David Espo

AP: House Dems' ObamaCare Iteration to Penalize Businesses Using Part-Time Workers

Obama3

Rush mentioned this on the air as his show opened.

It comes from the Associated Press, in a later paragraph of an Obama cheerleading item ("Obama pitches health plan in spirited appearance"; AP picture at right is from that story) by Julie Pace and David Espo.

The paragraph in question opens by giving readers the impression that either Pace, Espo, or another AP person has actually seen language in whatever iteration of ObamaCare happens to be floating around House chambers these days. But then it backs down and says it's only "described by a Democratic aide," meaning that the wire service is willingly serving as a trial-balloon enabler:

In a new change sought by House Democrats, the fix-it bill would require businesses to count part-time workers when calculating penalties for failing to provide health coverage for employees. Smaller businesses would be exempt. The Senate bill would count only full-time workers in applying the penalties, but under the change, described by a Democratic aide, two part-time workers would count as one full-time worker. Businesses say that's unduly burdensome, but Democrats contend it would prevent businesses from avoiding penalties by hiring more workers part-time.

AP Fact Check: Gen. Shinseki 'Forced Into Retirement' by Bush Administration

A December 7, 2008, wire article by the Associated Press' David Espo claims, "[Former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric] Shinseki was forced into retirement by the Bush administration after he said the original invasion plan for Iraq did not include enough troops." (President-elect Obama recently announced Gen. Shinseki would head the Veterans Affairs Department.)

The truth? No such thing happened. FactCheck.org, among other sources, debunked this myth over four years ago.

BDS Meets PDS: AP Writer 'Finds' Bush v. Gore/Palin Investigation Parallels

Late this afternoon, AP Special Correspondent David Espo cobbled together one of the most incoherent "comparisons" of two totally unrelated events I have ever seen.

In a piece that should be called "AP Writer's Bush Derangement Syndrome Meets Up with His Palin Derangment Syndrome; Hilarity Ensues," Espo attempts to paint current GOP tactics being employed to defend Sarah Palin in the Walt Monegan firing case with those Bush-Cheney used to ensure that the Florida results in the 2000 presidential election didn't get hijacked by Democratic Party efforts to selectively recount only certain counties and to exclude legitimate overseas military ballots.

Of course, that's not how Espo sees it (saved here at my web host in case the report changes or goes away), as you'll see in the beginning of his report: