Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Olbermann’s Errors
MediaMatters.org quotes MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann finding a Family Research Council “flip-flop”. (http://mediamatters.org/items/200504260005). Unfortunately for anyone concerned with facts and truth, Olbermann ignores the ones that get in the way.
The facts missing from the article are quite illustrative of the bias of Olbermann and mediamatters.org. For example, the article does NOT note that the filibuster has NEVER been used against nominees to the appellate bench (a Congressional Research Service paper shows this). It is quite convenient to attempt to muddy the waters by mixing filibustering of “presidential nominees,” by lumping in judges with other nominees, but disingenuous never-the-less for someone who is claiming to report “the facts.”
In fact, many newspapers reported that the nominees would have won confirmation if they had not been denied up-or-down votes that EVERY appellate court justice who has EVER served has had.
The same people who argue for a “living document” in the Constitution – which means the Constitution has no meaning and that the amendment provisions are meaningless (who needs them if it is ‘living’ after-all) – are the ones arguing that “advice and consent” now (after 200+ years) means a super-majority requirement for judges. That is the beauty of a “living document,” it means whatever you want, whenever you want. And if you can have dishonest people in the media (like Olbermann) who will spin whatever you say without bothering to even look at facts, then you can create enough confusion that people will tire of the discussion and tune out.
Other parts conveniently ignored are the fact that the filibuster wasn’t “discovered” until the 1830s then used (and later abused) until its peak in 1917 when the first “cloture” rule was passed. Since 1917 it has been modified many times and only in recent years has it been used to require everything except the budget to need 60 votes.
Of course he ignores the biggest issue – once the Constitutional limits are ignored and you have a government that is large enough to get into everyone’s business with oppressive taxes and regulation, every nomination and election becomes a life or death issue with someone always wanting to use force to control someone else. That’s the root of the problem – politicians fear the loss of power over your life and mine.