A recent conversation with Bram (and his post on Kerry’s healthcare plan) had me looking around for more information on various campaign proposals. It turns out that very little major media reporting goes into the details of various proposals. Most of the reporting relies on and in fact emphasizes the simple talking points of the various parties. Of course, how much can you fit in a 3 minute news story? At least some of the papers could try, I guess. To which end, I bring you this post from Brad DeLong:
Making a Better Press Corps, One Article at a Time
Liz Cox Barrett of CJR Campaign Desk praises David Wessel:
CJR Campaign Desk: Archives: …we tip our hat to David Wessel of the Wall Street Journal. Wessel’s “Capital” column is… the sort of piece Campaign Desk would like to see more of… much more of. Wessel takes the following vague (and grammatically challenged) Bush campaign sound bite… and dissects it….
Said Bush of Kerry in Canton, Ohio yesterday: “He said he’s only going to raise the tax on the so-called rich. But you know how the rich is [sic]: They’ve got accountants. That means you pay. That means your small business pays. It means the farmers and ranchers pay.”…
Wessel explains each candidate’s stance on “how heavily to tax Americans with incomes over $200,000 per year”…. He confirms that Kerry wants to “raise the tax”… he reports by precisely how much and what Kerry says he will do with that money.
Does Kerry’s plan mean, as Bush claims, that “small business pays”[?]… The “bulk”… won’t pay more under Kerry’s plan. Readers then hear from an Urban Institute economist (and “Reagan tax official”) who says that by cutting taxes now, but not cutting spending, “Mr. Bush is guaranteeing tax increases in the future.”…
Yes, readers get both campaigns’ two cents in the piece (the he- and the she-said), but they also get Wessel’s two cents, as well as those of two economists. The result? By the end of the story, as if by magic, the reader comes away with a clear — if basic — grasp of how each candidate approaches taxing (in Bush’s words) the “so-called rich,” and what each candidate’s approach might actually do for (or to) them.
Once I get the computer and office set back up again at home, more work will begin on pseudothought. It’s about time I do it, even if it won’t be ready in time for the election.
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