Thread by @adamjohnsonNYC

I wrote about how the real human stakes of the Reconciliation Bill––from universal pre-K to dental and hearing for seniors to free community college––are being glossed over in favor of fatuous "progressive vs moderate" horse race coverage. thecolumn.substack.com/p/the-actual-h…

As a bit of an aside, my favorite trope is the multiple outlets running b-roll of money literally being printed while discussing the reconciliation bill “price tag”. Just tax-and-spend liberals firing up the old socialism money machine!

Articles about fight over reconciliation from the past 72 hrs that make vague reference to “social spending” and “climate” with no mention of what is actually in the bill

1) npr.org/2021/10/03/104…
2) newsweek.com/joe-manchin-si…
3) reuters.com/world/us/democ…
4) thehill.com/homenews/admin…

We do get 8 references to “price tags” however

Take this WaPo report. We get vague mentions of “climate, health-care & social spending” & on paragraph 26 an aside about “aid to children, students and the elderly” w/ zero sense of what specifically these plans entail. Material impact is an afterthought washingtonpost.com/politics/recon…

Polls show Americans are more skeptical of “social” and “climate” policy in the abstract but when asked about the specifics they are much likelier to support these measures. Glossing over the **substance** of what’s at stake and directing media energy to horse race sows nihilism

https://twitter.com/ppc_umd/status/1436046063719358465

Politico did 1800-words on the reconciliation negotiations and beyond vague reference to "social spending" never once mention what's on the chopping block––No fixing schools, no dental for seniors, no pre-K, no medicare expansion. It's all an abstraction!

https://twitter.com/KaminskiMK/status/1445803313606316034

I mean Politico's whole deal is horse race but a casual mention to their readers what "moderates" seek to gut, that which will actually affect poor people's lives, would be nice. Would take a simple paragraph and perhaps provide an ounce of moral context.