Prescription Plan Too Small Last Year, Now Blame It for Deficit --1/30/2004-- Media Research Center

1. Prescription Plan Too Small Last Year, Now Blame It for Deficit
The bill for the media’s spending push comes due. Last year, the spending and deficit implications of massive new spending on a proposed prescription drug benefit in Medicare did not concern network reporters who argued the plan was too stingy, as they rolled out anecdotal elderly victims, and were much more worried about how much the tax cut would increase the deficit. But on Thursday night, CBS and NBC acknowledged how, as conservatives had warned to an oblivious media, that the prescription entitlement would cost much more than the claimed $400 billion over ten years.

2. ABC’s Ross Shows How Saddam Bought Off Politicians with Oil $ Picking up on a document discovery in Iraq, on Thursday’s World News Tonight Brian Ross outlined how Saddam Hussein bought off many politicians around the world: “Some 270 prominent individuals, political parties or corporations in 47 countries were given Iraqi oil contracts instantly worth millions of dollars.” Ross pointed out how “individuals in France were the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of dollars worth of oil contracts awarded to a close associate of French President Jacques Chirac, a harsh critic of U.S. policy in Iraq.”

3. At ABC, “People Say 'Conservative’” Same as 'Child Molester’" During a stop in Washington to promote his new book with a title which matches his weekly segment on 20/20, “Give Me a Break,” ABC’s John Stossel asserted that “where I live in Manhattan and where I work at ABC, people say 'conservative’ the way people say 'child molester.’" As reported by Robert Bluey of CNSNews.com, at the Cato Institute on Tuesday, Stossel lamented how “leftist thinking is just the culture that I live in and the culture the reporters who populate the mainstream media live in.”

Prescription Plan Too Small Last Year,
Now Blame It for Deficit

The bill for the media’s spending push comes due. Last year, the spending and deficit implications of massive new spending on a proposed prescription drug benefit in Medicare did not concern network reporters who argued the plan was too stingy, as they rolled out anecdotal elderly victims, and were much more worried about how much the tax cut would increase the deficit. But on Thursday night, CBS and NBC acknowledged how, as conservatives had warned to an oblivious media, that the prescription entitlement would cost much more than the claimed $400 billion over ten years.

“The red ink keeps rising,” Dan Rather lamented on Thursday’s CBS Evening News, “the Medicare overhaul and prescription drug benefit haven’t taken effect yet and President Bush is already upping the ten-year price tag. First pegged at $400 billion, the Associated Press says the new estimate is $540 billion.”

Over on the NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw cited “a stunning new number on the cost of the new Medicare prescription drug bill....It turns out it will cost at least a third more than the original estimates, and maybe even more than that, which means the budget deficit is going up even more as well.” David Gregory labeled the prescription program as a “budget buster.” Gregory blamed the White House without mentioning how NBC also ignored warnings from conservatives: “The White House sold the ten-year measure to skeptical conservatives in Congress with a $400 billion price tag.”

How times change. Back on May 21 of last year, Rather insisted upon referring to the compromise $350 billion over ten years tax cut as “President Bush's big tax cut plan,” but on June 10 he didn't mention the cost of the prescription plan or refer to it as big, though at $400 billion over ten years it was predicted to cost more than the tax cut and, since it would not end in ten years, much more beyond that. Instead, Rather portrayed it as long overdue:
"In Washington today, for the umpteenth time, there's talk of a possible compromise deal to provide at least some prescription drug coverage for people on Medicare. CBS's Joie Chen reports what's different this time as millions of older Americans wait for action."

Chen chronicled how paying for prescriptions is a “daily concern” at senior center before she trumpeted how “some badly needed help may be on the way, a $400 billion plan outlined today would give all seniors a prescription drug benefit.”

Minutes later, Rather tied the tax cuts to a rising deficit without noting how a new entitlement will surely also do so: "The Congressional Budget Office is upping its projection of the federal budget deficit by 33 percent, largely because of the Bush tax cut. The CBO now estimates a record American deficit of more than $400 billion."

Economists Andrew Rettenmmaier and Thomas Saving of Texas A&M and the National Center for Policy Analysis, reported in a June 24 Wall Street Journal op-ed that the cost will be a lot more than $400 billion for the drug plan: “The new benefits will create an unfunded liability of $7.5 trillion, or almost twice the current debt held by the public.” For an explanation: www.ncpa.org

But that night, Rather worried about inadequate spending: “The plan may wind up falling far short of what Medicare recipients were hoping for.” Joie Chen proceeded to find a victim of “the donut hole. That’s the point at which there’s no coverage.” And why the so-called “donut hole”? Because of a lack of spending: “Well, with only $400 billion to spend, there just isn’t enough money to fix it, at least not without cutting into some other part of the plan.”

