'Howard Fineman Buries The Lead Like It's Jimmy Hoffa'

It takes Fineman three paragraphs into his article at Newsweek, before he writes what should have been the obvious lede:

A Democratic senator I can’t name, who reluctantly voted for the health-care bill out of loyalty to his party and his admiration for Barack Obama, privately complained to me that the measure was political folly, in part because of the way it goes into effect: some taxes first, most benefits later, and rate hikes by insurance companies in between.

Besides that, this Democrat said, people who already have coverage will feel threatened and resentful about helping to cover the uninsured—an emotion they will sanitize for the polltakers into a concern about federal spending and debt.

On the day the president signed into law the “fix-it” addendum to the massive health-care measure, two new polls show just how fearful and skeptical Americans are about the entire enterprise.  If the numbers stay where they are—and it’s not clear why they will change much between now and November—then the Democrats really are in danger of colossal losses at the polls.

As Jim Geraghty (source of the above headline) adds in response:

So, just to clarify, some Democratic senator admitted to Fineman that he thinks the bill is political suicide, raises premiums for his constituents and feeds public anger, but voted for it anyway out of personal and party loyalty? Come on, Fineman, spill the goods so we can give this guy his Profile in Courage award.

As somebody wrote early in 2005:

A political party is dying before our eyes — and I don’t mean the Democrats. I’m talking about the “mainstream media,” which is being destroyed by the opposition (or worse, the casual disdain) of George Bush’s Republican Party; by competition from other news outlets (led by the internet and Fox’s canny Roger Ailes); and by its own fraying journalistic standards.

Incidentally, as Byron York writes, “Obama: Health care law just ‘first step,’ will require future ‘adjustments.’”

What (more) could go wrong?

And of course, the New York Times has its own memory hole working overtime: “Prominent Republican Gets Actual Death Threat, NYT Suddenly Drops Concern Over Violent Protesters.”