On the Afghan War tax, the media suddenly understands completely and in detail the $87 billion

[karynnj]

Note that in spite of the cynicism, they completely understood what the amendment that Kerry and Biden wrote did. (Biden then voted yes and in a moment of being a very poor surrogate on MTP- said when asked about the "flip flop" that Kerry made a mistake and should have done what he did rather than explaining their amendment. I doubt it made any difference because the media spent months pretending they didn't understand. (Kerry himself made a mistake in using that shorthand, but there is no way that anyone could go that many months and not inartfully (to use Obama's word) say something.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/will-biden-and-kerry-supp_n_370290.html#postComment

[wisteria]

1. Finally, they are getting and education into how our Congress votes and passes legislation.

The Republicans like to dummy everything down and play to people's ignorance about such matters. This is what they and the media did in 2004. Yes, Senator Kerry was a bit tired and did not articulate his response as well as he could have, but ultimately, he was telling the truth and it would have taken only a little research to confirm his comments.
What this article proves to me is the media can detail and report on issues correctly when they want to.

[karynnj]

2. The actual problem was that there were a series of hecklers at the event and Kerry was polite

The question asked was why he voted against funding the troops. He answered in detail explaining both votes and the reasons - it was not a vote against funding the troops. He then took more questions and within 5 minutes was asked the same question - He said that he had just answered that and SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THERE. The conclusion of that sentence was what haunted him. While looked at in hindsight, the comment is obviously not good, but it is easy to see that in the context of dealing with hecklers, it would have been hard to anticipate the danger.

[wisteria]

3. Ah, thanks for a little more detailed history on this comment.

Although, knowing Kerry I knew he wasn't spinning anything when he answered.