The night before, on the NBC Nightly News, Norah O'Donnell similarly focused on how “the AARP argues the plan in Congress, backed by President Bush, will short-change seniors." She too found of victim who would actually have to pay for some of her own expenses before targeting the tax cut as the culprit: "Some Democrats charge the recent tax cuts killed off any hope of closing the benefit gap.”

Jumping forward to this week, full renditions of what viewers heard on Thursday night, January 29, followed by links to CyberAlert items from last year documenting how the networks complained that the proposed $400 billion wasn’t big enough.

-- CBS Evening News. Dan Rather read a short item: “The red ink keeps rising. The Medicare overhaul and prescription drug benefit haven’t taken effect yet and President Bush is already upping the ten-year price tag. First pegged at $400 billion, the Associated Press says the new estimate is $540 billion. What’s more, the AP says, President Bush is raising the estimate of this year’s overall national deficit to a record $520 billion. Some independent experts argue that the actual figure’s probably much higher.”

-- NBC Nightly News. Tom Brokaw set up a full story: “And from the White House tonight, a stunning new number on the cost of the new Medicare prescription drug bill, which the administration worked so hard to get Republicans to support. It turns out it will cost at least a third more than the original estimates, and maybe even more than that, which means the budget deficit is going up even more as well. NBC’s David Gregory tonight at the White House where the new math could bring on some big problems.”

     Gregory began, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: “The new budget buster is the President’s prized prescription drug benefit for Medicare. The White House sold the ten-year measure to skeptical conservatives in Congress with a $400 billion price tag. Turns out the estimates were wrong. Administration officials now say the drug benefit will cost at least $540 billion. All this means the 2005 budget, which the White House submits to Congress Monday, will show a larger than projected deficit of $520 billion. The budget deficit and the President’s tax cuts have come under heavy attack by Democrats on the campaign trail. Former President Clinton joined in today. During a meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill, he criticized the President for taxing less and spending more.”
     Bill Clinton: “It’s fine in the short run, but it’s a recipe for disaster. And we were running this huge deficit.”
     Gregory: “Even conservatives were critical today of what they consider to be excessive White House spending.”
     Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN): “The unbroken history of entitlements is that they get bigger and they cost taxpayers more than is ever projected to cost.”
     Gregory: “Ironically, Mr. Bush was in New Hampshire today talking about the need to keep health care costs down.”
     Bush: “Yesterday I gave a talk about how to continue economic vitality, one of them is to help with controlling costs of health care.”
     Gregory concluded: “But experts say the President’s drug benefit may get even more costly depending on how many seniors enroll in the program and how expensive the drugs themselves become. However bad these numbers look, tonight White House officials maintain that with strong economic growth, they will still be able to cut the budget deficit in half within five years. David Gregory, NBC News, the White House.”

Summaries of CyberAlert articles from last year documenting how the networks were a lot more concerned with blaming the tax cut for the deficit and portraying the prescription plan as not going far enough than in examining the true cost of adding yet another entitlement program:

     -- June 12, 2003 CyberAlert: Every time the tax cut debate arose over the past couple of years network reporters were most concerned about its high “cost,” who would most benefit and who would not. But with talk this week of a bi-partisan compromise agreement to create a new prescription drug entitlement, the networks have not displayed any interest in outlining who pays (those at lower incomes still working) and who benefits (the elderly, the wealthiest age group), and when they mention the cost it's in the context of how it's not high enough (“The cost of the plan, $400 billion. But advocates for seniors...say it's still not enough"), as reporters campaign in favor of Congress “finally” creating the new program which will give “new hope” and “badly needed help” to struggling seniors. www.mediaresearch.org

     -- June 17 CyberAlert: Though, as news reader Ann Curry conceded on Monday's Today, “the Senate begins debate today on what would be the biggest expansion of Medicare benefits in its history,” it's still doesn't go far enough as she added: “Critics say the drug benefit isn't enough." In the media's world, there just isn't anyone who could possibly oppose creating a massive new government entitlement program. Over on ABC's Good Morning America, Tony Perkins had only one substantive complaint for HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson: "Some have said this bill doesn't go quite far enough.” www.mediaresearch.org

     -- June 25 CyberAlert: “With only $400 billion to spend.” Not even $400 billion is enough spending for CBS and NBC which on Monday and Tuesday night ran stories lamenting the inadequate level of spending proposed to create a prescription drug entitlement. Dan Rather warned: “The plan may wind up falling far short of what Medicare recipients were hoping for.” Joie Chen found a victim of “the donut hole. That’s the point at which there’s no coverage.” And why the donut hole? “Well, with only $400 billion to spend, there just isn’t enough money to fix it...” NBC's Norah O'Donnell focused on how “the AARP argues the plan...will short-change seniors." She targeted the tax cut as the culprit: "Some Democrats charge the recent tax cuts killed off any hope of closing the benefit gap.” www.mediaresearch.org

