Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Nicholas Johnston of Bloomberg News and the Filibuster ...

Nicholas Johnston covers the Republican use of the filibuster as a strategy to avoid any vote on continuing or phasing out of the Iraq War as follows:
Democrats and Republicans are at odds over how to consider amendments to defense legislation, including the troop withdrawal measure. Reid wants amendments related to Iraq to be able to pass with a simple majority, while Republicans want 60 votes for passage, a demand that Senate rules sometimes allow.
Amazing. "Senate rules sometimes allow." It must seem that haphazard given the press' apparent lack of knowledge of the filibuster. Nowhere in this article does it inform the reader that the Republicans threatened to eliminate the filibuster from the Senators repertoire if the Democrats deigned to use it when the Repugs were in charge of the Senate.

The filibuster is still available. The Republicans can use it. [Added: By the way, the Democrats can use it also.] But Heaven Forbid that the press would report on which party is making sure the Senate does not vote on the aspects of the war that the country wants handled. No, no. Just blame Democrats for playing politics. And Heaven Forbid that the press would point out that some Repug Senators who are speaking out against the war are also using the threat of a filibuster to keep legislation from reaching the floor for a vote. Why because then there would be a very public record of their hypocrisy. While they will speak out against Bush's war they do not want to vote against Bush's war. Remember when all those Repugs (when they were in charge of the Senate) were calling for an 'up or down' vote. Has the press noticed that on some issues about Iraq they not only do not want an up or down vote, they want no vote at all.

What worthless pablum presented as news from individuals who either don't understand or deliberately obscure their purported reporting.

But taking steps to get the information the public needs to the public about what the Republicans in the Senate are doing (since the media is incompetent or malfeasant) is called a publicity stunt.

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