CBS's Schieffer Derides Boehner for Tying Debt Ceiling Hike to Spending Cuts: 'Was He Kidding?'

Brent Baker | May 20, 2012
Font Size

The Sunday interview show hosts all reacted with disbelief toward House Speaker John Boehner’s pledge to demand spending cuts equal to the debt ceiling increase, with CBS’s Bob Schieffer the most derisive as he declared “it was a week when you couldn’t believe your ears” because, when Boehner said the same thing last year, “Congress tied itself in such a knot that America’s credit rating was downgraded, not to mention Congress’ approval rating which hit a new low. And now he wants to fight the same battle? Was he kidding?”

Schieffer rued: “Does this mean we’re headed towards another of those nasty ‘stop everything’ political standoffs in an election year?”

Over on NBC’s Meet the Press, David Gregory teased: “The debt crisis back here at home. Will we see a re-play of last summer’s debt ceiling debacle?” Boehner “laid down the gauntlet,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos warned before scolding the Republican Speaker: “A lot of people say that what makes us like Greece is putting the question of whether or not we’re going to pay our bills, making that a political question. That’s what The Economist said.”

George Will, during the This Week roundtable, disabused the media narrative of a “debacle” last year...

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