CNN Guest Misrepresents Nancy Pelosi's Comments On Taxes

CNN guest and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Stephen Moore misrepresented House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's comments on taxes, falsely claiming that she said “we've got to tax the middle class.” In fact, Pelosi said that while tax increases for upper-income Americans are “not off the table,” she does not want to bring in more revenue “at the expense of the middle class.”

CNN's Erin Burnett Outfront played a clip of Pelosi appearing Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation and saying that tax increases for upper-income earners are “not off the table” in future spending negotiations. Moore then claimed that “we've only had this tax increase on the rich for what, 72 hours, and already people like Nancy Pelosi are saying, well, we've got to tax the middle class.”

However, the full context of Pelosi's remarks reveal that Pelosi, during her appearance on Face the Nation, clearly stated that she is not interested in raising taxes on the middle class:

BOB SCHIEFFER (host): People who are listening to you this morning are going to say she's talking about more taxes, she's talking about bringing in more, in one way or another, by increasing taxes.

PELOSI: One thing I'm not talking about is bringing in more at the expense of the middle class, at the expense of the middle class. That is not something -- and that was what we were fighting all along in this because, to the extent that you diminished the tax cut, the tax change at the high end, you would have to claw down into the middle class to get more revenue.

SCHIEFFER: Are you then saying to the upper classes, get ready, you're going to have to pay some more, this is not the end of it?

PELOSI: Well, I'm saying that's not off the table.

SCHIEFFER: That's not off the table?

PELOSI: That's not off the table. But not in terms of tax rates but in terms of other considerations.

SCHIEFFER: You're talking about deductions and other things.

PELOSI: And the rest.

SCHIEFFER: What would be some of the things that you think, on the upper-income people, what kind of deductions are you talking about?

PELOSI: As I said, I'm not going into particulars.

SCHIEFFER: You're not going into --

PELOSI: Put it all -- put it all on the table and see what is working.

She concluded that any further tax increases should “not ... reach down to the middle class.”