Why Can’t We Have a Better Press Corps?

USA Today has a column by Roy Blunt (R-MO) titled, “Bush Pushes Fiscal Discipline.” Not surprisingly, the argument is rather typical and not particularly interesting or convincing.

The odd part comes at the end, where the USA Today makes this note:

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., is the deputy majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Office of Management and Budget declined an offer to write the Opposing (sic) view.

Ok, USA Today editors, let’s visit the OMB web page, where this graphic is featured prominently at the top:

Now that’s fairness and balance! The President’s Budget Office — the office that freakin’ wrote the budget — declined an offer to oppose the view that “Bush pushes fiscal discipline.” As long as all sides of the issue had a chance to weigh in on the subject.

AB

P.S. What would Atrios do? Probably post this URL: USA Today Feedback. Or this one: USA Today Letter to the Editor.

P.P.S. I stole the title to this post from Brad DeLong.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: Commenter Steve offers a plausible explanation. Online, all you see is Blunt’s column, followed by the “opposing view” statement. But apparently there’s also a USA Today editorial saying that the budget is irresponsible. USA Today offered to let OMB write the opposing view to USA Today’s editorial, OMB declined, and so USA Today got Blunt to do it. That explains why “Opposing” is capitalized above. Though if this is the case, the article being opposed really should be linked or somehow identified.