Big Media can't count either

You all heard the news stories that "arm twisting" by Republican honchos in the House of Representatives got the Medicare reform act passed there. Hell, Teddy has been whining about it non-stop. Well, here's what actually happened from someone with insomnia who stayed up to watch:

This weekend the entire national media reported that due to "arm-twisting" on Republicans in the House, the Medicare bill passed in the House after an unprecedented three-hour delay between the original vote and when the vote was gaveled to a close.

If everyone is saying this, it must be true, right?

Wrong. You cannot necessarily trust what you read in the papers, or see on network TV.

At 3 a.m., the original voting time on the bill, the tote board on C-SPAN showed that the bill would lose, 216-218. In that tally, which was not final until the gavel fell, 204 Republicans voted for the bill, but 25 voted against. At 5:53 a.m. when the vote was gaveled to an end, the bill passed, 220-215, with 204 Republicans voting aye and 25 voting nay. Contrary to the entire national press coverage on this issue, there was NO NET GAIN among Republicans in the House.

As the record revealed, to anyone who cared to watch the C-SPAN coverage of the event live, the entire change that ultimately passed this bill occurred on the DEMOCRAT side of the aisle. Three Democrats who originally voted against the bill changed their positions (as all Members can do before any vote becomes final) and voted aye. In addition, one Democrat, David Wu (Ore.) who had not voted in the preliminary tally, decided to vote aye.

Ruh Oh!

But what about the bogus reports?

How could the entire American press get the story wrong, when it occurred in public, in front of God and everybody? The blame belongs initially to one reporter for the Associated Press, Mark Sherman, who got the story wrong initially and in his follow-ups. Most of the 426 major print media stories on this subject (according to GoogleNews) simply picked up and reprinted the Associated Press story. So Sherman's erroneous statements became their erroneous statements.

But then there were the news "organs" who "improved" the story. More by following the link.

If you can't believe 'em on the small stuff, how can you believe 'em on the big stuff?