Sunday, February 01, 2009

Bias is all in the wording

Here's how the Reuters wire story words it:
The Obama administration and Democrats have already cut two provisions in the bill passed by the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. Dropped from the bill was $200 million to fix up the National Mall and millions for family planning that Republicans said would fund contraceptives. [Emphasis added.]

Here's what the proposed bill, HR1, actually said on page 147:
1 (4) not less than $335,000,000 shall be used as
2 an additional amount to carry out domestic HIV/
3 AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually-transmitted diseases,
4 and tuberculosis prevention programs, as jointly de-
5 termined by the Secretary and the Director;

What is easily the #1 way that Democrats prefer for "preventing" the spread of AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases? That's right, contraceptives. Specifically, condoms. But this is just a Republican accusation. And cutting it is a concession to show that Dems are reaching out in a spirit of bipartisanship. Give me a break.

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