     -- June 27 CyberAlert: ABC, NBC, the New York Times and Washington Post on Thursday delivered another round of complaints that the proposed new Medicare prescription benefit doesn't go far enough. ABC's Linda Douglass decided that “many will be disappointed” since “many seniors will be surprised to learn how much they will still have to pay out of pocket.” On Today, Matt Lauer grilled Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from the left, pressing him about “this donut hole in coverage.” Lauer demanded: “If I'm a senior and I'm paying my, my monthly premium why should I have to then fork over all the money during that, that gap period?" Front page New York Times and Washington Post stories relayed whining from selfish and ungrateful seniors who want others to pay their expenses. www.mediaresearch.org

     -- July 1 CyberAlert: On Saturday night ABC delivered another one-sided whine-fest of complaints, from the left, about how the massive new proposed prescription drug plan for seniors doesn't go far enough. ABC failed to utter a syllable from anyone opposed to creating the huge new entitlement program. “Many seniors doubt the help will be enough,” anchor Dean Reynolds intoned on the June 28 World News Tonight/Saturday. Bob Jamieson proceeded to relay how seniors “expected more help” and that “there's also disappointment.” Jamieson warned that at a senior center in Illinois, “there's the first stirring of anger toward the politicians." A woman ludicrously claimed: “When you reach a certain age, they just forget about you." www.mediaresearch.org

     -- July 7 CyberAlert: You read it here first. In his nationally syndicated column last week, Robert Samuelson pointed out how “coverage of the drug benefit has virtually ignored the issue of long-term costs” as “press skepticism focuses on the stinginess of the new benefit.” Samuelson elaborated: “Reflecting journalistic conformity, The Post and the New York Times both ran front-page stories on June 26 in which retirees complained that the yet-to-be-passed drug benefit was inadequate.” www.mediaresearch.org

ABC’s Ross Shows How Saddam Bought Off
Politicians with Oil $

Picking up on a document discovery in Iraq, on Thursday’s World News Tonight Brian Ross outlined how Saddam Hussein bought off many politicians around the world: “Some 270 prominent individuals, political parties or corporations in 47 countries were given Iraqi oil contracts instantly worth millions of dollars.” Ross pointed out how “individuals in France were the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of dollars worth of oil contracts awarded to a close associate of French President Jacques Chirac, a harsh critic of U.S. policy in Iraq.”

     After anchor Peter Jennings set up the January 29 “A Closer Look” segment, by explaining how an Iraqi newspaper had published what it learned in a document found at the Ministry of Oil, Ross filled in the details:
     “The document was discovered several weeks ago in the files of the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad. According to a copy obtained by ABC News, some 270 prominent individuals, political parties or corporations in 47 countries were given Iraqi oil contracts instantly worth millions of dollars. John Facett is an authority on Saddam Hussein’s hidden money.”
     John Fawcett, Coalition for International Justice: "You are looking at a political slush fund that was buying political support for the regime of Saddam Hussein for the last six or seven years."
     Ross: “Investigators say none of the people involved would have actually taken possession of oil, just the right to sell to an actual oil company at an average profit of about 50 cents a barrel....Among those named: The President of Indonesia [Megawati Sukarnoputri], an outspoken opponent of U.S.-Iraq policy: Ten million barrels of oil -- meaning about a $5 million profit. Also receiving the deals, the son of this man, the Syrian defense minister: 6 million barrels worth about $3 million in commission. Also on he list, a British Member of Parliament, George Galloway, 19 million barrels of oil, an estimated profit of about nine and a half million dollars. A vocal critic of the Iraq war, Galloway denied any involvement in Iraqi oil deals to ABC News earlier this year.”
     Ross to Galloway: “You took no money from Iraq?”
     Galloway: “Not one bras farthing. I've never seen a bottle of oil, owned one, bought one."
     Ross: “According to the document, individuals in France were the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of dollars worth of oil contracts awarded to a close associate of French President Jacques Chirac, a harsh critic of U.S. policy in Iraq. Patrick Maugein, an oil trader, individually and through companies connected to him, received contracts for some 36 million barrels. The President’s office said it was unaware of Maugein's deals, which Maugein told ABC News are perfectly legal. The single biggest set of contracts were given to the Russian government and political figures, more than 1.3 billion barrels in all -- meaning a profit of some $650 million. There were 92 million barrels to officials in the office of Russian President Putin, one million barrels to the Russian ambassador to Baghdad, 137 million barrels to the Russian Communist Party, and 5 million barrels to the Russian Orthodox Church.
     “Also on the list, several journalists, a French priest with ties to the Vatican, and two Iraqi-Americans. A spokesman for the U.S. Treasury tonight said any Americans involved could face criminal prosecution and, Peter, U.S. Treasury agents are now reviewing the documents.”

