Fox “Straight News” Host Misrepresents Clinton's Position On Extending Bush Tax Cuts

Written by Marcus Feldman

Published

Fox “straight news” host Martha MacCallum today pushed the narrative that former President Bill Clinton is advocating the extension of all the Bush tax cuts. In fact, according to Clinton's office, he “does not believe the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans should be extended again.”

On Tuesday, Clinton discussed in an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo whether the Bush tax cuts should be extended into 2013. Later that day, Clinton's office released a statement saying that the former president opposes extending the Bush tax cuts for the highest earners, but believes that all of the tax cuts may have to be temporarily extended because it will be difficult for Congress to come to a long-term agreement until after the election. From USA Today:

Two questions have been raised regarding President Clinton's interview on CNBC today.

First, on extending the Bush tax cuts, as President Clinton has said many times before, he supported extending all of the cuts in 2010 as part of the budget agreement, but does not believe the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans should be extended again. In the interview, he simply said that he doubted that a long-term agreement on spending cuts and revenues would be reached until after the election.

Despite Clinton's clear statement opposing the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, MacCallum today reported that Clinton favors extending all the Bush tax cuts. During an interview with Alan Colmes and Tucker Carlson, MacCallum remarked that Clinton “said that extending all the Bush tax cuts until next year would be quote, The best thing to do, and that timing is at odds with what the president has said.”

At one point during the segment, Fox aired a caption that read: “Bill Clinton: Extend All Bush Tax Cuts Temporarily.”

The only admission that Clinton opposes extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans came from Colmes, who said, “Bill Clinton did say he favors reversing the Bush tax breaks for the upper one percent, as Barack Obama has always said,” adding that Clinton “does support the Bush tax cuts -- the reversal of the cuts for the very rich.”