Earlier this month, ABC News's Rick Klein reported on the network's "Political Radar" Web site:
When an Iowa resident asked former senator John Edwards Thursday whether the United States should follow the Cuban healthcare model, the 2004 vice presidential contender deflected the question by saying he didn't know enough to answer the question.
"I'm going to be honest with you - I don't know a lot about Cuba's healthcare system," Edwards, D-N.C., said at an event in Oskaloosa, Iowa. "Is it a government-run system?"
It's difficult to believe that any American adult, let alone a former senator and current presidential candidate, doesn't know that in Cuba the government runs virtually everything. Can you imagine the scathing news coverage, the fuming editorials, and interminate talk show jokes if a Republican presidential candidate had made an equivalent blunder?
Yet the mainstream media, with the notable exception of ABC News, didn't find the incident very newsworthy.
For his part, I think John Edwards probably knows more than he admits about Cuban healthcare. He'd probably prefer avoiding any comparisons between it and his own healthcare scheme. And, by overlooking the incident, much of the mainstream media has helped him do that.
