Network Evening Shows Downplay Geithner Tax Evasion as a 'Speed Bump'
By Tim Graham @Newsbusters
The network evening shows didn’t have much of an appetite for Democratic hypocrisy among the team they hailed as a "superstar Cabinet" on Tuesday night. Timothy Geithner, Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, a man who would oversee the IRS, failed to pay $42,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes -- and waited to pay more than half of that amount – $26,000 – only after Obama decided to nominate him. On top of that, one of Geithner’s household employees failed to renew her green card. Only ABC mentioned Geithner in their introductions, and featured no report, just an interview with George Stephanopoulos, who said it was a mere "speed bump" and "fairly common." CBS and NBC spent little more than a minute on Geithner, and NBC’s screen featured the Obama team’s claim in quotes. Under Geithner’s picture were the words "Honest Mistakes."
ABC’s World News at least put the Geithner scandal in its opening seconds. Anchor Charles Gibson declared: "Tax trouble. Questions are raised about Barack Obama's choice for Treasury Secretary, and his failure to pay some taxes." About four minutes into the show, the story was aired:
Read the Transcipt and the rest HERE
The network evening shows didn’t have much of an appetite for Democratic hypocrisy among the team they hailed as a "superstar Cabinet" on Tuesday night. Timothy Geithner, Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, a man who would oversee the IRS, failed to pay $42,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes -- and waited to pay more than half of that amount – $26,000 – only after Obama decided to nominate him. On top of that, one of Geithner’s household employees failed to renew her green card. Only ABC mentioned Geithner in their introductions, and featured no report, just an interview with George Stephanopoulos, who said it was a mere "speed bump" and "fairly common." CBS and NBC spent little more than a minute on Geithner, and NBC’s screen featured the Obama team’s claim in quotes. Under Geithner’s picture were the words "Honest Mistakes."
ABC’s World News at least put the Geithner scandal in its opening seconds. Anchor Charles Gibson declared: "Tax trouble. Questions are raised about Barack Obama's choice for Treasury Secretary, and his failure to pay some taxes." About four minutes into the show, the story was aired:
Read the Transcipt and the rest HERE
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