What immediately rankles is that Politico went to stupendous lengths to make Republicans look like cynical "Bad guys" in the whole affair.
No explanation of the New York, Virginia, and Vermont bills that catalyzed Republicans to introduce this Senate legislation, other than a sentence buried deep within the story mistakenly describing those state bills as merely having "Loosened restrictions on third-trimester abortions." Not even a semi-adequate recounting of the concerns forwarded by the bill's Republican sponsors.
The smaller problem with the headline was that this bill would do nothing to stop a single abortion.
The bigger problem, an unforgivable one journalistically, is that the headline sets the theme of the whole article that this bill is not an act of conscience, but a cynical ploy to "Jam" Democrats.
The lead paragraph continued the theme, not allowing even a single sentence to expire before describing the Senate vote as "Part of a Republican effort to squeeze Democrats ahead of the 2020 campaign." Yes, a full 21 months before the next elections, Politico reports the bill is all about "Revving up the GOP's conservative base ahead of 2020.".
Politico quoted Democrats at great length about their complaints about the substance of the bill, but quoted Republicans only with regard to political calculations.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., gave an eloquent, heartfelt speech explaining his intentions, but the only line quoted by Politico was his accusing Democrats of "Clap track for the campaign trail and for soundbites."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrats-block-bill-to-stop-infanticide-politico-smears-republicans-for-the-effort
No explanation of the New York, Virginia, and Vermont bills that catalyzed Republicans to introduce this Senate legislation, other than a sentence buried deep within the story mistakenly describing those state bills as merely having "Loosened restrictions on third-trimester abortions." Not even a semi-adequate recounting of the concerns forwarded by the bill's Republican sponsors.
The smaller problem with the headline was that this bill would do nothing to stop a single abortion.
The bigger problem, an unforgivable one journalistically, is that the headline sets the theme of the whole article that this bill is not an act of conscience, but a cynical ploy to "Jam" Democrats.
The lead paragraph continued the theme, not allowing even a single sentence to expire before describing the Senate vote as "Part of a Republican effort to squeeze Democrats ahead of the 2020 campaign." Yes, a full 21 months before the next elections, Politico reports the bill is all about "Revving up the GOP's conservative base ahead of 2020.".
Politico quoted Democrats at great length about their complaints about the substance of the bill, but quoted Republicans only with regard to political calculations.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., gave an eloquent, heartfelt speech explaining his intentions, but the only line quoted by Politico was his accusing Democrats of "Clap track for the campaign trail and for soundbites."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrats-block-bill-to-stop-infanticide-politico-smears-republicans-for-the-effort
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