No honeymoon for congressional Dems?

December 21, 2006

Let’s see, Dems won their congressional majorities last month, and they’ll start actually governing next month. Now seems like a fair time for CNN to start speculating about “Do-Nothing Dems,” right?

A December 19 report on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight featured the graphic “Do-Nothing Dems?” But, as the report noted, Democrats will not actually assume control of Congress for a little over two weeks.

In the report, CNN correspondent Lisa Sylvester asserted that, despite Democratic campaign pledges to “implement all of the 9-11 Commission recommendations,” Democrats are “now conceding that’s harder than they thought.” But rather than showing a clip of a Democrat presumably affirming Sylvester’s lead-in, CNN cut to Rep. Tom Price (R-GA).

Two points. First, let’s look at the substantive argument that Dems are somehow reluctant to “implement all of the 9/11 Commission recommendations.” It’s become a common talking point for congressional Republicans lately, and it’s wrong.

As Nico recently explained, the Commission called on Congress to overhaul the congressional intelligence system, but offered two options for achieving this goal: “[E]ither a joint committee on the old model of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy or a single committee in each house combining authorizing and appropriating committees.”

Nancy Pelosi and the incoming Democratic leadership have decided to implement the latter as part of the overhaul. This isn’t an example of Dems failing to fulfill a campaign pledge; it’s the exact opposite. Put it this way: the 9/11 Commission gave Congress two options and asked lawmakers to pick one. Republicans rejected both; Dems agreed to implement one. The GOP — and, apparently, CNN — believe that somehow Dems are shirking their duties. It’s bizarre.

And second, the spin of the report is wildly unfair.

If the 110th Congress won’t even be sworn in for another two weeks, isn’t just a little premature for CNN to start running “Do-Nothing Dems?” graphics? Can we not wait until they actually take office before denouncing the failures they are yet to commit?

Indeed, it’s not just the 9/11 Commission report; CNN reported that congressional Dems may fall short in changing Iraq policy, lobbying reform, improving Medicare’s prescription drug program, and pay-go budget rules. And after all this speculation, CNN turned to a Republican congressman, instead of a congressional Dem who might have been able to defend the party against the speculative accusations.

I, perhaps naively, expected congressional Dems to get a bit of a new-majority honeymoon. After 12 years in the minority, Dems are about to change how Congress operates, and I had hoped the media would at least give them a chance.

I did not expect CNN — not Fox News, mind you, but CNN — to start speculating about “Do-Nothing Dems” two weeks before Pelosi even picks up the gavel.

Bah Humbug! The MSM sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Back in November of 1992, Dave Barry was the first to declare the “Failed Clinton Presidency.” He, of course, was making a joke. CNN has become a joke.

  • Dobbs is just seething that with a Democratic Congress President Bush (yes, I’m not using the BG2 nickname here) will actually have a chance to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, something the Dobbs is viserally against.

    So naturally he’s attacking the only target he can, which is the Democrats.

  • The return of the DC press corps’ Clinton Rules. No surprise.

    The. Press. Is. Republican. All of it. Even the parts that, (unlike FOX) are quite so obvious about it.

    “Liberal bias” crap is pure BS meant to distract. This is how it’s going to be from now on. Any Dem that is surprised by this hasn’t been paying attention.

  • The media seem satisfied to manufacture any polemic that may titillate the hoi polloi’s attraction for red raw meat, no matter the consequences to our need for collective wisdom when dinning on the morsels of American politics. -Kevo

  • “. . . congressional Dems may fall short in changing Iraq policy, lobbying reform, improving Medicare’s prescription drug program, and pay-go budget rules” ~ Anybody want to bet they won’t fall short?

    The DC Press Corps backed off of the Bush Republicans because the Bush Republicans came out very belligerent and hostile, aggressively accusing the press corps of Liberal Bias. The Press, being biased Liberals, bent over backwards – to the point of abandoning their responsibilities – to show they weren’t biased. The press in general and the DC press in particular is as much responsible for the hundred thousand or more corpses in Iraq as the Bush Administration. The press has failed to report the truth because the truth has a definite liberal bias.

    To the established traditional press what the Administration says is still news but the obvious fact that they are lying is not.

    We’ve been sold out.

  • Well, who better to explain what the Democratic party’s position is than a Republican? CNN’s hacktacular journamalism once again astounds me.

    One way to slam the idiots who think the media is “liberal” because the people in the media happen to be largely Dems is to ask them this question: Who do you think has final say over what goes on the air, the people on camera, or their boss? And is the Billionaire boss of CNN more likely to be a Democrat or a Republican?

    Liberal media my ass. I hope someone puts together a website showing what a crock that meme is. Oh wait, they did: Media Matters!

