After the rousing pre-SOTU NYT editorial all about how BushCo was just yanking the wool over our eyes with his edict to refer to the linchpin of his scheme to destroy Social Security as "personal accounts" instead of "private accounts," you would think that the news desk would have been hip to Dear Leader's spin. Much as Nagourney the Noble did when he bravely refused to even enter that one post-debate Spin Alley, I expected his colleagues to similarly reject the cynical manipulation of the American public by refusing to buy into the personal account spin. It just goes to show you what happens when you dare to dream.
Today, in the afterglow of Winky McGrin's SOTU address, the NYT covered the big Social Security privatization story with three frontpage articles. (Ms. Bumiller was stuck on page 206 with a theater review of the purple finger stunt). First there was Robin Toner's and David Rosenbaum's Introducing Private Investments to the Safety Net, the title of which gave me hope that demon spin had been kept at bay. I was further heartened when I counted up only one "personal account" to three mentions of "private" investments or accounts. Now, even one personal account without an explanation of the derivation of the term is too many, but it's hard to go cold turkey so I understand.
I moved on with hope in my heart to Richard Stevenson's and David Sanger's piece, which in my early dead-tree edition was called "Bush Says a Gradual Overhaul is Essential." Online, the same story is renamed In Speech, Bush Sketches a Bold Domestic and Foreign Agenda. He's bold! But not so bold that he can withstand the use of the word "private" because it didn't show up at all in Stevenger's story. "Personal accounts" did, three times. Spin takes the lead, 4 - 3.
The third story, below the fold and by Todd Purdum, picked up the boldness slack in the early edition with it's headline: "Yet Another Bold Stroke." Online that one is now the equally dramatic Bush Puts Much of Legacy on the Line With Social Security Plan. He's bold! It's on the line! Maybe Purdum can explain to us one day what exactly is bold about a man so poll-driven that he issues fatwas on terms that test badly. And I'd like to know what's bold about putting forth a plan devoid of details and so necessarily consequence-free. But nevermind that for now, he's a gambler, baby. High stakes, letting it all ride - well, we're really the gamblers. We gamble with our environment, with our health insurance, with our children's lives in Iraq, and if Bold Leader has his way, with our payroll taxes as, Purdum tells us, they will get put into ... wait for it ... "personal accounts" three to naught. That makes the grand total for today Spin: 7, Objective Reporting: 3. Oooh - not a good day for the Grey Lady. It looks like she's making some of the same mistakes she made last time BushCo's hair was on fire, bad habits and all.
But it's a long season. This is just Opening Day, as it were. I'm sure we're going to be seeing lots of that really good journalism going forward any time now.
Comments