World
News anchors and reporters on Sunday chided Barack Obama from the left,
complaining that he was "caving" and "breaking one of his biggest
campaign promises" by preventing tax rates from increasing in January.
ABC's Washington editor Rick Klein worried, "
President Obama has been
clear this was a critical position and he is caving on it, in, in
allowing all the tax cuts to be extended."
Reporter David Kerley fretted, "The President is preparing to break one
of his biggest campaign promises. He is poised to extend tax cuts to
the richest Americans in exchange for helping millions who are jobless."
He went on to highlight Democratic angst over this apparent outrage,
reminding, "For Democrats, making this deal, giving in on taxes to get
unemployment benefits extended, is a tough pill to swallow."
Indeed,
both segments devoted to this topic focused on whether this was an
alarming sign that the President would abandon other liberal ideals.
Klein alerted, "So, the, the view of many in the left is that if the
President has to move this far right now, he's gonna have to go that
much farther once, once Republicans take control of the House next
month."
Although Kerley did explain the impact of allowing a tax increase, he
also derided the "cost" of such an action: "It is a costly deal at a
time of worry about the deficit. None of the cuts is paid for. In fact,
keeping taxes at this level over the next 10 years could add nearly $4
trillion to the national debt."
At no time did any of the ABC journalists frame the issue as one of
Republicans, who won a major midterm victory, standing firm on campaign
promises.
The World News reporters were echoing the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is
running ads encouraging Obama to "keep your promise" on letting the tax cuts expire.
For more on this segment, see a post by the MRC's
Brad Wilmouth.
A transcript of the December 5 segment, which aired at 6pm EST on December 5, follows:
DAVID
MUIR: Good evening. As we go on the air this Sunday night, word the
White House and top Republicans are nearing a deal. No new taxes. It
appears those Bush-era tax cuts will be extended, even for the
wealthiest Americans. Republicans have argued you can't raise taxes on
anyone while recovering from this recession, that it would hurt small
business owners and jobs. Democrats have asked, how do you keep the tax
cuts going for the rich with a spiraling deficit and so many Americans
still unemployed ad so many Americans unemployed. And so, David Kerley
is at the White House tonight, where details of this coming deal are
emerging as we speak. David, good evening.
DAVID KERLEY: Good evening, David. The President is preparing to
break one of his biggest campaign promises. He is poised to extend tax
cuts to the richest Americans in exchange for helping millions who are
jobless. Tonight, it appears Republicans will get all the tax cuts extended.
SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (Meet the Press): I think it's pretty clear now
taxes are not going up on anybody in the middle of this recession.
We're discussing how long we should maintain current tax rates.
KERLEY: For Democrats, making this deal, giving in on taxes to get unemployment benefits extended, is a tough pill to swallow.
SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN [Face the Nation]: We're moving in that
direction. And we're only moving there against my judgment and my own
particular view of things.
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE IN THE SENATE: Mr. Ensign, no.
KERLEY: Democrats tried to extend the tax cuts only to the middle class.
SENATOR BYRON DORGAN: They're demanding that the wealthiest Americans
get a tax cut that is 1,000 times the size of the average American.
KERLEY: But the effort-
UNIDENTIED VOICE: Mr. Cochran, no.
KERLEY: -failed twice in the Senate. So the President promised compromise.
BARACK OBAMA: We need to redouble our efforts to resolve this impasse in the next few days.
KERLEY: Here's what's at stake without action. Someone making
$62,000 a year could see their taxes go up $2200 starting next month.
But extending all the cuts means that someone making $10 million a year
will keep $450,000 of their income that would have gone to Uncle Sam. It
is a costly deal at a time of worry about the deficit. None of the cuts
is paid for. In fact, keeping taxes at this level over the next 10
years could add nearly $4 trillion to the national debt. Sources
tell me that a deal could be set in the next couple of days, and the
White House would like to move this along - fairly quickly because
Republicans continue to say they will do nothing else in the lame-duck
session until this tax issue is finished. David?
DAVID MUIR: And let's turn to Rick Klein, our senior Washington editor
who's following every step of this. And, Rick, you and I were talking
about all of this political theater this weekend. Democrats fighting for
tax cuts only for the middle class, something they knew wouldn't get
anywhere, but listen to Democratic Senator McCaskill with this directed
at the Tea Party.
SENATOR CLAIRE MCCASKILL: They need to pull back the curtain and
realize that you've got a Republican Party that's not worried about the
people in the Tea Party. They're worried about people that can't decide
which home to go to over the Christmas holidays.
MUIR: Clearly some Democrats very frustrated about all of this. So, who won, who lost here?
KLEIN: This is a significant win for Republicans, David. President
Obama has been clear this was a critical position, and he is caving on
it, in, in allowing all the tax cuts to be extended. He wanted them to
expire for the wealthiest Americans. So, this round goes to Republicans who wanted them across the board extended.
MUIR: But the White House will argue they had to do this to extend unemployment benefits.
KLEIN: That's right. The White House views this as the last best chance
in this lame-duck Congress and trying to get some of its priorities
passed, including - extending unemployment benefits. But the flip side
is that this movement is happening while Democrats still control
Congress. So, the, the view of many in the left is that if the
President has to move this far right now, he's gonna have to go that
much farther once - once Republicans take control of the House next
month.
MUIR: And, Rick, quickly, this comes after voters in the midterms seem
so concerned about government spending and the deficit, and yet we're
hearing now about tax cuts and more spending for the benefits.
KLEIN: Yeah. All this talk in Washington about deficit and debt and
everything that Congress is, is set to do is gonna make those problems
even worse. The problem is, these are the easy things. You, you extend
unemployment benefits, you're, you're spending more money, you're
cutting taxes, it means less revenue is coming in. All of those things
blow bigger holes in our budget deficit.
MUIR: Rick Klein keeping watch in Washington. Rick, thank you.
- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
