all Americans.  28% think it will improve.
63% think the quality of the healthcare they receive will decline under a national system

And the kicker.  48% of the respondents are satisified or very satisfied with the country's healthcare, but 77% are very satisfied with their own healthcare.  And those are Obama voters.

Here's the point.  Healthcare may cost a lot, and there are problems with the system, but in general, people like what they have, and are worried about what other's have.   Based on the unrelenting negative coverage in the press, they think they have it good, but something needs to be changed to help other people.  Using inaccurate polling and making statements based on that polling without providing context or analysis, the media has made the situation out to be worse than it is.

So even though the Obama-leaning portion of the public recognizes the national system will deliver a lower standard of care and hurt our economy, they believe they need to do something.

We do have a problem with healthcare in this country.  That problem is a dishonest press using the issue to attack political opponents rather than informing the public. Read the poll yourself. 

Comments

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No big surprise here! The St. Louis Post Dispatch is, always has been and always will be a liberal, democrat rag. While we're being led down the path to socialism you can bet the St. Louis Post will be right there, cheering for the Dem's/Libs and crowing about what a great thing is happening to this country and ain't we lucky.