-By Matthew J. O’Connor
Below are the first several paragraphs of a 3/24/10 article written by Brian Faler, a Bloomberg.com staff reporter, wherein Mr. Faler attempts to link the former Reagan Administration’s budgetary usage of the “reconciliation rule” with the Obamacare travesty just signed into law by President Obama. Also below is my letter responding to Mr. Faler.
In his article, written under the provocative title, Democrats Owe Thanks to Reagan for Health-Care Vote Procedure, Mr. Faler attempts to arrange through several references and quotes from former Reagan Administration budget officials and a past senate parliamentarian direct linkage between the title of his article and now enacted, Obamacare. While it is true the Reagan and Bush Administrations employed the usage of the reconciliation rule, it was only employed in the reduction of spending and taxes and was never used to advance landmark entitlement legislation.
The above key distinction was left out altogether by Mr.Faler, leaving the reader with an imbalance of information and thus a conclusion, inconclusive of the facts. Facts can have a way of ruining a piece of journalism, especially when they may serve to destroy the entire thesis of a story. [See Mr. Faler’s excerpted story immediately below and my following letter of response]
“March 24 (Bloomberg) — Democrats owe the late President Ronald Reagan a measure of thanks for the parliamentary procedure they’re using this week to try to complete the U.S. health-care overhaul.
It was Republicans, concerned that Reagan’s agenda might get bogged down in the Senate, who in 1981 transformed a procedure called reconciliation into what it is today: a tool used by both parties to muscle legislation through the Senate.
“We really put some teeth in reconciliation,” said Steve Bell, former staff director of the Senate Budget Committee. He was one of the architects of the strategy to enact Reagan’s spending reductions, along with then-budget director David Stockman . . . ”
March, 24, 2010
Sent via Electronic Mail
To: Brian Faler, Reporter / Bloomberg.Com / bfaler@bloomberg.net
In Re: Democrats Owe Thanks to Reagan for Health-Care Vote Procedure
Dear Brian,
You have a good writing style. I would sincerely add though that you consider more objectivity as opposed to the clear transparent objective of using your valuable space in merely linking your words with the titled concept. You are a reporter and as such I would imagine the objective would be far from simple title linkage versus breadth of reporting.
Example: Where is the supposed insider’s credible quote that healthcare as passed violates the Byrd amendment and the undeniable fact reconciliation has never been utilized in present manner to pass permanent entitlement legislation affecting nearly 20% of the economy and where is the treatment of the unilateral Federalization of the Student Loan sector? You made reference to past budget officials in the Reagan administration. Budget officials, on account reconciliation was only germane to budgets period. Quite different than what just happened as respects healthcare legislation.
As you will see as your career unfolds, you are witnessing history in epic proportions in which the final assessment will likely be the purveyor’s and protectors of the fourth estate, the press, have failed this noble social experiment called the United States of America. Don’t let this happen.
Think about what I have written. Just think about it. Don’t get upset. Challenge yourself and realize you have one of the most important positions in a free society.
Best regards,
Matthew J. O’Connor / Clarion Advisory
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Matthew J. O’Connor is the founder of Clarion Advisory, LLC , a politically conservative media production company and currently serves as the executive editor of ClarionAdvisory.com, a site featuring conservative political commentary and the continuous aggregation of national and international news covering politics and business.
Prior to forming Clarion Advisory, Matt worked within the commercial insurance industry, serving as a broker and vice president within a division of an international fortune 500 brokerage with offices based in Los Angeles, California.
Matt was born and raised in Minnesota and is a 1991 graduate of Saint John’s University. Matt currently resides in South Orange County, California with his wife Arlene, a clinical psychologist & consultant, and their three young children.
Matt’s passion is writing and publishing and advancing the conservative cause.
When not writing, Matt enjoys racing around after his children attending his sons’ baseball and soccer games and daughter’s dance and drama performances. And working on his hook in golf and newly re-discovered interest in downhill skiing.
Matt welcomes comments and can be reached at, editor@clarionadvisory.com.
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