If you watched Morning Joe today (minus Shweaty Joe), you probably noticed the overall vibe in the 8AM hour was to describe healthcare reform as being in jeopardy. No reasons given. No polls or preliminary whip counts. Nothing.
Cenk Uygur noticed the same dynamic happening in both the Washington Post and on the Politico:
...the president's healthcare reform package is thrown into doubt in both articles. Will he be able to pass it? Is he floundering? Is this reform effort in trouble?
When you read the articles, however, you don't get any reason why these assumptions are made or these questions asked. There are no poll numbers to indicate that the American people want healthcare reform any less - or that they are more skeptical about Obama's version.
And...
But mainly they almost seem to rejoice in pointing out that he is having trouble getting some of his fellow Democrats on board. That is true. And that gets us to point number two. Throughout both articles, they credulously point to conservative Democrats concerns about how quickly this is all proceeding or how much the plan will cost.
Did it not occur to these reporters that some of these so-called conservative or centrist Democrats might be against this reform effort because their primary financial benefactors are the same healthcare companies that are desperate to kill this bill?
No. It didn't.
To be fair, Shuster and Schultz have done some great work on MSNBC exposing the corrupt and spineless. But it's all buried among this general vibe that healthcare is in trouble -- you know, for some reason no one in the corporate media can quite pinpoint.