FOX Friends mock Democratically-controlled Congress' lack of productivity but don't mention Republican obstructionism
Reported by Chrish - August 20, 2008 -
In our monitoring of FOX we never heard much at all about the Republican rubber-stamp Congress until 2006, when it came under Democratic control . Suddenly their every move was open to scrutiny and criticism. This morning on FOX and Friends the record of the 110th Congress was disparaged, although nothing was said about the record-breaking obstructionism of the Republican members that was responsible for most of the stagnation (and voter dissatisfaction).
With video.
Before he resigned last year, Trent Lott (R-MS) said "The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail...and so far it's working for us. Democrats are taking the blame for not getting anything done." (Roll Call, April 18, 2007 - subscriber only)
Oliver Willis ("like Kryptonite to stupid," lol) has chronicled specific blockages by Republicans through last summer, when the first accusations of a "do nothing Congress" were reported in the "liberal" media. The issue seems to have dropped from the political radar as of late; maybe FOX and Friends did Democrats a favor by putting it back in the spotlight, however inadvertently.
Even Politico.com had to mention it:
"Indeed, this Senate may break the record number of filibusters for a two-year session in just 12 months. Democrats have filed 58 cloture petitions in the Senate this year, which is a procedural move that forces an end to a filibuster.Republicans are currently blocking an energy bill and an expansion of children’s health care and won’t sign off on funding bills for most of the federal government.
Democrats, of course, argue that Republican obstruction this year is different than Democratic obstruction of previous years.
Democrats mostly blocked conservative judges, while the GOP is filibustering everything, they say.
To illustrate their case, Reid on Wednesday asked for consent to bring up an uncontroversial bill dealing with research for Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) objected and tried to add Iraq funding to the bill, to which Reid objected."
But on FOX and Friends it's ridicule for a few of the more, well, ridiculous resolutions Congress has passed, without any discussion of the harm being done to US as Republicans play politics with the nation's business. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were singled out for derision, and viewers have been sufficiently indoctrinated to know that the gridlock has all come while under Democratic control, so Democrats are to blame. (Should they rub two brain cells together, they might realize that Democrats were willing to work with (cave to) Republicans during the first six years of Bush's reign and only when it was up to Republicans to cross the aisle did the nation's work come to a screeching halt. I realize that's probably asking too much, this hint of independent thought.)
For a visual aid comparing this Congress to previous ones, see here; A similar Senate breakdown (and I do mean breakdown!) is here.
