CBS’s O’Donnell Hits Ryan with White House Talking Points, Then Cues Up Softballs to Schumer

Brent Baker | March 25, 2012
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Filling in for Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation, Norah O’Donnell hit Republican Congressman Paul Ryan from the left, using White House talking points to contend his budget plan helps the rich and hurts the poor, but with her next guest, liberal Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, she simply cued him up to react to Ryan and ruminate on whether ObamaCare will be a campaign issue.

“The current tax rate for the wealthiest Americans is 35 percent, you would reduce it to 25 percent and the White House says, that under your plan, you would give millionaires in this country a 150,000 tax cut,” CBS’s chief White House correspondent asserted. Ryan reorted: “Those numbers obviously are not credible.” Not dissuaded, O’Donnell cited “$810 billion in cuts to Medicaid” and demanded: “How can you guarantee people that you’re not giving tax cuts to the wealthiest and taking away aid to the poor?”

She followed up: “You don’t deny that you’re cutting $810 from Medicaid for the poorest Americans?” Ryan, in fact, denied the “cutting” misstatement with a fact: “$810 billion in savings, but we still grow Medicaid each and every year under our formula.”

More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.

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