Nancy Pelosi Would Like Reporters To Stop Letting Republicans Shape Their Questions

Nancy Pelosi shut down a reporter’s question for perpetuating misleading or outright false narratives that have been shaped by Republicans—something far more politicians and pundits should be doing.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act on Friday with a narrow 220-213 vote. Afterward, a reporter asked Pelosi to respond to Republicans’ claim that Democrats have lied to the American people about the cost of the package. Republicans have repeatedly pointed to the $1.9 trillion price tag as being indefensibly large, while Democrats have said the package pays for itself without needing to raise taxes on anyone but the ultra-ultra-wealthy.

This reporter asked Pelosi on Friday what she says to Republicans “who say Democrats lied to the American public” about the cost of the bill, to which Pelosi basically said: stop letting disingenuous Republicans control the narrative.

Her actual words were: “Let’s just not present what the Republicans say as any fact that you’re predicating a question on. I mean, understand what’s happening around here, okay?”

What is happening is that Republicans are very good at crafting misleading narratives, and Democrats, in general and as a whole, are very bad at combating those narratives. We see this all the time—one especially glaring recent example was the NBC reporter who essentially blamed Joe Biden for the new right-wing anti-Biden slogan “Let’s Go Brandon,” suggesting it’s a sign that Biden has failed in his previous calls for “unity.”

It was an absolutely absurd line of questioning, predicated entirely on the idea that those who have adopted the childish slogan, and those who are obstructing any form of political unity, are acting in good faith, which they are definitely not.

It’s nice to see Pelosi call it out and refuse to engage on those terms.

gop: democrats beat their spouse

media: how do you answer concerns that you beat your spouse?

how dems usually answer: i do NOT beat my spouse

how dems should answer: this question is ridiculous and you should look into all these reports of republicans beating their spouses

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 19, 2021

For the record, that reporter parroted Republican claims that the Congressional Budget Office said the plan adds at least $160 billion to the deficit, without acknowledging that the CBO also said that after factoring in tax enforcement, the package actually decreases the deficit by $127 billion over 10 years.

CBO estimates that the funding for tax enforcement activities provided by H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act, would increase outlays by $80 billion and revenues by $207 billion, thus decreasing the deficit by $127 billion, through 2031. https://t.co/GrbShPusVK

— U.S. CBO (@USCBO) November 18, 2021

So just in case you were wondering if there was any merit to the Republican-framed narrative, no, there is not.

(image: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

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