George Stephanopoulos Parrots Lefty Paul Krugman to Hit Obama From the Left on Debt Deal
Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday hit senior White House advisor David Plouffe from the left, highlighting liberal columnist Paul Krugman's complaints about the debt ceiling deal. The morning show also played up a Democratic congressman's attack that the bill is a “Satan sandwich.” Quoting from the New York Times' Krugman, Stephanopoulos fretted, ” Paul Krugman in the New York Times this morning saying that the President 'had an abject surrender. He says that Obama surrendered last December extending all the Bush tax cuts.' ” Reading the lengthy quote, the former Democratic operative turned journalist continued, “'He surrendered in the spring when they threatened to shut down the government and he has now surrendered on a grand scale to raw extortion over the debt ceiling.' Abject surrender?” Clearly Stephanopoulos is a fan of the left-wing author. On November 15, 2010 , pushed his former Clinton White House colleague from the left with another Krugman quote. He chided, “[Paul Krugman] says taking away the deduction for the home mortgage deduction, the deduction for employer provided health care will end up creating a mixture of tax cuts and tax increases that is tax cuts for the wealthy and tax increases for the middle class.” On Monday, citing the colorful language of the liberal Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, Stephanopoulos showcased Democratic unhappiness: “And as you know, a lot of Democrats are upset about that possibility. You saw Congressman Cleaver calling this is a “Satan sandwich.” In an earlier segment, Stephanopoulos highlighted the $1 trillion in spending cuts and worried, “But, this is still a big number. So, it's going have a real impact on just about everyone isn't it?” A transcript of August 1 segment, which aired at 7:05am EDT, follows: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, let's go to the White House and our senior White House adviser David Plouffe for his bottom line on all this. Thanks for joining us, David. And let's start out with the big question: Do you have the votes to pass this? DAVID PLOUFFE: Well, obviously, George, every member is going to have make their determination. We're confident that this deal will and should pass. It's, one, removed the cloud uncertainty over the economy. We're not going to have to repeat this episode in five or six months, significant debt reduction on the front end. And we're going to have a great debate in the fall here in Washington and around the country over the next stage of debt reduction and the only way to reduce the deficit in a significant way, smartly, is to make sure there is to make sure there is smart entitlement reform and closing of loopholes and tax reform. STEPHANOPOULOS: But, David, as you know, the Speaker of House is selling this to his members that any tax increase is impossible in the next deal, what makes you believe that the House Republicans who have been adamant against any tax revenues, are going to be more likely to support them in December than they are now are today? PLOUFFE: Well, first of all, as you know, in our negotiations with the Speaker, we never
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on August 1, 2011. Filed under