Will The Corporate Media Still Insist That Republicans Are Honestly Concerned About Debt?

[TomCADem]

We keep on hearing this narrative even after the Reagan years and the Bush years that Republicans are seriously concerns about the National Debt. The Tea Party gained control of Congress in 2010 based on this false narrative that Democrats were running up the debt and the deficit with the stimulus plan. Republicans were able to demand an extension of the Bush tax cuts with no corporate media outlet daring to suggest that such a move was fiscally irresponsible. Then, this same corporate media proclaimed the Ryan Medicare voucher plan as "bold" and "brave" because it dared to confront the deficit and a third rail of politics. Again, we are talking about a plan that would effectively end Medicare as we know it, not merely cut it.

So, now we have Republicans walking away from a Big Deal to cut the deficit, which is their alleged goal. All though many hear are not happy that Democrats were willing to deal on these issues so long as taxes were on the table, the fact of the matter is that Republicans walked away from a huge commitment to deficit reduction due to their infatuation with tax cuts. Even conservatives like David Brooks and David Frum noted that Democrats appeared ready to deal, particularly since the corporate media was cheerleading deficit reduction.

The question is will we finally be spared from the lie that Republicans are seriously concerned about deficit reduction? Can we as Democrats finally tell our Republican counterparts that they have been caught red-handed in a lie. They don't want Medicare or Social Security to be solvent. They want to fundamentally change these programs by ending them!

Remember that John Boehner dismissed President Obama's proposal to trim Medicare and Social Security costs, as not making a fundamental change in these programs when the changes were significant enough to anger many on the left.

My point is will we on the left recognize the bind that we are placed in by the corporate media. They are portrayed as fiscally responsible, yet here they are walking away again from deficit reduction for purely ideological reasons.

We need to speak up about our media, and not accept the Blame the Democrats and Give Republicans a Free Pass narrative that is always being pushed. There is a lot of anti-Democratic and anti-Obama sentiment on this Board, but will we hold Republicans accountable?

They have been caught red handed once again. Boehner himself contradicted written statements he had made just hours before. Will we let them off the hook? Or, will we once again Blame Democrats and Give Republicans a Free Pass as they plainly call for the complete elimination of Medicare and Social Security even though they were given an option to keep such programs solvent in the decades to come in return for tax increases.

Sadly, expect the media in the days to come to push a false equivalency, and suggest that Democrats are equally to blame. This is wrong. This is the fault of the Republicans. We are just a few days from default, and they are still simply reading off of their talking points about how taxes kill jobs, and how they are sooo concerned about the debt and the deficit.

[Orrex]

1. In their story intros, they'll say something like:

"Republicans are complaining that President Obama won't compromise," and then the subsequent story will offer nothing to refute that bullshit claim.

[murielm99]

2. They are already doing that.

The local news in my area is the worst.

Don't expect anything else from them. I don't get my news there. My husband has been watching it, but I won't even walk into the room when the TV news is spewing its propaganda.

[AndyTiedye]

3. The Repiglickin' Media? Of Course! Every Day in Every Way!