GOP to Dems: Sit Down, Shut Up
Jules Crittenden
Care to guess where the NYT falls on this issue?
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 — Republicans on Monday blocked Senate debate on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq, leaving in doubt whether the Senate would render a judgment on what lawmakers of both parties described as the paramount issue of the day.
Might just be me, but I’m pretty sure I’m picking up a point of view and maybe a wagging finger in that. Curiously, the NYT buries the fact that Sen. John Warner voted to block debate on his own resolution: ...
Dems' quest for favorable PR trumps tolerance for full debate
Paul Mirengoff
The liberal MSM spin machine is working overtime in an attempt to portray Senate Republicans as the ones who prevented a debate over Iraq. AP, of course, led the charge. Naturally, USA Today joined in. And the Washington Post contributed with a headline accusing Republicans of "stall[ing] debate."
Even C-SPAN sounded more like C-SPIN this morning at around 9:00 (EST) when its Washington Journal host told the audience that Republicans were preventing debate. He also sniffed that the two Republicans who joined with the Senate Democrats on the procedural vote are both facing tough re-election battles in 2008 (even though Susan Collins' approval rating is above 70 percent), but neglected to make the same point about Democrat Mary Landreau who abstained from voting with her party.
As John explained yesterday, the Republican filibuster did not prevent debate. To the contrary, it was the Democrats' attempt to invoke cloture that would have ended debate. The filibuster prevented the vote the Democrats wanted -- one limited to the Warner-Levin resolution. But as I understand it, the Republicans would have permitted voting had the Dems been willing to let other resolutions come before the Senate. More resolutions presumably mean more debate, just as more votes mean more clarity with respect to the "sense of the Senate."
But the Dems were unwilling to have the fuller, more clarifying, debate. This surely was due, in part, to their confidence that their friends at AP, USA Today, the Washington Post, etc. would spin the story their way thus enabling them to win a PR victory. ...
Who is blocking debate on Iraq?Posted By Uncle Jimbo
Republicans block Senate debate on Iraq
WASHINGTON - Republicans blocked a full-fledged Senate debate over Iraq on Monday, but Democrats vowed they still would find a way to force President Bush to change course in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. troops.
What an intellectually dishonest headline that is. Anyone unaware of the backstory would think the Republicans were simply using a parliamentary maneuver to cover their boy W's surge play. The reality is the Democrats are the ones stifling debate as they don't want to be put on record either pulling funding or saying they won't, so they refused to allow all three resolutions to be debated They wanted to throw some red meat to the antis and our troops under the bus, without any of that messy right and wrong stuff being debated. Well enjoy the majority people. You played every game there was when you were down, and this is too important to let you play feel good games. ...
