Better late than never. On Oct. 30, the day after Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s half-hour prime time infomercial, CBS “Evening News” took a skeptical look at the candidate’s fiscal proposals.
“By the end of his unprecedented appeal last night, Barack Obama had repeated almost every campaign promise he’s ever made,” reporter Wyatt Andrews
said.
But Andrews contrasted a “looming recession” with Obama’s proposed two-year, $188 billion stimulus package. Then he tallied up the rest – his $15 billion for renewable energy research; $18 billion to recruit new teachers; and his $85 billion in tax cuts. Andrews noted that “CBS News and various independent experts estimate Obama's total first-year spending could exceed $280 billion,” and that the spending cuts he’s proposed to offset that cost would fall “about $90 billion short.”
This may be news to CBS, but it echoes “America 2012,” a Special Report from the Business & Media Institute that documented media bias in reporting on the two candidates’ campaign proposals.
“America 2012” showed network reporting of economic and tax issues was colored by distinctly liberal premises favoring expanded government services and increased regulation. On a range of issues, from taxes to both candidates’ anti-business “cap-and-trade” schemes, the mainstream media has adopted the left’s anti-free market philosophy.
Andrews’ report did reflect much of the rest of media coverage of taxes. He characterized tax cuts as a “cost” to the government, a label
But Andrews’ willingness to show the expense of Obama’s other proposals made the “Evening News” broadcast notable. Even on the Democrats’ cherished dream of universal healthcare, Andrews cited a “study by the respected Lewin Group [that] predicts huge health care deficits for both candidates, $1.2 trillion for Obama's plan and a $2 trillion hole for McCain's.”
Wrapping up his report, Andrews said, “We already know the next president will have hundreds of billions of dollars less to work with because of the falling economy, and yet, nothing about those rapidly changing numbers changed one thing in Obama's list of promises."
