The Washington Post issued a correction on Saturday in which it apologized for a mischaracterization of the House Republican Whip's use of a printout of the Senate-passed health care bill:
In a Feb. 26 editorial, we said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was "posturing" during the Thursday health-care summit by stacking the voluminous Senate bill before him. Mr. Cantor says that he had the bill with him, well-tabbed, not for show but so that Republicans could respond if specific provisions of the bill came up for discussion. That makes sense, and we should not have characterized his purpose as we did.
What the Post didn't tell readers is that it was just mimicking President Barack Obama. As the Associated Press reported Thursday in a story available at washingtonpost.com and headlined "Obama scolds Rep. Cantor at summit for paper prop":
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama scolded Virgina Republican Rep. Eric Cantor for the stack of paper he brought with him to the health summit, calling it the type of political stunt that gets in the way of lawmakers having a serious conversation.
Cantor said he brought a copy of the 2,400-page Senate bill and the 11-page proposal Obama posted online earlier in the week.
Taking offense at the display as Cantor began to speak Thursday, Obama said the "truth of the matter" is that health care is a very complicated subject. He said all the Republican ideas discussed during the first half of the daylong summit would generate a bunch of paper, too.
