NY Times suggests hypocrisy in Reid's entirely consistent actions
A July 17 New York Times article asserted that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) plan to, in the Times' words, "keep the Senate in session through the night on Tuesday in an effort to highlight Republican resistance to allowing a simple majority vote on a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq" has caused "some eye-rolling" because "Democrats said they were determined to protect the rights of the minority" during a 2003 showdown over judicial nominations.
The article then quoted Sen. John Warner (R-VA) extolling the "old rules" of the Senate that allow the minority party to filibuster. But, contrary to the article's suggestion, Reid has done nothing to change or bend those "old rules" or to undermine the right of the minority party to filibuster legislative actions it opposes. Indeed, reporter Carl Hulse gave no explanation for his suggestion that Reid's decision to force Republicans to carry out an actual filibuster of the withdrawal plan -- rather than simply allowing them to block the measure through a cloture vote -- is somehow inconsistent with the Democrats' efforts to protect the rights of the minority party in 2003. Read more
AP misrepresented newly released NIE judgment on Al Qaeda's use of "contacts and capabilities" in Iraq
In a June 17 article, the Associated Press misrepresented one of the key judgments of the newly released summary of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) titled "The Terrorist Threat to the Homeland." Read more
Media outlets avoid reporting that Senate GOP is blocking or "filibustering" Iraq amendment
On July 13, blogger Joshua Micah Marshall contrasted The New York Times' current reporting on the Republican Senate minority's use of the filibuster with its description of the then-Democratic minority's use of the tactic in 2005. Marshall compared the headline of a July 12 Times article -- "Senate Narrowly Backs Bush in Rejecting Debate on Increasing Time Between Deployments" -- to that of a June 21, 2005, Times article -- "Democrats Block a Vote on Bolton for the Second Time."
Marshall asserted that the Times "is committed to forcing the filibuster back into the closet," adding: "Please stop spinning this to obscure what's actually happening" -- that is, that Republicans are filibustering or blocking up-or-down votes, as Democrats did with John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Marshall also highlighted a July 16 Reuters article that reported that Senate Republicans are "insisting on 60 votes" for passage of a Democratic amendment aimed at withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. A Media Matters for America survey of reports on the GOP's refusal to allow an up-or-down vote on the amendment -- offered by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) -- turned up several others that avoid stating that Republicans are attempting to block or filibuster the amendment: Read more
On Good Morning America, Sawyer falsely claimed Reid "vows to filibuster"
During the July 17 edition of ABC's Good Morning America, co-anchor Diane Sawyer falsely claimed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "vows to filibuster, talking all night to close out all topics besides a vote on Iraqi troop withdrawals." Sawyer was referring to Reid's plan to hold an all-night Senate debate prior to the July 18 cloture vote on a Democratic proposal to withdraw troops from Iraq.
However, by planning to extend the Senate session throughout the night, Reid is not "vow[ing] to filibuster," as Sawyer reported. Rather, he is highlighting the Republicans' blocking of an up-or-down vote on the proposal; in other words, it is the Republicans who are filibustering the withdrawal proposal by requiring that 60 senators vote for the amendment in order for it to pass. Read more
CBS still hasn't reported on Vitter's connection to DC Madam
According to a Media Matters for America search of the Nexis and Factiva databases, CBS' Evening News with Katie Couric has yet to report on the disclosure that Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) phone number was among the phone records of alleged "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey. As Media Matters for America has previously noted, Palfrey was indicted on racketeering charges stemming from allegations that she ran a prostitution ring, and has reportedly asked Vitter to be a witness for her defense. On July 16, the Evening News missed another opportunity when Vitter gave a public apology -- the first appearance by Vitter since his contacts with Palfrey were made public.
By contrast, the July 16 editions of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams and ABC's World News with Charles Gibson both mentioned Vitter's press conference, and the Nightly News made Vitter its second story of the broadcast. During his Nightly News report, NBC News congressional correspondent Chip Reid reported that Vitter "is one of the most conservative members of the Senate, frequently invoking family values in his campaigns." Read more
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