Half-Court Press
Not a lot of consensus today on the top story. The Los Angeles Times
leads with the situation on the Russian space station Mir, the New York Times goes
with the push for new ways to keep sex offenders away from the rest of us even
after they've done their time, and the Washington Post chooses a review of the Supreme Court's
just-concluded term.
The LAT also does a front-page review of the Supreme Court's
performance, emphasizing the many ways in which its decisions stymied positions
near and dear to Bill Clinton, whereas the Post 's treatment focuses not
on the political, but the personal, noting that in considering medically
assisted suicide, Justices O'Connor and Stevens no doubt drew on their own
brushes with cancer, and that for the decision overturning suppression of
cyberporn, the justices logged on to the Internet. The Post also reports
that by the time the last of the Court's decisions was announced, Chief Justice
Rehnquist had already left town for Rome.
Both the NYT and WP give above-the-fold treatment to the tax
bills just passed by the House and Senate. The NYT 's take sees the big
picture of the budget deficit and of the long-term prospects for Medicare and
Social Security, and credits those who worked on the bill with "political
nerve" while finding the budget process this year marked by a "notable
credibility." This is just what the Post doesn't find. It sees the bills
as a triumph of "small interests," noting that they contain special provisions
for the likes of "bakery companies, apple cider distillers, low-income farmers,
luxury boaters, sky-diving instructors and even whaling captains." Not to
mention Sen. Orrin Hatch's efforts on behalf of arrow manufacturers.
The NYT also goes top of the fold with the story of how the CEOs of
American arms manufacturers, hoping for new overseas customers, are lobbying
both here and abroad for NATO expansion. A sample revelation: Bernard L.
Schwartz, chairman of Loral Space and Communications, personally donated
$601,000 to Democratic politicians during the 1996 election cycle.
And by the way, exactly what point is today's Post making about new
White House advisor Sidney Blumenthal in the following paragraph? "Dick Morris
pushed numerous policies on to the president's agenda before being banished
from the Clinton team in a sex scandal last summer. 'Sidney,' he said, 'is
well-positioned to play much the same role that I did.'"
