Hearing of Timothy Geithner’s confirmation today as U.S. Treasury Secretary despite his tax drama while with the IMF, I couldn’t help but feel as if Obama’s team (and his equally transfixed-by-fake-rockstarism Senate) very clearly intended to send a message to America: We are going to do whatever we want and there is absolutely nothing you [...]
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The News Without The Left’s Bias
15
Jan
Americans aren’t the only ones that have to fight liberal media bias. Such is true in Israel as well.
To drive home the point, "Eretz Nehederet," the top television comedy program in Israel, recently satirized the BBC’s depiction of what’s going on in Gaza.
Strap your seatbelts tightly, for the following will give you a marvelous idea of what many Israelis think of the pro-Palestinian international press coverage of the hostilities in their homeland (h/t Hot Air):
15
Jan
Federal spending is already at a record level, but instead of asking President-elect Barack Obama about the effectiveness of his proposed additional deficit spending, in an “exclusive” interview excerpted Wednesday night, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric hit him on the tax cut component:
Forty percent of your stimulus package relies on tax cuts with the hopes that people will invest that money or put it back into the economy. But some critics have said, "hey, that didn’t really happen the last time." Why will it this time?
Couric did at least raise how “your nominee for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner, failed to pay some taxes, and did so only after he learned he would be tapped as Treasury Secretary. How embarrassing do you think this is for a future Treasury Secretary who will be overseeing the IRS?” Otherwise, the excerpt covered Couric’s inquiries about Osama bin Laden and the situation in Gaza. A longer portion will air Tuesday night during a prime time special, “Change and Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama.”
The tax cuts also most-concerned ABC’s George Stephanopoulos when Obama sat down with him. On Sunday’s This Week, as recounted in my NewsBusters post, Stephanopoulos demanded: “Do you really believe those business tax cuts are going to work to create jobs?” He soon yearned: “But you might give up on some of the business tax cuts?”
The tax cut exchange as aired on the Wednesday, January 14 CBS Evening News, the only section aired which related to the “stimulus” plan:
KATIE COURIC: And let me just end by asking you about the stimulus package. Forty percent of your stimulus package relies on tax cuts with the hopes that people will invest that money or put it back into the economy. But some critics have said, "hey, that didn’t really happen the last time." Why will it this time?
BARACK OBAMA: Well, there are a couple of things. First of all, I think it’s important to understand that the majority of our spending is direct government spending on critical infrastructure that will set the table for long-term economic growth. We’re gonna double alternative energy. We’re gonna rebuild our schools and community colleges and public universities. We’re gonna invest billions of dollars in health information technology so that we can drive down costs for average families. So that’s where the majority of the money’s going.
Now, are some people gonna just pay down their credit cards or save some of that money? Absolutely. And if Congress has better suggestions where they can show me that one approach is gonna be better than another approach, I’m happy to take it. I don’t have pride of authorship here. But the general framework, the general outlines of the plan are ones we have run by economists from the left and the right, conservative, liberal. This is a package that I think is gonna make sense. I have every confidence that it’s gonna work. But it’s gonna take some time. And we’ve gotta do it with some speed. So my main message to Congress right now is "get it done."
COURIC: And if it doesn’t work?
OBAMA: Failure is never an option. Not in America.
CBSNews.com’s transcript of what aired on the CBS Evening News, along with a video clip of Obama’s comments on capturing or killing bin Laden.
14
Jan
The network evening shows didn’t have much of an appetite for Democratic hypocrisy among the team they hailed as a "superstar Cabinet" on Tuesday night. Timothy Geithner, Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, a man who would oversee the IRS, failed to pay $42,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes — and waited to pay more than half of that amount – $26,000 – only after Obama decided to nominate him. On top of that, one of Geithner’s household employees failed to renew her green card. Only ABC mentioned Geithner in their introductions, and featured no report, just an interview with George Stephanopoulos, who said it was a mere "speed bump" and "fairly common." CBS and NBC spent little more than a minute on Geithner, and NBC’s screen featured the Obama team’s claim in quotes. Under Geithner’s picture were the words "Honest Mistakes."
ABC’s World News at least put the Geithner scandal in its opening seconds. Anchor Charles Gibson declared: "Tax trouble. Questions are raised about Barack Obama’s choice for Treasury Secretary, and his failure to pay some taxes." About four minutes into the show, the story was aired:
CHARLES GIBSON: Next, we turn to the transition, and questions being raised today about Tim Geithner, Barack Obama’s choice to be Treasury Secretary. The man who will have supervision over the IRS and hundreds of billions of dollars in funds to invigorate the economy failed to pay some of his taxes. Didn’t pay them for years. So George Stephanopoulos, host of This Week, is joining us. So, George, what do we know about this?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We know that Tim Geithner worked at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2004 and failed to pay about $34,000 in self-employment payroll taxes. In 2006, he was audited and told to pay two years of those taxes, but didn’t have to pay the two other years. After he was chosen by Barack Obama, tax accountants went through his returns again and said, ‘you know what, you better pay the first two years, as well.’ That was all given to the Senate Finance Committee, Geithner met with the Senate Finance Committee today and this is a speed bump on his road to the confirmation.
