Re the Bill Clinton tax comment - "The Manufactured Story of the Week"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/06/bill_clinton_bush_tax_cuts.php

"If you follow politics closely, you probably know by now that Bill Clinton broke dramatically with President Obama on Tuesday and recommended that all of the Bush tax cuts be extended. Permanently? For a few years? Who cares really. All that’s important is that Clinton said some thing that could be construed (if you squinted and cocked your head just so) as breaking from Obama on fiscal policy.

It started with a heavily promoted CNBC interview, Republican operatives pushed the suggestion aggressively, and by the end of the day we had stories like this one from the Chicago Tribune, headlined “Bill Clinton backs extending Bush tax cuts, for now,” distributed with a tweet that read “Bill Clinton breaks from Obama, endorses Bush tax cuts.”

The liberal Citizens for Tax Justice has sounded the alarm, GOP House and Senate leaders held a press conference Wednesday, trying to isolate Obama, and suddenly it’s 2010 all over again and Dems are about to cave on demanding that the Bush tax cuts for high earners expire.

Except the catalytic moment here never really happened. What happened instead is a case study in how it’s easier for journalists to slot news developments into simple, pre-existing narratives — Bill Clinton is stealing Barack Obama’s thunder again — than to do the heavy-lifting of understanding and translating substantive policy debates."

snip


read on - he goes into what really happened......it's a good read.

[lamp_shade]

1. This should be REQUIRED READING for all DUers.

[flamingdem]

2. bump

Let's push for less reactivity on DU -- otherwise we spread the MSM misinformation

[JoePhilly]

3. I'll keep saying it ... the manufactured outrage machine runs 24/7.

Romney can lie all he wants, almost no mention of it.

But anything that happens that can be turned into a reason for Dems and Independents to be up set with Obama.

Its been endless for three years. And it will continue right up to the election.

Enrage the right to get them to vote ... discourage the left so they stay home.

[rhett o rick]

4. The question not answered here is, does Pres Obama agree with what Pres Clinton said? nm

[FBaggins]

5. Sorry... he's wrong.

Those cuts were designed to expire before the election for a very specific reason. We wanted the debate this Fall. We wanted to put the Republican candidates on the record fighting for tax breaks for the rich while we offered to keep basically every tax cut except the ones for the rich.

Now we're admitting that this isn't a winning issue for us in November if the economy remains weak and we're hoping to keep it off the table until after the election.

There's no spinning the fact that that's a big deal. The story wasn't that Clinton has suddenly started to support the "Bush tax cuts"... it's that he doesn't think it's a good idea to fight them this Fall.

[OKNancy]

6. I read the rest...

he said for a few months... early next year.
Clinton thinks POLITICALLY. He is the ultimate politician... a very successful one at that.

[cthulu2016]

7. kick

[elleng]

8. Exactly:

'To the uninitiated, this sounds like a cave.'

[FSogol]

9. K&R. Everyone should read this article. n/t

[leftynyc]

10. Should be required reading around here

Bill Clinton is suddenly the enemy cuz that's what the media wants and so many here swallowed it happily. It's pathetic.