That seems to be what how the NYT interpreted Thompson's announcement of his candidacy, except the article used the euphemism "entitlements." It told readers that Thompson "signaled that he would try to rein in ballooning entitlement costs."
Social Security and Medicare are enormously important to the health and economic security of tens of millions of citizens. If a central theme of Mr. Thompson's campaign is that he wants to cut these programs, then the media should make this fact clear to the public. In comparison to plans to cut these programs, almost anything else that the media might say about Thompson is trivial. Political reporters should devote their efforts to clarifying Mr. Thompson's position on Social Security and Medicare rather than worrying about his similarities with Ronald Reagan.
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