WurfWhile

In a TPM article that I otherwise think gets it right, “MSNBC Reports Defense Cuts, Guest Corrects Record,” reporter Brian Beutler writes that

“I don’t think this tendency [to report a modest budget increase as a "steep" budget cut] stems from an intentional malice – it’s more of an epiphenomenon rooted in years of being led to believe that the president is obligated to a). increase military spending, and b). do so in a way that preserves or expands all existing Pentagon programs, however wasteful. Anything else computes as a ’spending cut.’”

Brian, I don’t think I’d necessarily attribute it to “intentional malice” either – but that’s hardly the only possibility. Perhaps it was just a “business decision?“

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