Online, ABC News has posted the list of beneficiaries, which includes the PLO: abcnews.go.com

A cautionary note: Though Ross did not raise the possibility, consideration must always be given, in cases of document discoveries in Baghdad which fulfill an agenda, that they have been forged.

At ABC, “People Say 'Conservative’” Same
as 'Child Molester’"

During a stop on Washington to promote his new book with a title which matches his weekly segment on 20/20, “Give Me a Break,” ABC’s John Stossel asserted that “where I live in Manhattan and where I work at ABC, people say 'conservative’ the way people say 'child molester.’" As reported Wednesday by Robert Bluey of CNSNews.com, at the Cato Institute on Tuesday, Stossel lamented how “leftist thinking is just the culture that I live in and the culture the reporters who populate the mainstream media live in.”

An excerpt from Bluey’s January 28 story, which FNC’s Brit Hume highlighted in his “Grapevine” segment on Wednesday night, “ABC's Stossel Rips Network for Hostility to Conservatives,” posted on CNSNews.com, a division of the MRC:

ABC News correspondent John Stossel, the co-anchor of 20/20, said most mainstream journalists, including those at his network, are leftists who view conservatives as "selfish and cruel" for embracing capitalism.

Stossel was in the nation's capital Tuesday to promote his new book, "Give Me a Break," at the libertarian Cato Institute. Although he praised ABC News for letting him present free-market viewpoints on 20/20, he criticized his peers for their hostility toward those ideas.

"Where I live in Manhattan and where I work at ABC, people say conservative the way people say child molester," he said. "[Conservative] is the worst thing for a reporter to be called. And I'm a little puzzled why they call me a conservative."

Stossel said, for instance, that he has libertarian views when it comes to drug use, prostitution, homosexuality and flag burning. Regardless, liberal media watchdogs like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting have attacked him for aligning with conservatives....

"Leftist thinking is just the culture that I live in and the culture the reporters who populate the mainstream media live in," he said. "Everybody just agrees -- more safety regulation, gun control, higher taxes. Who could not want that? Everybody around here wants that. Anyone who disagrees is seen as not just wrong but selfish and cruel. If I try to discuss this with my peers, I get blank stares."

He added, "The press is so filled with hatred for capitalism that someone who advocates for free markets rather than government control is a conservative and a problem."

Stossel's book details some of the challenges he has encountered because of his free-market perspective. He told the crowd of libertarians that one of his "worst battles" with ABC News' legal review department happened when he did a feature on rent control.

"Everything I do has to be read by two liberal ABC lawyers and at least two liberal ABC producers," he said. "In this case, an economically illiterate lawyer kept blocking it. He demanded we interview more economists that would soften the piece and put it more in perspective because he was convinced it would be a disaster for poor people if rent control was abolished. Turned out he lived in a rent-controlled apartment."...

"ABC, God bless them, they don't always agree with me," he said, "but they let me do most of the things I want to do."...

When a member of the audience later asked Stossel why he had not joined a network with "journalistic integrity," such as Fox, the ABC newsman defended his employer.

"I'm going to stay with ABC," he said. "ABC has 10 million viewers typically, Fox has 1 [million], so the three networks can say, 'Fox is not doing good journalism, and the proof is that nobody's watching. We have 30 [million]; they have 1 [million]. Those are all right-wing nuts.'"

Stossel also used the occasion to take a swipe at The New York Times and The Washington Post. While the newspapers reach only a fraction of people compared to the television networks, he said radio and television producers rely heavily on their contents.

"The reason the Times, and to a lesser extent the Post, are so important, and they are, is because the TV and radio -- all of the media -- copy it sycophantically," he said. "That's how bias at the Times becomes bias in other media."...

END of Excerpt

     For the CNSNews.com story in full: www.cnsnews.com

     Stossel’s page on ABCNews.com: abcnews.go.com

     Another 20/20 co-anchored by Stossel airs tonight on ABC. Last week, ABC gave him the entire hour for a special titled, “Lies, Myths and Downright Stupidity,” in which Stossel dissected a list of “popularly reported misconceptions.”

The ABC Web site lists nine of them:
Myth No. 10: Getting Cold Can Give You a Cold
Myth No. 9: We Have Less Free Time Than We Used To
Myth No. 8: American Families Need Two Incomes
Myth No. 7: Money Can Buy Happiness
Myth No. 6: Republicans Shrink the Government
Myth No. 5: The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes
Myth No. 4: Chemicals Are Killing Us
Myth No. 3: Guns are Bad
Myth No. 2: We're Drowning in Garbage

For Stossel’s supporting information for each, see: abcnews.go.com

I assume there was a tenth item, and while I saw much of last week’s show, I cannot recall what it was and forget to rewind the tape to fill in the missing item.

For an excerpt from his book: abcnews.go.com

-- Brent Baker

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