In the New York Times Micheal Shear and Peter Baker blame the failure of the Manchin-Toomey on President Obama’s inability to twist the arm of Democratic Senators like Mark Begich (D-AK). This is a strange interruption of the whole situation because as Greg Sargent pointed out even if Obama got every reluctant Democrat on board the measure would still have failed to get 60 votes.

Among the growing number of stories speculating on the potential outcomes of the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s mandates and coverage expansion, we’re also seeing articles like this — Supporters Slow to Grasp Health Law’s Legal Risks — by Peter Baker of the New York Times. Baker suggests that the ACA’s defenders, and particularly the Obama Administration’s lawyers, were too slow in realizing the legal risks facing the ACA. That may be true, but not for the reasons often suggested.

Peter Baker has an almost 6500-word article describing Obama’s efforts to fix the economy. But nowhere in this epic does Peter Baker once use the word “foreclosure.” Or “housing.” Or, god forbid, “HAMP.”

Peter Baker is worried about relying on press pools from people who resemble the people who have produced press pool reports he has relied on during his entire career.