Good Journalism Requires Clarity, Accuracy -- Josh Marshall
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/good-journalism-requires-clarity-accuracy
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Pretending that both parties just have very different approaches to solving a commonly agreed upon problem is really just a lie. Its not true. One side is looking for ways to increase the number of people who have real health insurance and thus reasonable access to health care and the other is trying to get the government out of the health care provision business with the inevitable result that the opposite will be the case.
If youre not clear on this fundamentally point, the whole thing does get really confusing. How can it be that both sides flatly refuse to work together at all? As Bash puts it, Why cant these parties work together on something that is such a huge part of the economy, that is something that is so vital to everybodys lives, all of their constituents lives, [its] mind boggling.
If you had an old building and one group wanted to refurbish and preserve it and the other wanted to tear it down, it wouldnt surprise you that the two groups couldnt work together on a solution. Its an either/or. Youre trying to do two fundamentally opposite things, diametrically opposed. Theres no basis for cooperation or compromise because the fundamental goal is different. This entire health care debate has essentially been the same. Only the coverage has rarely captured that. Thats a big failure. It also explains why people get confused and even fed up.