Probably not, since it has no interest in health care reform that could jeopardize the incomes of the insurance industry, the health care industry and highly paid medical professionals. Therefore, the Post would never use a word like "whopping" or its derivatives in a headline about the health care system. On the other hand, since it the editors have no qualms about using the news section to push its crusade for balanced budgets, it has no qualms about using "whopping" in a headline for an article about the budget deficit. In addition to the unusual adjectival choice for a news headline, it's also worth noting that the other half of the headline is wrong. The stimulus did not grow, it shrank. President Obama originally proposed a bill that was just under $800 billion. He got a bill that was less than $800 billion, including a $70 billion fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax that everyone had anticipated whether or not there was a stimulus. This means that the final bill had less real stimulus than the original one. When it comes to providing information, the first paragraph does no better than the headline. What does it mean to tell readers: "But one thing is certain: It will blast another big hole in an already tattered federal budget." What is "big?" What is a "hole in the budget?" The only information readers get from this paragraph is that the Post is unhappy with the size of the deficit. That's fine for the opinion page, but it doesn't belong in the news section. To round out its analysis, the Post tells us, among things, that among the issues that President Obama wants to tackle is "assuring that Social Security will survive for future generations." It would be interesting to learn whether President Obama used this phrase or whether it originated with the Post, because it makes as much sense as saying that he will ensure that Ohio survives for future generations. It's theoretically possible that both Social Security and the state of Ohio will cease to exist, but on what basis would any reasonable person expect either event. The article concludes by presenting analysis from two budget hawks to balance out the piece.
--Dean Baker