NBC’s ‘Today’ Touts ‘Big Setback’ for Boehner Plan, Lauer Lobs Softballs to Dick Durbin
At the top of Wednesday's NBC Today, as co-host Ann Curry declared that “Americans are just fed up with the stalemate” over the debt ceiling, fellow co-host Matt Lauer announced: “The latest setback came last night when House Speaker Boehner was told by the Congressional Budget Office that his proposal would cut spending far less than advertised.” In the report that followed, correspondent Kelly O'Donnell noted: “Speaker Boehner's team is going back to work to find more cuts, just as the public is so increasingly frustrated.” O'Donnell went on to reiterate “a big setback” for the plan as “The Congressional Budget Office did the math and found the Boehner plan came up short on spending cuts.” O'Donnell continued to pile on criticism of the plan: “More trouble came from an agency that rates the country's credit. Appearing on CNBC Tuesday night, Standard & Poor's was critical of the Boehner plan's two stages for raising the debt limit.” She portrayed Democrats as pushing for a deal: “The White House urged Congress to take the deadline seriously….Senate Democrats have their own plan in the wings, predicting Boehner's will fail.” O'Donnell ignored the fact that the Reid plan had little chance of passing either. Following O'Donnell's one-sided report, Lauer interviewed Senator Dick Durbin, allowing the Illinois Democrat to thoroughly bash the Boehner plan unchallenged. Lauer began with this softball: “You've seen all the plans, you've seen the counter proposals. Is there anything on paper, on the table, or on the horizon right now, Senator, that you think stands a chance of being passed in time?” Durbin took his first shot at the Speaker: “By yesterday, his plan had been rejected by the ratings agencies and even by his own caucus….We've got to understand that we can show a lot of bravery and bluff when we're playing with other people's chips.” Lauer wondered if changes could be made to the Boehner proposal to make it more likely to pass, Durbin continued to attack: “I can tell you that what we're facing here is a Republican caucus that is basically showing its political bravery by giving up Medicare benefits for elderly people, by increasing the cost of student loans for working families, by cutting money for medical research.” The most critical question from Lauer was when he speculated President Obama's threat to veto the Boehner plan may just be “political posturing.” Durbin quickly turned the question around and focused on the GOP: “Speaker Boehner has to realize that this is more than the cheers of his caucus that he's looking for. We've got to lead a nation and put some of these party considerations aside.” Lauer followed up by noting public anger: “…the American people are fed up. After dueling speeches on Monday night where the President pointed a finger of blame at the Republicans and the Speaker of the House pointed a finger of blame at the President.” But rather that holding Durbin and fellow Democrats to account for that anger, Lauer simply asked: “What are you personally hearing in your office from your constituents on this matter?” Again, Durbing used the opportunity to hit Boehner: “…what I'm appealing to Speaker Boehner to do is to set aside some of the partisan differences. Both sides have to come together, both sides have to be willing to give. But this idea of my way or the highway, the old cliche, it just doesn't work when we've got the American economy at stake.” Wrapping up the segment, Lauer gave Durbin an opportunity to appear above the fray, observing: “Don't the American people deserve better than this?” Durbin replied: “Absolutely, Matt. They look at Congress and they say, 'This is so dysfunctional, if you can't get it together and reach an agreement like grown-ups, for goodness sakes, we may need another team on the field.'”
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on July 27, 2011. Filed under