Dean Baker's Zinger

I get a kick out of Dean Baker's blog where he raps the knuckles of the fools who write up "news" without bothering to understand what they are saying. Here's a good one...

Political Philosophers Meet at the White House

This seems to be how the NYT views the meeting between President Obama and the Republican congressional leadership at the White House yesterday. It told readers that they “aired philosophical differences,” in a meeting to discuss ways to increase job growth.

While it is possible that President Obama and congressional leaders discussed differences in philosophy, it is also possible that they simple exchanged political talking points. Since all of the people in the meeting were there because of the ability to garner political support, rather than their expertise in political philosophy, the talking point explanation might seem more likely.