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.
"[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?"
[Video below. Audio here [1].]
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?"