The new fact-free AP

I'm old enough to remember when the AP was a fairly respectable wire service. Of course that was before Ron Fournier got his grubby paws on it. There was a time when they would not have overstated the cost of the health care bill like this.

THE AP, THE CBO, AND A $500 BILLION GAP.... The latest report from the Associated Press on health care reform, published just one hour ago, includes this paragraph:

On Tuesday, House Democratic leaders pledged to meet the president's goal of health care legislation before their August break, offering a $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans. Left to pick up most of the tab were medical providers, employers and the wealthy.

It doesn't include a source for the "$1.5 trillion" figure, but an earlier version of the story quoted an unnamed "House Democratic aide."

Also no reference to "the Congressional Budget Office scoring -- released 20 hours before the most recent AP piece -- that pointed to a roughly $1 trillion cost over 10 years." I'm sure you can guess which figure the anti-reform horde will be using.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]