Bumiller Again Happily Used As a White House Propaganda Tool

[realFedUp]

Bumiller Again Happily Used As a White House Propaganda Tool
David Sirota
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/bumiller-again-happily-us_b_11769.html


Want to know why Americans think some of the most prominent journalists are blowhards who are more interested in their own self-promotion and in coddling powerful people than actually reporting the facts? Look no further than the turd that the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller produced today. It is a true tribute both to the Bush White House's cynicism, and the media's eager willingness to be used as a tool helping pull one over on the American public.

The story is about President Bush visiting a manufacturing plant – as if we're supposed to believe that an administration that actually went on record proudly supporting outsourcing and lobbying for job-killing "free" trade deals actually cares about manufacturing workers. Five paragraphs into Bumiller's transcription of Bush's rhetoric, she quotes him taking about pension policy. "My message to corporate America is 'You need to fulfill your promises,'" Bush says. "When you say to a worker this is what they're going to get when they retire, you better put enough money in the account to make sure the worker gets that which you said."

For a real journalist, this is the very moment to actually provide readers with information and facts about whether the President is trying to hide his administration's behavior, or whether he has a record to back up his words. Instead, Bumiller says Bush's remarks "reflected the desire of the White House to act aggressively on an issue of concern to many American workers." She follows this up with no proof whatsoever.

Of course, if she had spent about 30 seconds on google, she would have found that the one major, concrete action Bush has taken on pensions was his move to legalize a shady scheme called "cash balance pensions" that literally rip off workers' pensions. Despite bipartisan congressional opposition to legalizing these schemes, and despite the fact that government auditors have documented that these cash balance schemes reduce the promised pension payout to longtime workers, Bush used his authority to circumvent court rulings against the schemes and unilaterally legalize them himself. In short, Bush's record on pension has been to actually help Corporate America NOT fulfill its promises.

continued

Sources:
Bumiller's story about Bush at a manufacturing plant:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/national/06bush.html
Bush goes on record in strong support of job outsourcing:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04041/271362.stm
Bush presses job-killing free trade deals:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071501854.html
Bush tried to legalize shady "cash balance" schemes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/10/politics/main532435.shtml
Government auditors find that "cash balance" schemes rip off workers:
http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=248308
Bipartisan opposition to "cash balance" schemes:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/rel13003.html
Bumiller tells audience that media was too frightened to ask Bush questions before the war:
http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=117

[blm]

1. Anyone who doesn't know by now that the media is Dem's biggest enemy

isn't paying attention.

[realFedUp]

2. indeed. Why do they hate our freedom?

or ability to find the truth.

[blm]

3. Because the guys who sign their paychecks tell them what the truth is.

.