Republicans Force President to Increase Budget Deficit by $900 Billion

Well, that's what happened.

But that's not how the New York Post reported it. On the front page today, in big block letters: "SAY WHAT? Obama shocker -- he proposes tax cut!!!" Yes, they actually used three exclamation points. The article begins, "Finally, change you can believe in!"

This is what bad journalism looks like. 

In 2009, President Obama signed the largest two-year tax cut in American history, affecting 98% of working families. No, that's not a typo. The stimulus cut more taxes in two years than anything Reagan or Bush ever signed.

The only universe in which President Obama cutting taxes is a "shocker" or something that only "finally" happened is one in which everyone's conception of reality is so black-and-white that every Democrat raises taxes and every Republican cuts them. Reality be damned.

And if you consider extending the Bush tax cuts to be "proposing tax cuts," then in 2010 President Obama proposed tax cuts for 97.9% of taxpayers. In fact, the President fought to cut the taxes of the bottom 60% of taxpayers by an average of $124 more than the Republicans proposed cutting. Such a headline therefore requires the editors of the New York Post to have ignored every article written about the tax cut debate in the last year -- or to knowingly mislead their readers. You can judge which is the more accurate characterization.