Dem Leader Hoyer: Middle Class Tax Cuts Aren't 'Sacrosanct'; WaPo Buries Story on Page A13

In a recent interview, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the Bush tax cuts that affect the middle class should not be considered "totally sacrosanct."

The number two Democrat in the House of Representatives "acknowledg[ed] that it would be difficult to reduce long-term deficits without breaking President Obama's pledge to protect families earning less than $250,000 a year," reported Lori Montgomery in the June 22 Washington Post.

That certainly sounds worthy of front-page placement, especially in the midst of a contentious midterm election year, but Post editors instead parked the 9-paragraph story below the fold on page A13 of the print edition and gave it a snoozer of a headline: "Hoyer: Tax cuts need to be examined."

"Middle-class benefit may not be affordable long-term, he says," the subheader dryly noted.

The online version headline gave a similarly bland headline, "Rep. Steny Hoyer says middle-class tax breaks may not be affordable long-term."

At no point in her article did Montgomery raise the question of whether an increased tax burden would be "affordable" to middle class earners weathering a rough and uncertain economy.