Barack Obama suffered an embarrassing defeat, Wednesday, when the U.S. Senate rejected his budget 99-0. But, you wouldn't know it on ABC or CBS. The two networks completely skipped the political setback. NBC offered a single news brief on Thursday's Today.
On that program, news reader Natalie Morales allowed, "The Senate on Wednesday rejected President Obama's 2012 budget, the second year it has rejected the President's plan." Morales didn't mention the lopsided rejection, nor did she note that the House spurned the budget 414-0 in March.
The Washington Times reported:
President Obama's budget suffered a second embarrassing defeat Wednesday, when senators voted 99-0 to reject it.
Coupled with the House's rejection in March, 414-0, that means Mr. Obama's budget has failed to win a single vote in support this year.
...
"A stunning development for the president of the United States in his fourth year in office," Mr. Sessions said of the unanimous opposition.
On March 28, the House overwhelmingly rejected Obama's budget. According to a Nexis search, the networks similarly ignored the defeat for the President.
On March 29, Morales simply noted, "House Republicans are set to pass a $3.5 trillion budget today that reflects their deficit-cutting priorities, including a plan to revamp Medicare. the proposal is expected to be dead on arrival in the Senate, setting up an election-year battle."
Times reporter Stephan Dinan explained the details of Obama's budget:
It calls for tax increases to begin to offset higher spending, and would begin to level off debt as a percentage of the economy by 2022. It would produce $6.4 trillion in new deficits over that time.
How extreme must a budget be to face complete rejection, even by Democrats? Luckily, a compliant media skipped the story.
