May 11, 2011
In its lead front page article, the Washington Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th Street) referred to a proposal by the “the bipartisan commission” that President Obama appointed to deal with the deficit. In fact, there was no proposal by the commission. The commission never even voted on a plan because it did not have the required majority.
The proposal referred to in this article was in fact a plan put forward by the commission’s co-chairs, former Senator Alan Simpson and Morgan Stanley Director Erskine Bowles. The Post badly misleads readers by implying that this plan had the support of the commission.
It is also worth noting that Post has chosen to completely ignore numerous public statements by Mr. Simpson in which he indicates that he has very little knowledge of the Social Security program and the budget issues facing the country. The public would likely give less credence to a deficit plan co-authored by someone with little knowledge of many of the issues addressed by the plan. The Bowles-Simpson plan does coincide with many of the positions argued in Washington Post editorials.
Comments