Paul Gigot Smacks Down Katrina Vanden Heuvel: 'You Got a Huge Expansion of Federal Government - How Is That Working Out?'

April 15th, 2012 1:59 PM

There was a truly delicious moment on ABC's This Week Sunday that should be mandatory viewing for all liberal media members.

After the perilously liberal editor of The Nation magazine, along with Obama's former domestic policy adviser, blamed all the nation's problems on Republican obstruction in Congress, the Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot struck back saying, "The first two years [Obama] had open field, Democratic, vast Democratic majorities. You got what you wanted. You got a huge expansion of federal government. How is that working out?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

KEVIN MADDEN, MITT ROMNEY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, if you're looking at how we spur job creation and we spur economic growth that's going to help everybody, and particularly women, you have to look at how the private sector has a role in that. That's the most important way to help get the economic growth that we need to help working women, women who are single parents. That's the most important thing.

And I think the big contrast that we're going to see in this -- in this campaign is whether or not you want to -- you believe that you should put all of your faith in the government or whether or not you can put faith into the private sector and provide more certainty so that greater job creation and greater prosperity helps everybody.

(CROSSTALK)


KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, EDITOR THE NATION: No one's talking about putting all one's faith in government, but government has an important role to play in shared prosperity. Private-public partnerships are terrific. The administration wanted it with the infrastructure bank, which would have put thousands of people to work. But the Republicans are roadblocks in that process.

(CROSSTALK)

MELODY BARNES, FORMER OBAMA DOMESTIC POLICY ADVISER: ... to Katrina's point, all through this -- this first term, what I saw, sitting in the White House, is that one policy initiative after another to try and spur job growth, to try and help the states, on jobs often and frequently occupied by women, was pushed back on by Congress. Efforts around equal pay pushed back on by Congress. About seven, nine Republicans voted for that initiative when the president signed it the first piece of legislation he signed when he walked in the door.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL GIGOT, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR WALL STREET JOURNAL: We've had the largest expansion of federal government spending since the nineteen, I mean, enormous that I can remember in this administration. The first two years it had open field, Democratic, vast Democratic majorities. You got what you wanted. You got a huge expansion of federal government. How is that working out for the economic security of women?

VANDEN HEUVEL: But, Paul...

GIGOT: It hasn't. Real incomes are down.

Stop bringing facts into the discussion, Paul. You know how liberals hate that.

Beyond which, their answer always is that if given four more years to tax and spend, incomes will start going up.

It's a broken record.

Regardless, nice job, Paul. Bravo!