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Welcome to the best of the left podcast with clips today from CounterSpin,

The Daily Show, The Young Turks, The Onion Radio News, Ring of Fire,

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, NPR, and The Rachel Maddo Show.

With much of the healthcare discussion in Washington,

dominated by the various compromises of Democratic lawmakers,

the corporate media's default position has generally been to cheer on these concessions

to the right. But how do you present such a strategy so it looks like

common sense rather than selling out? In part, by making words mean just what you want them to mean,

A la Lewis Carroll. Take the November 10th New York Times headline,

The trick for Democrats is juggling ideology and pragmatism.

The lead sentence tells readers that, quote,

Democrats have displayed a striking degree of pragmatism

in seeking to push the healthcare bill through Congress,

embracing or rejecting ideological considerations

as needed to keep the legislation moving.

The paper couldn't be clear that ideology and pragmatism are in conflict.

But look at how those terms are being defined. In the case of healthcare reform,

the Times means by ideology, policy ideas like single payer or a truly robust

public plan that are popular with voters, and that would be more likely to

reduce the costs of the healthcare system and cover more people.

...