WaPo’s Journolist founder wrong: Romney didn’t “admit” middle class tax hike

In response to untrue ads about Romney's tax plan, the Crossroads PAC distributed a video.

NO THINKING PERSON WOULD TAKE the founder of Journolist seriously when it comes to truth in politics. Ezra Klein, who herded media into group think via his Listserv in 2008, wrote a column with this title at The Washington Post:

Mitt Romney admits he’ll need to raise taxes on the middle class

Romney didn’t admit that because it isn’t true.

That fantasy tax hike comes from the Left’s assumptions about what will happen after a President Romney addresses tax reform. As I’ve pointed out, there are more than 72,000 pages of federal tax rules. Romney has said he will work with Congress when it comes to closing loopholes for higher income earners.

Klein doesn’t support the key word in his header,“admits", with anything other than opinion.

Instead, Klein goes faux accountant on us, attempting to project the outcome of a tax policy that by the candidate’s own admission isn’t very specific yet. That is as it should be. The whole code needs a go-over. You think a Democrat’s going to reform the tax code? If you do, you got more hope than common sense dictates.

Furthermore, Klein calls the Tax Policy Center “the gold standard in nonpartisan tax wonkery…”

That one’s hilarious. If there is a gold standard, it’s the Tax Foundation.

Besides that, the Tax Policy Center was apparently so concerned with mischaracterization of their analysis of Romney’s plan, they published commentary titled (boldface added):

Why Romney’s Tax Agenda Doesn’t Add Up, Even if it Isn’t a Middle-Class Tax Hike

Bottom line: No Republican is crazy enough to levy a tax hike on the middle class.

Klein should start calling his work fiction.

And maybe Klein should ask his candidate Obama about specifics in his proposals.

Finally, economists don’t even use the term “middle class.” Only politicians use it because most of us consider ourselves middle class.

Whoever did the edit on Klein’s polemic should not have permitted the word “admits” in that header. By using it, the paper helped to spread a blatant lie.

What Klein also didn’t tell you is that the ObamaCare Tax Bill will definitely impact the low and middle class, something media are deliberately burying. Here’s a header from the real gold standard on tax issues and it’s based on government data:

ObamaCare "Penalty Tax" Now Estimated to Hit 6 Million Mostly Low- and Middle-Income Americans

Illustration by J.K.; used with permission, The US ReportKlein’s had a number of brain freeze moments. After Republicans insisted the U.S. Constitution be read live in Congress, Klein said the Constitution had“no binding power on anything” and it’s “confusing because it was written over 100 years ago.”

That’s the intellectual level of a columnist at one of the most widely cited newspapers in the country. Don’t you wish you could be that stupid and earn good money?

In August, 2008, I wrote a column about WaPo’s advocacy for Obama. The Post’s ombudsman wrote:

“Democrat Barack Obama has had about a 3 to 1 advantage over Republican John McCain in Post Page 1 stories since Obama became his party's presumptive nominee June 4.”

The ombudsman ran a few comments from fellow WaPo staffers who justified it by saying Obama was the first African American presidential nominee. Of course, Obama isn’t—he’s the first biracial nominee as far as I know—maybe we could ask genealogy hobbyist Elizabeth Warren, another Democrat having problems with the truth.

The ombudsman closed her article with this:

“Numbers aren't everything in political coverage, but readers deserve comparable coverage of the candidates. “

We’re not riding too much “hope” on that one, at least not from the Democrat groupie who founded Journolist.

(Commentary by Kay B.Day/Sept. 24, 2012)

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