  • Not so sure about the lack of honeymoon. CNN is definitely trying to screw the Dems. Maybe it’s foreplay that’s missing. Ouch!

  • Oh, stop complaining! Since the November 7th elections, there’s talk about increasing the troop levels in Iraq. Would this have happened if the GOP retained its hold on Congress?

    Sorry, my sarcasm is eating a hole through my monitor. I cannot continue.

  • Hey, all –
    We might not fix the MSM, but we can try.
    As Art noted, the Republican’ts came out belligerant. We need to be the same way, but with honesty.
    We need to flood any possibly fair MSM outlet with angry complaints when this happens (obviously, forget Fox). I’m starting today, I have 3 email addresses & a word processor & printer for snail mail.
    It may not work, but it’s important enough to try.

  • In describing some of the pressures which discourage political courage among Congressmen and Senators, then Senator John F. Kennedy wrote in Profiles in Courage, 1956, page 8 —

    All of us occasionally have the urge to follow the example of Congressman John Steven McGroarty of California, who wrote a constituent in 1934:

    One of the countless drawbacks of being in Congress is that I am compelled to receive impertinent letters from a jackass like you in which you say I promised to have the Sierra Madre mountains reforested and I have been in Congress two months and haven’t done it. Will you please take two running jumps and go to hell.

    This letter was actually written on the Congressman’s behalf by my late father, George Stephan, McGroarty’s legislative aide.

  • We could try a different tack. We could keep pressure on the Dem majority rather than give them a pass.

    My fear is that Pelosi et al. are already looking for ways around accomodating those who worked to give them the majority and instead will accomodate “moderation” and Bush. As, for example, not withhold $$$ for increasing the military.

    Ain’t much we can do about MSM except possibly startle them into paying attention to us because we’ve decided to take charge — we’re pulling the strings of our Congressional majority, not allowing them to manipulate us.

  • Well… A large slice of the population, apparently, had never processed the thought that, for 12 yrs, Reps had Congressional majority. I guess CNN is banking on the pulic’s not being aware that the new Dem majority has not even been sworn in yet. So it’s OK to pile all the stuff they might have wanted to pile on Reps but didn’t dare.

  • Only a do-nothing media that won’t get off their fat butts to actually find stories, research facts and get to the bottom of issues would fabricate a story like how a Congress that has not even been sworn in has done nothing. No, like Tony Snow, it’s just so much easier to get in front of cameras and spout made-up crap to the public. Lying: it’s just like reporting only you can do nothing all day and get away with it.

  • Okay, so the pigs at CNN decided they could make more money by trying to emulate Faux News, it is after all, not news but entertainment that they give to the yahoos. We should try the right-wing froot-loop trick, we should threaten the sponsers with boycotts. It might not work, but it may be fun.

  • And once again, here’s how you understand the MSM:

    Dr. Harry G. Frankfurt, Ph.D., one of the world’s leading
    moral philosophers, wrote a heavy-duty philosophy tome that won
    awards and became a non-academic best seller two years ago – “On
    Bullshit” – in which he points out:

    “…bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of
    themselves without being concerned about whether anything at
    all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their
    end of the conversation so that claims about truth and
    falsity are irrelevant. The difference between bullshitting
    and lying lies in the bullshitter’s complete disregard for
    whether what he’s saying corresponds to facts in the
    physical world: he does not reject the authority of the
    truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays
    no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a
    greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”

  • This shows that Lou Dobbs is just a complete ass. He’s nothing but a hyprocryte — made his big, big money in the corporate world and lives on a incredible estate in NJ yet continues his populist blabbers re: “The Outsourcing of America and the War on the Middle Class.”

    He’s got zero credibility and this report just helps prove that all the only thing he’s about is riling up the common man re: the government — no matter who governs!

  • As I’ve said many times, among the many investigations the Dems need to undertake is one into the monolithic media monopoly that currently controls the news in this country.

    The networks only follow the directions of the people who sign their paychecks. Follow the money back to its source and the truth will be revealed.

  • Ed, That story is priceless. Good for your father and the Congressman. Wish there were more politicians like that who would speak the truth. I guess they’re an extinct breed, though I’m holding out hope for Webb and Tester.

  • It’s funny. You’re right on the mark as far as your analysis of how the corporate media relates to “No Honeymoon” for Democrats. But, at the same time, I was gearing up to blog on the theme “No Honeymoon” for Democrats in terms of holding their feet to the fire.

    I’m concerned that the Democratic leadership are part of the Discredited American Political Elite. We know they have pressure from the plutocratic side. We need to overcome that with pressure from the unwashed masses.

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