filibuster

It's good to see I'm not the only one upset about this strange turn in our supposedly "liberal" media. Why is the media refusing to call it a "filibuster" when the Republicans do it, after crucifying the Democrats for merely debating doing it? From AMERICAblog, we see Roll Call referring to GOP filibusters as "the need for 60 votes for passage of any measure — one of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) chief tactical tools this year." You'd think a newspaper concerned about space would use a shorter phrase, like "filibuster."

The best part of the Roll Call article: when Reid complained about the fact the GOP is filibustering everything, here's how they printed it:

"In fact, Reid and McConnell traded barbs on the floor over the process for debating the bill, with Reid saying McConnell's insistence on pre-setting 60-vote thresholds for all Iraq-related amendments amounted to a defacto filibuster. Sixty votes are required to cut off a filibuster."

News flash: requiring 60 votes to bring a bill to a vote in the Senate... can only be done via filibuster.

Meanwhile, here's today's Washington Post:

But the GOP leadership's use of a parliamentary tactic requiring at least 60 votes to pass any war legislation only encouraged the growing number of Republican dissenters to rally and seek new ways to force President Bush's hand.

A free cookie if you can guess what the name of that "parliamentary tactic" is called!