The journalists at CBS on Friday sounded more like DNC campaign operatives instead of reporters. Talking to Paul Ryan about budget issues, This Morning co-host Charlie Rose pressed, “How are you going to make the case that this is not a tax cut for the wealthy?”
Co-host Norah O’Donnell drilled into specifics of the still unfinished plan. Talking about deductions, she mentioned New York state and fulminated: “When you talk about people live paycheck to paycheck, that's not a middle-class tax cut. That’s not a middle class tax cut!”
Not a middle class tax cut and helping the wealthy. Just as the Democrats would ask it. Co-host Gayle King even tried to make the House Speaker responsible for Donald Trump’s tax cuts:
The President said this income tax plan will not benefit his family. He says, "Believe me, it will not." How can we believe him, Mr. Speaker, if we can't see the taxes?
In contrast, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced softball questions when she appeared on CBS This Morning in March. But, then, she’s a Democrat. Speaking of ObamaCare, Gayle King again touted talking points: “I’ve heard the Democrats rallying cry now is ‘Make America sick again.’... What concerns you most [about repeal]?”
In contrast to King holding Ryan responsible for Trump’s taxes, that March 7 interview came days after a Democratic Congressman made a sex joke about Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway. The co-hosts never brought it up.
[The bias on CBS was sponsored by Honda, the movie Victoria & Abdul and Chevrolet.]
A transcript is below:
CBS This Morning
10/20/17
8:31:19CHARLIE ROSE: House Speaker Paul Ryan joins us. He's part of ow ongoing series "issues that matter." This morning, we're looking at tax reform. Overnight, the Senate cleared the way by narrowly approving a four trillion dollar budget. Speaker Ryan, good morning.
SPEAKER PAUL RYAN: Good morning. Good to be with you.
ROSE: Can you get this done?RYAN: Yeah. We’re very excited. The Senate vote was perfect yesterday.
ROSE: The budget vote.
...
ROSE: How are you going to make the case that this is not a tax cut for the wealthy?
RYAN: Well, that’s why we are introducing the fourth bracket. So that high income earners don’t see a big rate cut and those resources go to the middle class.
...
KING: The President said this income tax plan will not benefit his family. He says, “Believe me, it will not.” How can we believe him, Mr. Speaker, if we can't see the taxes.
RYAN: I don't know the answer to your question, Gayle. I don't know how his business is exactly structured.
KING: Do you think that's fair then?
KING: I think what he's going at — the President has been the one who's been very insist tent we introduce what's called a fourth bracket. Don't lower the income for hire income people. That's what he's talking about. The cuts are going to the higher middle-class.
O’DONNELL: So then could you give us the details on what those brackets could be?
...
O’DONNELL: One of the things that the President plan does is eliminates the federal property tax deduction for state and local taxes. Our crew here, many of them live in New Jersey — since you can't deduct your state and local, that would, in New Jersey, for instance, this would add about $3,500 for every family. That's a huge — when you talk about people live paycheck to paycheck. That's not a middle-class tax cut. That’s not a middle class tax cut!
RYAN: That’s what we’re working on right now.
ROSE: And you’ve got Congressman — That’s the same point. You’ve got Congressmen at home —
RYAN: I don't want to get off the point. Here's the deal. This going to be designed to lower tax rates for people in the middle, not at the high end. Let's take this in perspective. You double the standard deduction, they don't even have to itemize. You lower it. That means less of their income is being taxed in the first place. You increase the per child tax credit. You get rid of the marriage tax penalty. All of those things benefit everybody in the middle class and on the point you just mentioned, Norah, this is what the Ways and Means Committee is looking at. How do we make sure that middle-class taxpayers in new Jersey, Wisconsin, whatever, make sure they benefit in the net.
KING: But Mr. Speaker, Gary Cohn has said he can't guarantee that the middle-class won't guarantee that the taxes won't go up. Can you make the guarantee? He said he cannot make that guarantee.
...
KING: Why can't you make the guarantee? Gary Cohn says he can't make it.
RYAN: I don’t know why he says that. I really don’t know why he says that. Because this is about lowering people’s taxes.
ROSE: Can you convince Senator Corker that it’s not going to do damage to the budget?
