The Washington Post’s Dan Eggan argues that George W. Bush’s daily warnings of economic doom and gloom if the bailout bill doesn’t become law are falling on deaf ears. In fact, Bush’s warnings have been ridiculed as they recall his hyperbolic– and false– 2002-03 assertions that Iraq could strike the U.S.

Also, Bush has lost so much credibility that he’s been rendered a secondary character in his own administration’s reaction to the financial crisis. He’s at best no. 3 behind Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

But! Bush’s hyperbole no longer carries the day, but it might still have influence. Eggan gives a list of dire warnings issued by the president. One is the need for a domestic spying program– which he got through Congress but three months ago. Even if the messenger is discredited, the uncomplicated, endlessly repeated message of impending catastrophe could yet resonate.-MB

The New York Times’ Kevin Sack positively reviews changes in the federal government’s medicare pay system for hospitals. Medicare is no longer footing the bill for "reasonably preventable conditions" caused at hospitals. It’s part of the new "performance-pay" model at the Center for Medicare Services (part of the Dept. of Health and Human Services) designed to trim costs and make hospitals more accountable.

Hospital accountability has been a periodic hot topic in the health care debate, since a 1999 Institute of Medicine report found that almost 100,000 patients a year die from preventable hospital accidents. But despite the patient safety movement that study spawned, the figure (which includes all patients, not just the 12.5 million people on medicare) has stayed about the same. Check back in five years to see if the changes made now reduce that startling figure.-MB

The 2008 Prize for Preventive Journalism was awarded September 30 to Michael Grunwald of TIME Magazine for his August 2007 cover story "Why New Orleans Still Isn’t Safe."  The story delves into the immense danger facing New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the persistent pattern of mistakes by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in devising ways to handle hurricane-generated floods in Louisiana’s largest city.  Grunwald’s searching look at post-Katrina New Orleans in the balance was selected by judges Charles Peters, Bill Kovach, and Katherine Boo from among ten finalists whose work exemplifies the best in American journalism.  In his acceptance speech, Grunwald shocked and delighted the gathering of journalists, editors, and open government activists by announcing he would donate the entire $50,000 prize to a charitable cause in New Orleans.   Understanding Government congratulates Mike on his outstanding journalistic achievements and celebrates his generosity upon winning one of journalism’s largest prizes.

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