Update (14:30 EDT): Joe Schoffstall of NewsBusters sister site MRCTV.org has video of Moran berated a 27-year military veteran who asked Moran questions at last night's townhall. Click here .
In his 20-paragraph April 8 article* on a congressional townhall hosted by liberal Democrat Jim Moran (D-Va.), reporter Ben Pershing buried in the very last paragraph the complaint of at least one attendee about the failure of Democrats to approve the 2011 budget last year when they controlled both houses of Congress:
Even before finishing his opening remarks, Moran was sharply interrupted by members of the audience. One asked why Democrats hadn’t completed a spending bill for 2011 last year, when they still controlled both chambers of Congress. Moran didn’t answer but said he wasn’t there to “argue or defend any of this.”
Moran's district is a very safe Democratic seat, so it is instructive that this was the very first question Moran was posed in last night's townhall meeting.
Pershing's bias-by-burial follows the media template of shutdown coverage as the media fail to criticize Democrats for setting the stage for a shutdown by failing to do such a basic task as approving the government's 2011 budget last year when they controlled both houses of Congress.
*the online article had two additional paragraphs that followed:
Two attendees asked whether furloughed federal workers would qualify for unemployment benefits. Moran said the answer wasn’t clear yet — it depends on how long a shutdown lasts.
Dina Long of the NTEU told the audience that help for financially struggling federal workers could be found at the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund’s Web site . J. David Cox of the American Federation of Government Employees said he hoped that mortgage lenders and credit card companies would show “compassion” to furloughed workers.