GIBSON: Does it imperil his confirmation?
STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t think so, Charlie. Democrats are standing behind Tim Geithner right now. They say this was just an honest mistake, fairly common at non-governmental organizations. Some Republicans are more troubled, including the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, Charles Grassley. But Geithner has the support of key Republicans, like Orrin Hatch, who says ‘I still stand behind him. He’s a very, very competent guy.’
To his credit, Gibson pressed a bit harder on the subject:
GIBSON: But George, as I said in the introduction, this is not somebody who was nominated to be veterans affairs secretary or at interior or whatever, this is the guy that will handle the Internal Revenue Service and hundreds of billions of dollars in financial rescue funds. Don’t they expect some sort of public reaction about this, if he doesn’t pay his taxes?
STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s very possible, Charlie. And some are waiting to see what the public, how the public does react. Geithner himself is embarrassed about this. He told the committee he should have known. He should have paid the taxes. He’s embarrassed by it and he’s sorry.
GIBSON: All right, George Stephanopoulos reporting from down in Washington.
The CBS Evening News devoted the least time to the story, 63 seconds sandwiched on both sides of a Chip Reid story on Hillary Clinton’s confirmation hearings:
KATIE COURIC: It’s a bit warmer in Washington, especially for Hillary Clinton, who faced few tough questions today at her Senate confirmation hearing. But Chip Reid reports another cabinet nominee may be in trouble.
CHIP REID: Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner, the man who would be in charge of the Obama administration’s economic recovery plan, failed to pay about $34,000 in taxes between 2001 and 2004, and briefly employed a housekeeper whose immigration papers had expired. President-elect Obama is standing by him, a spokesman describing the errors as honest mistakes that were quickly addressed. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid agrees.
HARRY REID: There’s a few little hiccups but that’s basically what they are. I am not concerned at all.
CHIP REID: Some Senate Republicans say it’s too early to say if Geithner’s errors are nothing to worry about, and intend to question him at his confirmation hearing.
Later, after a few minutes on the Hillary Clinton hearing, Couric returned briefly to Geithner:
COURIC: And Chip, in talking to people up there, how much trouble do you think Geithner faces?
REID: Well, senators really like him. He’s very popular, he’s highly respected. Most of them would really like to have him in the job, Republicans and Democrats. But some republicans say they’re a little worried. This is the man who will be overseeing the IRS, after all, and if this is a sign of sloppiness, that’s not a quality you want in somebody who’s going to be overseeing a trillion dollars in spending. At this point, though, it doesn’t look like it’s going to block his confirmation.
NBC Nightly News offered 77 seconds with reporter Kelly O’Donnell and the words "Honest Mistakes" on screen.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: The man Barack Obama wants to be his next Treasury Secretary may have, of all things, a tax problem. He is Tim Geithner, head of the New York Federal Reserve. This has to do with money he once owed, and it’s a problem the Obama transition team brought to the attention of senators who must now take on Geithner’s nomination. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell’s on Capitol Hill tonight with more on this still-developing story. Kelly, good evening.
O’DONNELL: Good evening, Brian. Tim Geithner could soon become the country’s top money man, and today he was here to explain to senators why he failed to pay some of his own taxes and had a household worker whose green card once expired on the job. Now, officials say Geithner paid no Social Security taxes when he was working for the International Monetary Fund. And the IMF didn’t take that out of his paycheck automatically. The mistake was caught in November, before he was officially nominated. And Geithner paid the back taxes and interest of more than $42,000. Now, the Obama team says this was just an honest mistake. Republicans aren’t saying much at all. And Brian, Senate Democrats say this is serious, but probably not enough to disqualify Geithner from becoming the next Treasury Secretary.
WILLIAMS: Okay, Kelly O’Donnell on the Hill tonight. We’ll keep an eye on it.
The networks all avoided casting this scandal in a more skeptical light. Take this report in Politico (headlined "Can Obama Save Geithner?") by Craig Gordon and Amie Parnes:
Geithner’s tax problems surfaced publicly Tuesday – but Obama’s team has known about them for at least six weeks, waging a behind-the-scenes campaign to push him through the Senate Finance Committee, despite the blemishes on his record, according to documents from the committee.
The episode raises questions about whether Geithner’s nomination will survive, despite early soundings of support from Democrats, and perhaps, more importantly, a larger question:
What was Obama thinking?
Obama’s choice of Geithner flirts with an issue that has deep-sixed Cabinet picks before –his former housekeeper’s immigration status lapsed briefly while she was in his employ.
Also, Obama’s choice to oversee the IRS flubbed his own tax returns – some of which he had personally prepared – to the tune of $42,700 in back taxes and penalties.
And Geithner decided to pay more than half that amount — $26,000 — only after Obama decided to nominate him, according to finance committee documents.
