On Today: NBC Reporter Advances Dem Talking Points on GOP's 'Severe' Budget Cuts
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, on Monday's Today show, lumped the Wisconsin and federal budget fights together and depicted the Republicans, in both cases, as being on the defensive. Starting in Wisconsin O'Donnell reported that over the weekend "Protesters backing union workers vented anger" but didn't mention the Tea Party had a counter-protest. Then O'Donnell, moving to the budget struggle on Capitol Hill, passed along Democratic talking points as she reported: "Democrats claim Republicans are too stubborn and their budget cuts too severe" and advanced: "The '90s government shutdown, with empty offices and closed national parks, left the Republican majority then with real political damage. A cautionary tale today."
O'Donnell aired sound bites from Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer on the offensive, warning against a government shutdown with Schumer charging Speaker John Boehner with being "reckless." However when it came to the GOP side O'Donnell aired a clip of Senator Tom Coburn defensively admitting: "It's good for political rhetoric to talk about a government shutdown, but I don't know anybody that wants that to happen."
The following is a transcript of the segment as it was aired on the February 21 Today show:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Budget battles are raging in states across the country and on Capitol Hill where the government is facing a looming deadline that could lead to the first shutdown in 15 years. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is on Capitol Hill this morning with the latest. Kelly, good morning.
KELLY O'DONNELL: Hi there, Savannah. Well after so many days of protest in Wisconsin and so few days left here in D.C. to avoid a federal budget crisis, the real political question this morning is which side will blink first? The pressure ratcheted up in Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend. Protesters backing union workers vented anger aimed at the state's new Republican governor. Governor Scott Walker went on national television to defend his effort to drop some collective bargaining rights and get unionized state and local workers to pay more for health care and pensions.
[On screen headline: "Government Shutdown? States Battle On Budgets As Federal Crisis Looms"]
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: And I think right now, frugality is in. People expect us to make tough decisions to make sure we don't pass the buck on to our kids and our grandkids. And that's exactly what we are doing here in Wisconsin.
O'DONNELL: And here in Washington, where buck-passing got its name, some Democrats are predicting a government shutdown when current funding runs out March 4th.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: If we end up shutting down the government and calling into question whether we're going to meet our obligations for Social Security checks and paying our troops, then that is an absolute, utter failure.
O'DONNELL: Democrats claim Republicans are too stubborn and their budget cuts too severe.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: Speaker Boehner has said, even before negotiations, that he wants it a certain way. That is reckless. That's what Newt Gingrich did in 1995.
O'DONNELL: The '90s government shutdown, with empty offices and closed national parks, left the Republican majority then with real political damage. A cautionary tale today.
SEN. TOM COBURN: It's good for political rhetoric to talk about a government shutdown, but I don't know anybody that wants that to happen.
O'DONNELL: The Republican led House, working around the clock till 5am Saturday, did pass a budget extension with $61 billion in cuts for the current year, to keep the government operating. But because the Senate won't agree to such deep cuts, House Budget committee chairman Paul Ryan expects another round of talks.
REP. PAUL RYAN: We are not going to accept these extremely high levels of spending. We are not looking for a government shutdown. And I think we'll have negotiations with short-term extensions with spending cuts in the interim is my guess.
O'DONNELL: And the challenge is members of Congress are back in their home districts and states all week. Behind the scenes here, Senate staffers are poring over what the House passed over the weekend, looking for any areas of compromise they might find. But when everybody comes back to town, there will only be five days, before that deadline, to reach some sort of an agreement. And we know, in Capitol Hill terms, that's just not much time at all.
—Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here
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Comments
Boy does this bear repeating!
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:30pm.
Instapundit had this last week (bolds mine):
Reader Dave Gamble notes an inconsistency in terms of how the politico/media establishment deals with the budget crisis — certain to come — versus global warming — a possibility: “Somehow protecting future generations from possibly having to endure the hardship of an extra tenth of a degree over the next century is a high moral calling, while fighting against the certainty of mortgaging their financial future with trillions in government debt is the work of the devil. Odd.”Not so odd when you realize that “climate change” measures increase the power of the political class, while budget cuts reduce it.
And they don't even see the double standard they set.
Hey, Mom....
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 9:52am.
Would you mind if I posted this on my Facebook page? Of course, you'll get the credit.
In the 90's, the internet did
Submitted by Joe C Camel on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:38pm.
In the 90's, the internet did not exist, as well as alternative media that one can draw the facts from. Things have changed, and those who don't like that will fight to the death to protect their domain. Unions are in the same catagory, not needed, corrupt, and will fight to the death to keep their minions in line. Pityful...
MO certainly isn't giving up
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:40pm.
MO certainly isn't giving up a vacation, like her husband commented that families might have to do when times are tight....
Michelle Obama's Big Sacrifices on Her Vail Vacation
But we should give her a break, because, after all,
It has been almost a month and a half since the Obama family returned from 10 days in Oahu.
She's not giving up.......
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 9:57am.
...ribs either, apparently. The (one of?) WH chef reports that during her vacation she ate about 967 lbs of ribs. Well, maybe I exaggerated a little. But, while she's lecturing us on eating and restaurants on how much of anything goes in our mouths or on our plates, she's eating an entire side of pork!
No, no double standard here. What double standard. Oh, by the way, is that banana puddin' with 'Nilla wafers?
I can't tell which O'Donnell
Submitted by Martin2717 on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 6:11pm.
I can't tell which O'Donnell is the worst. Norah, Kelly or Larry. Sounds more like MSDNC's version of the Three Stooges.
Rosie
Submitted by Boudin on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 6:50pm.
is the worst
That's a good point.
Submitted by Martin2717 on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 7:12pm.
That's a good point.
What the Republicans put together IS compromise.
Submitted by Ashrak on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 6:39pm.
Republican better "cling to their guns" on this budget fight.
They had better not "compromise" any further. And the cuts had better be more broad and deeper in next year's full budget.
No more waffling. No more game playing. This nation is on the edge of walking like an Egyptian and the Republican party is seen as the last line of defense. If they do not stand firm now, what litle confidence the people have left will be lost.
I know that sounds like dom and gloom, but I believe it to be real. I also believe that trust to be quite brittle.
It is past time for "Mr. Nice guy", and that goes for Democrats as well as Media. Republicans must take the gloves OFF and they must do so now.
Even the Dem talking heads
Submitted by Cowboy on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 8:20pm.
Even the Dem talking heads claim the GOP cuts are small enough to mean little...
Of course in their next sentence they say they shut down government...
I'm surprised.
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 10:00am.
At PMSLSD's new mantra, "Lean Forward". I"m surprised that they didn't steal the old NewsWeek cover declaration, "We're all socialists, now".