Consistency is not Newsbusters' strength

Newsbusters' Kyle Drennen is upset that CBS's Bill Plante described the Bush tax cuts passed through reconciliation as “giant”:

CBS's Plante: GOP Used Reconciliation to Pass 'Controversial,' 'Giant' Tax Cuts

By Kyle Drennen (Bio | Archive)
Mon, 03/01/2010 - 11:52 ET

On Monday's CBS Early Show, White House correspondent Bill Plante reported on the possibility of Democrats using reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill and noted how Republicans used the procedure when they were in the majority: “In the past it has helped the majority party push through some controversial legislation. In 2001, Republicans used it to pass a giant $1.3 trillion tax cut.”

A Media Research Center special report conducted from January 20 to March 31 in 2001 found that out of 94 judgements of the size of the Bush tax cuts on ABC, NBC, and CBS, “84 percent...labeled it as 'big' or 'huge' or otherwise portrayed it as large.” CBS was one of the worst offenders, with various reporters describing the cuts as large a total of 14 times in that ten-week period. Then-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather alone used the word “big” 11 times to describe the tax cuts.

Then Kyle Drennen describes President Obama's health care legislation, which the administration thinks will cost $950 billion over ten years, as “the massive ObamaCare legislation.”

So, Drennen describes a $950 billion package as “massive,” but gets upset when Bill Plante describes a $1.3 trillion package as “giant.” Got it.