CNN brandished liberal talking points on taxes during its morning and evening programming on Monday, in light of President Obama wishing to extend the Bush tax cuts to only those making less than $250,000 a year.
The President "has been cutting taxes like crazy," insisted anchor Christine Romans, and both she and host Piers Morgan questioned the economic benefits of the Bush tax cuts. Morgan suggested that the wealthy should indeed see their taxes go up. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
"[I]f a country's in real financial strife, as America is right now, what is wrong with those at the richer end of society paying a little bit more than those at the poorer end?" Morgan asked Republican guest Tim Pawlenty, in lock-step with the President's proposal. "Why is it unfair? That those who've got more help out a little bit more?"
Morgan shrugged off claims in favor of the Bush tax cuts for all. "And let's be honest, the Bush tax cuts demonstrably didn't do a lot of good for the American economy, did they?
Romans, for her part, asked the same question on Monday's Starting Point. "Let me interject, because we've had tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for 10 years now. 10 years now and it hasn't created this boom of jobs that – we keep saying don't tax the rich, but respond to me on that," she challenged the vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.).
Morgan also hit many Republicans for being "intransigent" on tax cuts. He told GOP strategist Kellyanne Conway that "you're completely intransigent. If you're like one of the Grover Norquist signatories and you basically say never again in the history of the world are we going to raise taxes, how can that possibly be in a nation's interest?"
He continued: "What is actually wrong in principle with just saying, if we ever really need to, then we should be free to raise taxes? Isn't that what a sort of modern smart democracy does?"
