On the top right of the Monday Washington Post came this glaring headline:
Far-right bloc is flexing muscle
FREEDOM CAUCUS PLEDGES FISCAL WAR
Reporters Tony Romm and Marianna Sotomayor cooked up a nasty brew of warnings about "far-right" extremists waging war on federal spending, using the term "far right" ten times in the story:
In early March, a powerful group of far-right House Republicans issued its demands over the debt ceiling, signaling it would “consider” supporting an increase if Congress gutted federal spending and revoked many of President Biden’s top priorities.
One month later, the bloc helped pass a GOP bill that accomplishes nearly every one of its original policy aims — and now some of those conservatives say it’s just the beginning.
It's amazing how political reporters can sound so fiscally inept -- or partisan. Here's how the Associated Press described the Republican measure
The bill would set federal discretionary spending at $1.47 trillion during the next fiscal year and allow it to increase only 1 percent annually from there, far below the rate of inflation in most years.
That's "gutting federal spending"? Even if you can't abide the federal budget being eroded by Biden-flation, that's not a "gutting." Not even close. But our liberal national media perennially pretend there's "massive cuts" and "gutting" to describe....just holding a line.
As the story carried over to page A-10, the internal headline repeated "Far-right House Republicans ready to wage a fiscal war." Under a color photo of Kevin McCarthy and Chip Roy shaking hands, the Post caption warned "The rise of Roy and other far-right Republicans in a narrow House majority has complicated McCarthy's job leading his conference and has teed up an economic showdown."
So if you include the two headlines and the caption, that's 13 uses of "far right" for a newspaper that couldn't find a "far left" anywhere in Washington. This spin extended to Twitter:
NEW: Far-right House Republicans see the debt ceiling vote last week as a major win. Now, they're turning their attention to other fights to seek massive spending cuts, even if it means a possible government shutdown https://t.co/JJSsExvnkF
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) April 30, 2023
Romm and Sotomayor warned an actual negotiation (instead of a GOP surrender) on spending could be a sign of "persistent dysfunction" and could cause a downgrade of U.S. credit. "A similar punishment cost taxpayers more than $1 billion in 2011, when the GOP last held up a debt-ceiling increase in pursuit of massive spending cuts."
The aggressive Post spin about Freedom Caucus extremists neatly matches Biden's rhetoric, as they acknowledged:
Biden has refused to negotiate with Republicans, calling for an increase in the debt ceiling without conditions. Launching his campaign for reelection this week, the president repeatedly attacked the GOP as a party held hostage by “MAGA extremists,” referring to lawmakers who share the views of former president Donald Trump.
The president has threatened to veto the GOP bill, and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday promised his party “will not allow” the measure, which he renamed the Default on America Act, “to become law.”
So demanding a negotiation with the House majority is "dysfunction," and refusing to negotiate is a moderate position? It's hard to know where the Washington Post journalism ends and the Democrat messaging begins.
