The Filibuster and the Corporate Media’s Distortion of the Iraq War Debate

[ProgressiveAmPatriot]

In 2005, when Republicans controlled the Senate, the mere threat of a filibuster was often characterized by the corporate media as Democratic “obstructionism.” As Media Matters has thoroughly documented, Democratic attempts to block ten of President Bush’s more radically conservative and lesser qualified judicial nominees were thoroughly distorted by the corporate media. Democrats were repeatedly attacked for taking “unprecedented” action while the corporate media failed to offer the historical context which would have completely discredited this argument. The filibuster in general was characterized as a parliamentary procedure which was extremely rare and which undermined the democratic nature of an “up-or-down vote.”

Contrast this with the corporate media’s new found reverence for (and distortion of) parliamentary procedure which has cropped up surrounding the debate over the Iraq War. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), there has been little mention of the filibuster surrounding Senate debates over the Iraq War. Indeed, rather than say the word filibuster, the corporate media has taken to reporting that a Democratic bill on the Iraq War actually requires 60 votes to pass the Senate. This is totally false. It only takes 60 votes to pass if the Republicans use procedural road blocks, such as a filibuster, to prevent an up-or-down vote. Yet, the corporate media has taken to calculating a Republican filibuster into the vote count without mentioning it. The Associated Press, CBS News, and even NPR have reported this blatant falsehood.

More at: http://progressiveamericanpatriot.blogspot.com/2007/04/filibuster-and-corporate-medias.html