Voting Rights Bill Blocked by Parties Unknown—According to Headlines
Don’t hold your breath waiting for journalists to take responsibility for their own role in the withering of democracy.
Manchin’s Coal Conflict of Interest Not of Interest to Corporate News
Corporate media don’t tell their audience that Sen. Joe Manchin has a giant conflict of interest in the matter of fossil fuels.
‘The Filibuster Functions as a General Block on All Legislation’
“If Democrats just continue fiddling around and not accomplishing anything, it increases the likelihood that Republicans control the Senate next cycle.”
Andrew Perez on the Filibuster
The filibuster is the crucial backdrop to any conversation about the Biden agenda, though media don’t always bring that point home.
With Filibuster Flip-Flops, George Will Displays His (Groucho) Marxist Tendencies
George Will may be the dean of conservative punditry with a reputation for sober consistency, but when it comes to intellectual honesty and principle–well, a person could get whiplash trying to follow his opportunistic and hypocritical positions over the years. On Thursday’s Special Report on Fox News (1/21/13), George Will was sad that the Democrats […]
SoundBites
Better to Mislead Than to Take a Side In the third paragraph of a report on the stimulus program in the New York Times (2/18/10), readers were told, “There is little dispute among economists that the measure has kept the jobless rate from being even higher than it is.” Clear enough. But since reporting must […]
Cyrus Safdari on Iran, Robert Alvarez on nuclear power
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen says it’s time to “fight crazy with crazy” on Iran’s nuclear policy. If that passes for discussion of diplomacy in the corporate press, maybe we should look beyond them for interpretation of the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report. We’ll be talking with analyst […]
George Will’s Perfectly Consistent Filibuster Position
In his Washington Post column today (2/25/10), George Will writes in defense of the filibuster, arguing that Democrats’ talk of using budget reconciliation rules to pass ahealthcare bill demonstrates their contempt for the Constitution. He has been perfectly consistent on the question of minority rule–it depends on who the minority is.Back when Republicans filibustered a […]
David Swanson on healthcare debate, Bruce Dixon on the ‘public option’
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Making sense of the health care debate. In the past week we’ve supposedly seen the comeback of public and political support for the public option, in some form or another. We’re also told that Democratic majority leader Harry Reid must gather 60 votes to pass any bill. Is any […]
How Many Votes Does It Take to Pass a Senate Bill?
It does not take 60 votes to pass an ordinary bill in the Senate; it takes a majority of the senators voting.
The 60-Vote Myth
You see it all the time: You need 60 votes to pass a bill in the Senate. Not exactly. Under Senate rules—which can be changed by a majority vote—you need the consent of 3/5ths of the Senate to close debate on an issue; that’s 60 votes. To pass a bill, you need a majority of […]
Political Bluster and the Filibuster
The battle over the filibuster is now one of the country’s biggest political news stories. The Bush administration seems determined to change Senate rules so a simple majority of senators, instead of three-fifths, can cut off debate and force a vote on the president’s judicial nominees. Both sides claim to be arguing for procedural principles. […]
Christy Harvey on Senate Filibuster, Ross Gelbspan on Climate Change
According to Republicans, Democrats are unfairly– and perhaps unconstitutionally– blocking the White House’s judicial nominees. How are reporters handling this story? Also on the program: media debate on climate change continues to be dominated by a small group of industry-paid commentators, whose input is increasingly contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus. Journalist Ross Gelbspan discusses his recently article “Snowed” for Mother Jones, which unpacks this situation.
