Taxes

Despite the bipartisan tax cuts orchestrated by the White House and Congress - and heralded by most Wall Street analysts! - in December, calls for tax hikes by liberal news outlets will be prevalent in the new year. Confirming this was the New York Times on Sunday pounding this drum with predictable certitude in an editorial simply titled "The Economy in 2011":

Next time Barack Obama is looking for a character reference, there's at least one person he can count on: Savannah Guthrie . . . On Morning Joe today, the NBC White House correspondent personally vouched for PBO, saying "I know the president looks at [middle-class tax cuts] as a moral issue." View video after the jump.

Catching up with a distorted news report from Christmas Day, the AP decided to distribute a particularly tendentious piece of “reporting” by the news service’s Washington, DC-based Alan Fram and Jennifer Agiesta, who misleadingly charged House Republicans “defied” public will on “tax cuts for the wealthy,” which were non-existent. They led: Republicans say they will follow “the people's…

 On Friday’s Political Capital show, Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson lavished praise on President Obama has having "negotiating skills" like the recently deceased diplomat Richard Holbrooke - known for facilitating a ceasefire in Bosnia in the mid-1990s - as host Al Hunt asked Carlson and the National Review’s Kate O’Beirne to describe what Christmas gifts they would figuratively give to various…

 Appearing on Thursday’s Good Morning America to discuss the recent legislative activity in Congress, ABC’s Cokie Roberts managed to avoid using the word "illegal" as she recounted the failure by Senate Democrats to pass the Dream Act to provide a mechanism for the children of illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship. Framing the Senate vote as a "disappointment" for Obama, she went on to…

“There weren’t a lot of hard questions in this news conference,” FNC’s Bret Baier observed on Special Report in the understatement of the night. Indeed, in the first question posed at the late Wednesday afternoon session, Caren Bohan of Reuters reflected the collective glow of the White House press corp basking in Barack Obama’s glory: You racked up a lot of wins in the last few weeks that…

In Tuesday's New York Times, Larry David, of "Seinfeld" fame, tried his hand at political commentary. The attempt was pretty funny, if not in the sense it was intended. David should probably stick to his more traditional brand of comedy. The column was a sarcastic jab at Congressional Republicans' deal with President Obama to extend current income tax rates. David incorrectly, if predictably…

When businesses, families and individuals face tough economic times, they have to tighten the belt. Businesses lay off workers and/or trim pay and benefits while families and individuals prioritize their budgets by foregoing vacation and entertainment spending. The government sector, not so much, and the electorate are angry about it. Accordingly, governors and governors-elect throughout…

On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, substitute co-host Russ Mitchell announced that "the lame duck session of Congress could hand President Obama yet another victory" with possible passage of the START nuclear arms treaty. Moments later, Mitchell declared that "The President seems to be on a hot streak." Mitchell got analysis from Republican strategist Dan Bartlett and Democratic strategist Jamal…

If you only read CNNMoney.com's Dec. 17 attack on the tax cut deal you might think that Congressman Mike Pence, R-Ind., opposed extending the Bush-era tax cuts because of the cost. But that's not the case. CNNMoney senior writer Chris Isidore wrote the article: "Costliest stimulus, weakest payoff" attacking the tax deal Congress passed. Using the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) figures…

St. Louis Tea Party co-founder Dana Loesch took on CNN's Eliot Spitzer Monday evening in a classic battle between Right and Left. From the opening bell, Loesch gave Spitzer a much-needed education on how extending existing tax rates isn't a tax cut (video follows with transcript and commentary):  

On Saturday's Early Show fill-in co-host Russ Mitchell saw passage of the tax deal as a possible "turning point for Mr. Obama's presidency" and speculated that it was "perhaps setting the stage for another victory as the Senate takes up the repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law." In the report that followed, correspondent Whit Johnson declared that with the deal "President Obama could…

 Appearing on Sunday’s Good Morning America on ABC to discuss legislation passed recently by Congress, This Week host Christiane Amanpour referred to tax cuts as "giveaways" as she predicted that President Obama would receive political credit for the agreement to prevent the Bush tax cuts from expiring in January, which anchor Dan Harris described as a "big tax cut law." After Harris asked if…

Nearly 80 percent of the $858 billion “cost” of the compromise tax bill signed Friday by President Barack Obama is, per a Congressional Research Service estimate, from the $675 billion over the next ten years the government would have received if income tax rates were raised, a perspective widely adopted by network reporters and hosts who assumed just keeping rates at their current levels…