Echoing RNC, Conservative Media Converts 5-Year Old Obama Position Into Campaign “Gaffe”

The Drudge ReportHuman Events and the Weekly Standard are taking Vice President Joe Biden out of context, falsely suggesting that he said Obama and Biden want to raise taxes on average Americans by a trillion dollars. In fact, Biden was merely restating the administration's years-old policy of wanting to let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire. 

In the video, which was captured and posted online by the Republican Party's “rapid response” team, Biden said, “You know the phrase they always use? Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by a trillion dollars. Guess what? Yes we do in one regard. We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn't have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy.”

Echoing a press release from the Romney campaign, the conservative media outlets truncate Biden's speech in their headlines, leaving out the “in one regard” caveat. All of the outlets have embedded the video from the RNC. 

Closing the information loop, members of the Romney press team began promoting the story generated by the RNC. Romney for President press secretary Andrea Saul sent out a link to the Weekly Standard's story and Senior Romney adviser Kevin Madden linked to the Human Events version of the story. 

This is not a departure from Obama administration policy. Obama has repeatedly called for Bush-era tax cuts for upper income earners to expire, and has done so since he began running for president in 2007.

This video is yet another instance during this year's campaign of conservative media taking an unremarkable statement out of context in order to completely twist its meaning.