Letters to the Editor

• I'm a little confused

  [Read the article: Journalistic balance vs. truth]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  I'm a little confused as to the issue here. Is it journalistic reporting of a cloture vote versus a fillibuster? Is it a sense or belief that fillibuster has a far more evil connotation than a cloture vote?

  When I think fillibuster I think of Jimmy Stewart valiantly fighting "the man" in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington to lay bare a corrupt Senator and save an orphanage or some such thing. It is a romantic term suggesting people fighting against the tyranny of the majority.

  I *think* that was intent behind the cloture move, but could be wrong about that.

  Your facts about the number of cloture votes and the lexis/nexis search is interesting. I wonder about the underlying motivation to spin it as cloture vote rather than a fillibuster, and wonder if the intention isn't the reverse of what you suggest it is from the MSM.

  I have long argued it is more difficult to be the party with the slim majority than the one with the slim minority. It takes far more work to be herding cats when you can only have six peel away and blow the majority coalition when you are *EXPECTED* to get something done, than it is to be in the minority and occassionally pass a piece of legislation.

  Remember a few years back when a small group of moderate republicans -- the pigeon sisters from Maine, McCain, Lindsey Graham and a few others -- were in the cat bird seat over something other constitutional maneuvering I cannot recall exactly.

  We're so polarized that those handful in the middle derided as RINOs, turncoats, and whatever else, be they Jeffords, Lieberman, or quiter moderates from either stripe have been elevated in stature the more their numbers dwindle.

  Obstructionist is probably a fair adjective. It is still a legally allowable procedure. Perhaps the reason for its rise in popularity comes from the number of years we've had such evenly divided and polarized leadership teams.

  I am undecided as to the motivations with the term cloture versus fillibuster. One person's freedom fighter is another person's terrorist. One person's obstructionist is another person's "fillibusterererer" as our tongue tied twit in the white house might say.

  Could be basic laziness. Could be "spin" to paint the proceedings in a more positive light with cloture. Could be spin to paint it in less heroic terms than one conjuring the Jimmy Stewart image.

  I'd rather the press detail why nothing has been accomplished. Could it be lack of conciliation? The data shows the bills have been blocked. How about some analysis to determine the extent to which they were modified in committee to broaden the support for the measure? Were modifications made in an effort to win over elements of the minority and then gone back on in a game of gotcha through cloture or were they rammed through committees on partisan votes with little modification prior to being killed in the crib through cloture.

  Or obstruction.

  Or subliminiminal fillbusterererers.

  Oh look! T-Ball on ESPN! Get me a PB&J forthwith!

  Permalink Thursday, December 20, 2007 06:37 PM