text: October 3, 2012 - 1:19pm
  On Wednesday, New York Times political reporters Jackie Calmes (pictured) and John Harwood offered a pre-debate fact-check which predictably leaned in Obama's favor: "A Closer Look at Assertions the 2 Sides Have Made on Economic Issues [1]."
  Calmes has asserted that claim before [2]. Yet there is immense skepticism that Congress will stick to reducing payments to Medicare, among other things required that would make Obama-care actually reduce the deficit. The House Budget Committee (chaired by Paul Ryan) accuses the White House of using "gimmicks and double-counting [3]," which the CBO is required to take at face value. And conservative economists have predicted Obama-care will add to the deficit.
  Tags: Campaign 2012 [6], Debates [7], Obama-Care [8], Jackie Calmes [9], John Harwood [10]
  Source URL: http://archive2.mrc.org/articles/pre-debate-new-york-times-defends-obama-bad-hand-dealt-bush
  [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/us/politics/claims-likely-to-surface-in-debate-and-facts-behind-them.html?ref=todayspaper