What Is So Hard About This?

A number of readers at TPM took issue with David Kurtz' analysis of the games going on in Congress, and I agree with them. It's something that's been in the back of my mind for a while -- I may even have mentioned it here.

It may be a pointless exercise in terms of passing legislation, but it is anything but pointless in terms of the making clear to the voters where the problem lies. . . .

For that very reason, the Democrats should make [the Republicans] filibuster, and use the term "filibuster" whenever they describe what the Republicans have done, not idiotic characterizations like "we don't have the votes." The only way to counteract Republican falsely blaming the Democrats for being "do-nothing" is to make it abundantly clear that Republicans are being obstructionist. *Make* them filibuster. Make it a true filibuster, which stops all other business until a cloture vote occurs. If anyone complains, or if anyone in the media doesn't get it, tell them that all you want is an up-or-down vote, but a minority of Republicans is preventing the business of the country from getting done, not to keep the bill from passing, but just so their president doesn't have to *bother* to veto it.

The Democrats' strategy, if there is such a thing here, leads to headlines like the one I saw in NYT yesterday, I think it was, that started off "Democrats fail. . . ." The point is to make it impossible for the major media to publish headlines like that -- make sure that everyone knows that it was the Republicans who blocked something, or the president who vetoed something. Feels better to me -- and it's a lot more accurate.

Kevin Drum has some comments, as well:

That seems like a good excuse to rerun this chart that McClatchy put together a couple of months ago. As you can see, Republicans aren't just obstructing legislation at normal rates. They're obstructing legislation at three times the usual rate. They're absolutely desperate to keep this stuff off the president's desk, where the only choice is to either sign it or else take the blame for a high-profile veto.

As things stand, though, Republicans will largely avoid blame for their tactics. After all, the first story linked above says only that the DC bill "came up short in the Senate" and the second one that the habeas bill "fell short in the Senate." You have to read with a gimlet eye to figure out how the vote actually broke down, and casual readers will come away thinking that the bills failed because of some kind of generic Washington gridlock, not GOP obstructionism.

He also linksk to the breakdowns in WaPo, which can be found by the determined. (You have to go to the "In Congress" reports in "Politics" and then scroll down until you find the Congressional votes box. But first, you have to know it's there.)

So, the Democrats not only have to rub America's face in the fact that it's the Republicans who are stopping the business of the country, but do so in a way that undercuts the collusion of the press in portraying it as the Democrats' fault.