Does the Washington Post know what “consensus” means? Today's Post features a deeply flawed article by Lori Montgomery hyping the supposedly broad support for the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan. Under the headline “Consensus is forming on what steps to take in cutting the deficit,” Montgomery writes “a surprisingly broad consensus is forming around the actions required to stabilize borrowing and ease fears of a European-style debt crisis in the United States.” Montgomery adds:

"[T]he plan unveiled this month by co-chairmen Erskine B. Bowles, a chief of staff in the Clinton White House, and Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, has been respectfully received with a few exceptions by both parties. Its major elements are also winning support from a striking line-up of commentators."

So, everyone's on board? Well, not quite: “Organized labor and other liberal activists say the changes would prove devastating to the elderly, particularly janitors, waitresses and other blue-collar workers … some powerful Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), have rejected benefit cuts … Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said the commission's proposal to slice $100 billion out of the Pentagon budget in 2015 would be 'catastrophic' … Republicans such as Rep. Dave Camp (Mich.), a commission member who is in line to chair the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, say they cannot support any plan that raises federal revenues much beyond the historic average of about 19 percent of gross domestic product. The Bowles-Simpson plan would collect as much as 21 percent of GDP.” Oh, and the public doesn't prioritize deficit-cutting in the first place and is adamantly opposed to Simpson-Bowles proposals like cutting Social Security benefits.

So the “consensus” in favor of the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan does not include organized labor, the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of Defense, the presumptive chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, or the American people. That's an interesting definition of “consensus.”

While exaggerating support for the proposal, Montgomery allowed Alan Simpson to lash out at critics of his proposal, without quoting any in response. In fact, the entire article quotes only one word of substantive opposition to the Simpson-Bowles plan. I guess part of pretending there's “consensus” support for the plan is omitting substantive criticism of it. Also not mentioned: Criticism by Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, among others, who argued that the Simpson-Bowles plan is “regressive” and “redistributes income upward.” (Instead, the Post asserts that “fiscal experts say the Bowles-Simpson plan would be more gradual and less draconian than critics suggest.”) Also not mentioned: Rep. Jan Shakowsky, a member of the fiscal commission who strongly disagrees with the Simpson-Bowles approach and who has produced her own dept-reduction plan.

Finally, it's worth noting that Montgomery's article kicks things off with a clear and unambiguous falsehood:

After an election dominated by vague demands for less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices necessary to achieve those goals are coming into sharp focus. Big cuts at the Pentagon. Higher taxes, including those on home ownership and health care. Smaller Social Security checks and higher Medicare premiums.

Smaller Social Security checks are not “necessary” to reduce the debt or the size of government. That is simply false, and the Post should retract the claim. (You needn't take my word for it: You can head on over to the New York Times' budget calculator and see for yourself. And that tool is skewed against progressive policies.)