Wagman Doesn't Bother With Getting Quotes

Jake Wagman regurgitated a story yesterday suggesting that Senator McCaskill wants to get rid of the individual mandate component of health care reform. The story had been reported by The Hill and by WillyK at Show Me Progress the day before. Despite possessing the title of "reporter," Wagman apparently did not bother to actually get a quote from the McCaskill campaign about the statement.

On the other hand, Jo Mannies at the Beacon did get a quote about McCaskill's position on mandates, and it was pretty interesting:

McCaskill press secretary Maria Speiser said Thursday that the senator's MSNBC comments, in their entirety, "are not significantly different from what she has said in the past."...

Overall, said Speiser, "Claire believes the bottom line is that the mandate is unpopular, and if there are other ways to stop insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, it’s worth considering."

Mannies also presented the full quotation from McCaskill that sparked the recent controversy:

I think they don't like the mandate and by a wide margin they voted that way (a reference to Proposition C, which passed handily in Missouri on Aug. 3). I do think we have to look at it to see if there's a different way to make sure to get more people in the pool. What the most popular part of the bill (is, barring) pre-existing conditions, allowing people who have had the nerve to be sick before, allowing them to get insurance, that's the most popular part. That really is what drove the desire for a mandate because you've got to get everybody in the pool. Can you imagine if you could go get car insurance after you had a wreck? Who is going to buy insurance until after they're sick. Maybe there's other ways to get people in a pool other than a mandate -– I hope -– and we need to look at that.

Seems like a pretty interesting facts that add flavor and context to the story, no?