What is it with the AP’s headline writers? Yesterday it was a headline and tweet that suggested “Pamela Geller has no regrets over not being murdered by terrorists” and today we have a possible egregious distortion of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s views on Medicaid. Here’s the headline from the AP that looks to be in error:
Gov. Scott Concedes That Earlier Medicaid Support Was A Ruse
Sounds bad, right? Liberals sure think so:
https://twitter.com/drvox/status/596756125397229569
Rick Scott admits that his former support for expanding Medicaid, which cited his mother's death, was just a "ruse." http://t.co/uMhMqQpeeU
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) May 8, 2015
But is it true? Politico’s Marc Caputo reports:
I'm a fan of @AP, but I think a line editor screwed this up. Scott never explicitly said his Medicaid support was a "ruse" 1
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
Nor did Gov Scott say his Medicaid support was merely "a calculated move" to win fed support for a waiver 2
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
I can understand why people think Scott was not honest & that his comments could be interpreted that way, but he didn't explicitly say it 3
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
It is true that when Scott was asked what changed in his Medicaid expansion support he starts talking about the waiver … 4
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
..but it's dangerous to attribute specific comments to vague answers that might be non-answers 5
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
Here's what
1) Scott said http://t.co/MRzzSq74T6
2) story says he said http://t.co/Q6ehp6Qb0h
There's a mismatch between the two 6
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
Again, could be reasonable to interpret/infer what he meant, but that's the purview of editorial –not a wire piece that states it as fact 7
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
I'm not trying to pick a media fight. I'm pointing out what's fact, what's a guess & Y we need 2B cautious before we start RTing headlines
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 8, 2015
The write-up from the AP, however, is no better than their headline:
Is whatever Rick Scott actually *said* about Medicaid quoted somewhere? Story flying around has no actual quotes.http://t.co/ToBtdOFPMH
— Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) May 8, 2015
Bingo. Here’s the quote-free write-up in its entirety:
Gov. Rick Scott, after his mother’s death in 2013, went on TV to explain his decision to drop his strongly-held opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
Scott said his mother’s death changed his perspective and he could no longer “in good conscience” oppose expanding health care coverage to nearly 1 million Floridians.
Scott conceded this week that was all a ruse. He now says his support for Medicaid expansion was a calculated move designed to win support from the Obama administration for the state’s proposal to hand over control of Medicaid to private insurance companies. At the time, he denied that his support was tied to a deal with the federal government.
Now that he’s succeeded in privatizing Medicaid, Scott is again railing against Medicaid expansion and is suing the federal government for allegedly forcing it on him.
Time for the AP to issue an apology and correction.
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