Liasson repeats tired Obama earmark falsehood on NPR

http://mediamatters.org/items/200905010005

During the May 1 edition of NPR's Morning Edition, national political correspondent Mara Liasson falsely claimed that President Obama "vowed to eliminate" earmarks. In fact, during the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama promised to reform the earmark process and cut wasteful spending, not "eliminate" earmarks altogether.

Numerous media figures have similarly misrepresented Obama's statements regarding earmarks to accuse him of breaking a promise.

From the May 1 edition of NPR's Morning Edition:

LIASSON: There are other ways to measure how much the president has or hasn't changed the way Washington works. He's lowered the partisan heat of political debate and set a new civil tone. And he's used relatively few gimmicks in his budget plan. He actually provided a way to pay for some of his big priorities, like health care and middle class tax cuts.

But when Congress took that funding out and put budget gimmicks back in, the president didn't object. Neither did he fight back when Congress stuffed a spending bill with earmarks he had vowed to eliminate. Giving in so quickly may come back to haunt the new president, says Ornstein.

NORM ORNSTEIN (American Enterprise Institute resident scholar): The more your rhetoric gets flowery in terms of all that you're going to do to change the way Washington does business, the higher the standard to which you will be held and the harsher the criticism for hypocrisy.

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Contact: Mara Liasson	ombudsman@npr.org