Right-Wing Media Downplay Spending Cuts, Then Blast Obama For Inflicting "Pain"

[Bill USA]

http://www.mediamatters.org/research/2013/03/07/right-wing-media-downplay-spending-cuts-then-bl/192963

Fox's Stuart Varney: "Nonsense" That "We Can't Cut 2 Percent Out Of A $3.6 Trillion Economy Without Facing Utter Disaster." On Fox & Friends, Fox Business host Stuart Varney claimed that the sequestration cut was offset by $60 billion in Sandy relief spending and so was just a minor cut. He concluded: "Are you trying to tell me that we can't cut 2 percent out of a $3.6 trillion economy without facing utter disaster? That's nonsense." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/20/13]

Rush Limbaugh Dismissed Spending Cuts As "Chump Change." After playing an audio clip from CNN, Rush Limbaugh said about the sequestration, "We're talking about four, or 85 billion, and that's -- and by the way, cut that in half, because half that's defense, half that's social spending, but total $85 billion out of a budget that's nearly 4 trillion --it's chump change." He added: "750,000 jobs lost because of this? So -- 750,000 jobs, divided by $45 billion, there --that -- well, it's not true, but it's not possible. There's no -- there aren't 750,000 jobs being cut." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 2/19/13]

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Fox's Sean Hannity: "Demagogue" Obama's Comments On Effects Of Spending Cuts Are "Madness." On his syndicated radio show, host Sean Hannity called Obama a "demagogue" for describing the harmful impacts of sequestration on the economy, adding that Obama's comments were "madness" and "hysteria." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 2/19/13]

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Right-Wing Media: After Sequestration, Obama Will Inflict "Maximum Pain" From Cuts

Varney: Obama Made A "Quite Clearly Deliberate" Decision To Maximize Sequestration Pain. On Fox & Friends, Varney said that Obama is "selectively cutting to impose maximum pain. He's putting down the pain so that he has political leverage with his opponents." He went on: "It is deliberate. Quite clearly deliberate. ... He will not accept flexibility, he wants to impose the pain. I can't remember a president ever doing that before. The leader of the executive branch imposing deliberate pain on the American people for political advantage." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/7/13]
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