Pushing Conservatives Off the Fiscal Cliff
Nov 28, 2012
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The conventional wisdom has emerged that in order to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," politicians in Washington must agree to some method of tax increases ("revenue") -- which will be real, even if low taxes are not the cause of our ills -- alongside some kind of promise of spending restraint on entitlement programs, which is our problem, and which no one believes Washington will restrain. The American left and our "objective" journalists -- same thing, I know -- are not helping the nation balance its budget. As usual, these partisan hacks are obsessed with tearing the Republican coalition apart, limb from limb. By empowering the GOP moderates, they drive the conservatives into exile. These liberals are dishonest but not dumb. They have no intention of honoring a pledge to curtail wasteful spending. What they want is GOP civil war.
On Nov. 27, the front page of The Washington Post exemplified the media's peculiar method of portraying the two sides. "Republicans begin to challenge the reign of an anti-tax enforcer," they triumphantly proclaimed for the GOP moderates. The Democrats drew this headline: "White House builds case for middle-class tax cuts."
So where does this leave conservatives? The brass-knuckled enemy of the middle class. This isn't fairness or balance. It's just another shameless day in the funhouse of liberal media distortion.
Post reporter Aaron Blake wrote the story on the revolt against Grover Norquist. The Post made their emphasis even more obvious in their free commuter tabloid called Express, which splashed this headline over Blake's story: "IS THE GOP OVER GROVER?"
Unsurprisingly, Blake admits mid-story that the shift away from a no-new-taxes pledge "has been encouraged by Democrats, who have worked to make Norquist the face of GOP obstruction." This could be the media's motto: "All the News That's Encouraged by Democrats."
The same angle screamed from the television. On ABC's "World News," anchor Diane Sawyer proclaimed, "We did see a sign the paralysis may be ending, a Republican mutiny against a man who had convinced them to take a pledge." The graphic on screen read "Tax Revolt." George Orwell Time: only in liberal newsrooms is there such a thing as a "tax revolt" to raise taxes. On "CBS This Morning," co-host Charlie Rose pushed Sen. Bob Corker to say he would "forgo the pledge because it is outdated, and the country's problems are too big." |