Obama’s team calls them "honest mistakes." And in the end, Geithner had the only supporter that mattered – Obama himself. One source familiar with Geithner’s vetting says Obama knew about Geithner’s tax problems and decided to push ahead with the nomination anyway because he "still wanted him."
"At the end of the day, Barack decided that he was the best person for a really important job," the source said.
14
Jan
On Wednesday’s Today show, NBC News principals Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Tom Brokaw all gushed over Hillary Clinton’s testimony in front of a Senate panel for her confirmation as Secretary of State. During an interview of Senator John Kerry, Lauer asked, “Did you see any area, Senator, where she didn’t show, I guess, a complete mastery of the issues?” In the following segment, Vieira and Brokaw lauded how “smart and well-prepared” the former First Lady appeared to be. “She’s the kind of woman I would like to sit next to in class,” Brokaw indicated. “She’s so smart,” Vieira added.
The NBC morning program’s coverage of Clinton’s hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee began with correspondent Andrea Mitchell briefly mentioning during a report that the “only controversy [was] over possible conflicts of interest with foreign donors to her husband’s charities.” This was followed by a clip where Republican Senator Richard Lugar raised the issue and the outgoing New York Senator responded to his point. Mitchell concluded her report by stating that “no one questioned Bill Clinton’s good works — only the possibility of undo foreign influence on his wife. Clinton says that she and her husband are already doing more than the ethics rules or the law require, and support for her confirmation is so overwhelming that her senate colleagues are holding a farewell party for her today.”
Lauer’s interview of Kerry, which began nine minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour of the NBC program, immediately followed Mitchell’s report. After congratulating the Massachusetts Democrat for becoming the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the NBC co-host led by summing up Clinton’s testimony and asking his “mastery” question:
LAUER: …She talked about the re-emergence of diplomacy as a central tenet in U.S. foreign policy; about not giving up hope on peace in the Middle East; about the possibility, as we just heard, of direct engagement with Iran. Did you see any area, Senator, where she didn’t show, I guess, a complete mastery of the issues?
KERRY: No, I think she did a terrific job, as I think she will do as secretary of state. She clearly demonstrated a different path from the past administration in terms of engagement with Iran. I think even talking about how they’re going to walk a line in the Middle East as an honest broker in the effort to end the violence. I thought it was — it was a very strong performance, and we anticipate voting her out of the committee tomorrow and trying to get a vote as soon as we can.
Lauer followed up by asking Kerry, “It was called a love fest by some people, and one of the local newspapers here in New York said nothing but softballs from the senators. I mean, has she been questioned harshly enough or thoroughly enough to make — to take on this number one role in diplomacy for the U.S.?”
Later, during Vieira’s conversation with Brokaw, which followed the Kerry interview, the NBC co-host asked the former Nightly News anchor what his impression was of Clinton’s testimony. Brokaw gushed, “Well, it’s often my impression when I listen to her — she’s the kind of woman I would like to sit next to in class.” Vieira replied, “She’s so smart.” Brokaw agreed with her point and expanded on it.
BROKAW: She is — smart and well prepared. She’s — within her staff, it’s legendary — her preparation, and I think she was sending a strong signal to the world that we’re open for business again, in terms of dealing in diplomatic ways with some of our most vigorous adversaries, obviously. She’s going to breeze through there. With that little dust-up about Bill Clinton’s foundation — both Democrats and Republicans thought that that should be raised, but she’s going to get there. The important thing is for everyone to understand, this is all pre-game. This is the kind of game plan that everybody’s putting in place. When they take office and bump up against these objective difficulties that we face around the world, that’s the real test of an administration.
VIEIRA: But what about — what about the criticisms that Matt brought up by some, that they were just kind of, sort of throwing her softballs?
BROKAW: Well, I — look, I think that we’ve seen that. But you have to remember eight years ago, when it was Don Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and Dick Cheney — everybody said that’s the ‘A Team’ and they breezed through pretty quickly as well. And what they — what you try to do in a confirmation hearing — if you don’t have something that can bring them down, is to get, as we did yesterday, a big picture of where this administration wants to go and how it wants to get there. They did raise, obviously, the possibility of the conflict of interest because of her husband’s foundation. But beyond that, there were not a lot of other places for them to go. This is the — she gave an expression of what Obama has been talking about for more than a year now, about how he would change his diplomacy, and the president has a right to name a secretary of state and to construct a foreign policy that he believes is in the best interests of the country, and it’s the one that the country voted for.
Despite Brokaw’s characterization that top Bush administration officials “breezed through” their Senate confirmation hearings, the mainstream media, and the Today show in particular, was a lot tougher on the pick of Condoleezza Rice as Bush’s second Secretary of State. During a promo, then-anchor Katie Couric referred to the former Stanford professor as “fried Rice,” and the show went out of its way to try to portray her as “angry.”
Brokaw also only briefly touched on the "possible conflicts of interest with foreign donors to her husband’s charities," which Mitchell had brought up in the earlier segment. This was the only time that the issue came up at all during both interview segments.