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.
Additionally, on the July 16 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes asserted that Reid is "filibustering his own bill."
Yes, you read that right. Diane Sawyer just reported that it's the Democrats who are filibustering.
This is insane.
2 comments:
Diane Sawyer also failed to correct Frances Townsend the other morning. Sawyer said something like "But aren't there more Al Qaeda in Iraq now than there were before the invasion?"
Townsend said "We're not sure if there are more now than before the invasion."
And Sawyer went on to something else without further comment.
This is the thanks I get for the one 30-second episode of me turning on the TV in the morning, rather than waiting for the Simpsons at 7pm.
Also, if you didn't see Bill Moyers' Journal on Sunday at 11am (you should be watching it!!) you can get it on podcast thru Itunes. Last week he talked to Bruce Fein and some other guy about constitutional issues. Fein said the problem with Congress (and I think we can extend this to journalists) is that members have no knowledge of the Constitution. The reason why they're rolling over, he says, is because they don't understand the Constitution and the founders, and no one reads the Federalist papers anymore. It's well worth listening to.
Post a Comment