Soledad O'Brien Cites Liberal Group Debunking Romney Tax Plan, Dismisses Supporter of Plan as 'Conservative Think Tank'
CNN's Soledad O'Brien showed her glaring liberal double standard on
Thursday, citing a liberal source to debunk Mitt Romney's tax plan while
casting its supporters as either "completely partisan" or unworthy
sources.
Her source, the Tax Policy Center, is the joint venture of two liberal
think tanks, but since the American Enterprise Institute is a
"conservative think tank" O'Brien threw water on the credibility of its
support for Romney's tax plan. And she herself cited a TPC blog post attacking Romney's plan, but wouldn't accept a defense of the plan because it was a "blog post."
"So,
they're basically saying the math doesn't work," O'Brien cited the TPC
analysis. "Is this very damaging, because the details have been low at
this point?" she asked Romney supporter Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.).
McDonnell countered with "six studies" upholding the plan, which
O'Brien dumped on. "[O]ne was a blog post, some of those are completely
partisan. So, they've been debunked in a lot of ways."
One of the studies is from Princeton University and even Anderson Cooper couldn't bury
that one the other night. "Princeton economist Harvey Rosen assumes the
tax cuts would generate enough economic growth to offset the cost, but
for many, that is – that's a rather large assumption. One that's also by
the way questioned by many conservative economists as well," he lamely
offered, while not disqualifying the source as partisan.
And O'Brien herself was sloppy with the facts. "So, pre-debate polling
show that the President was up 15 points in the state of Virginia," she
reported while the CNN headline read "Obama's Lead With Va. Women:
Pre-debate poll: Obama up 15+."
[Video below. Audio here.]
"I'm not sure what you're looking at there, Soledad," McDonnell responded. "I can only tell you that five months ago, Mitt Romney was down eight points in Virginia. Today, almost all the polls have him up one, two or more points.
Politico's Dylan Byers reported that an O'Brien spokeswoman admitted she erred and meant to say that Obama had a 15 point lead among women likely voters according to an October 4-9 Quinnipiac poll.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Starting Point on October 18 at 8:16 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We heard in the debate Mitt Romney talking about his tax proposal. And he said this. I want to play that clip.
(Video Clip)
MITT ROMNEY, Republican presidential candidate: Every middle income tax
payer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital
gains. No tax on your savings. That makes life a lot easier. If you're
getting interest from a bank, if you're getting a statement from a
mutual fund or any other kind of investments you have, you don't have to
worry about filing taxes on that. Because there will be no taxes for
anybody making $200,000 a year and less on your interest, dividends and
capital gains.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: The President, at the time of the debate, used the word
sketchy to describe the governor's math. I want to play that chunk as
well.
(Video Clip)
BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States: If somebody came to you,
Governor, with a plan that said here, I want to spend $7 or $8 trillion
and then we're going to pay for it, but we can't tell you until maybe
after the election how we're going to do it, you wouldn't have taken
such a sketchy deal. And neither should you, the American people.
Because the math doesn't add up.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: The President called it sketchy, and there's a new Tax Policy
Center rated the Governor Romney's plan and they say this. "These new
estimates suggest that Romney will need to do much more than capping
itemized deductions to pay for the roughly $5 trillion in rate cuts and
other tax benefits that he has proposed." So, they're basically saying
the math doesn't work. Is this very damaging, because the details have
been low at this point?
Gov. BOB MCDONNELL (R-Va.): No. There's six other studies, including
one from Princeton and American Enterprise Institute and others that say
that the Romney math does work. But the first question really is what's
the President's plan to get us out of debt? He said four years,
Soledad, and we've got 23 million people that can't work. We have higher
taxes. We're six trillion more in debt and Americans have $4,000 less
in take-home pay. I mean, I think we start with that and then ask what's
the rationale for a second term of Barack Obama that's going to make us
any more financially secure? Secondly, I think –
O'BRIEN: So you know the other six reports – let me just stop you there
for one second if I can, governor, because you know -- and we've
discussed this a lot, those other six reports, one was a blog post, some
of those are completely partisan. So, they've been debunked in a lot of
ways. I guess, my question would be, you don't think the Tax Policy
Center is accurate when they say this is not going to work? This does
not add up. That's what they say.
MCDONNELL: No. I'm saying if you look at credible reports from American
Enterprise Institute and Princeton University, you've got a contrary
view on that. So, there's studies, I think, on both sides. I'm saying
that there's not a plan for Governor – for President Obama that he's
laid out for the second four years that I think will produce any
different results.
At least, Mitt Romney has a plan. And what he believes is that you
don't get more revenue to solve the debt problem simply by raising
taxes. That's the one plan that President Obama has laid out. He says
that the way you do it is you have a tax code that encourages economic
growth and job creation and you grow the economy that way. It really is a
fundamental difference between two candidates on how you raise revenue
and get us out of debt.
O'BRIEN: And as you well know, the American Enterprise Institute is a
conservative think tank. So, having them support that is not exactly a
surprise. Before I let you go, I want to ask you a quick question about
Virginia. 2008, President Obama was the first Democrat to carry
Virginia, I think, it was like in 40 some-odd years. Pre-date –
MCDONNELL: Forty-four. Yes.
O'BRIEN: Forty-four years. So, pre-debate polling show that the President was up 15 points in the state of Virginia.
[HEADLINE: "Obama's Lead With Va. Women: Pre-debate poll: Obama up 15+"]
O'BRIEN: We don't really have good post-debate polling yet. And we're
hoping to get that soon. How worried are you that your state is going to
go for President Obama when the polls show a significant lead
pre-debate after the first pretty awful debate?
MCDONNELL: I'm not sure what you're looking at there, Soledad. I can
only tell you that five months ago, Mitt Romney was down eight points in
Virginia. Today, almost all the polls have him up one, two or more
points. And I think it had a lot to do with that first debate when
people actually got to see Barack Obama and Mitt Romney side by side,
overwhelmingly, and especially women decided this was a leader. This was
a guy with real answers and real solutions that focused on results, not
rhetoric, not blame like the President, but had a way to get us jobs
and get us a energy plan, and get us out of debt and provide more
incentives for entrepreneurs.
So, there's a lot of polls, Soledad, as you know. I think some are
probably more reliable, but the trends are unmistakably going towards
Mitt Romney. He was here yesterday, with Paul Ryan the day before. He'll
be back in the near future. He's spending a lot of time in Virginia.
O'BRIEN: Near future like 20 some odd days, so it better be the near future. Only 20 some odd days to this election.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
