Common
04-11-2017, 06:52 AM
The article is longer, where I stopped it takes up and demonstrates the real numbers on filbusters an cloture.
Facts Matter: Debunking Democrats' Misleading Claim on 'Unprecedented' Filibusters
As Justice Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court, furious liberals are channeling their bitterness in various ways. Two popular refrains are that Gorsuch is an "illegitimate (https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/850380112835072000)" justice who occupies a "stolen" seat (wrong (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/12/26/nyt-why-these-illegitimate-republicans-have-stolen-a-scotus-seat-n2263682)), and that Mitch McConnell is History's Greatest Monster for placing a risky political bet (while playing Democrat-style hardball) and winning (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/10/report-how-mitch-mcconnell-made-justice-gorsuch-happen-n2311085). These arguments ignore historical precedent (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/02/15/analysis-senate-gop-can-and-should-prevent-obama-from-replacing-scalia-n2119606) and inconvenient context (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/02/22/video-biden-urges-obama-not-to-nominate-scalias-replacement-in-election-year-n2123261), and rest on the preposterous notion that McConnell and his party are the bad actors here. As Matt noted earlier, even former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle -- who was ousted by South Dakotans in 2004 in large measure due to his featured role in anti-Bush obstructionism -- acknowledges that Democrats have "far dirtier hands (https://twitter.com/RealClearNews/status/851074771890692096)" on these issues than their opponents. He's right (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/04/unprecedented-make-senate-democrats-pay-for-their-toxic-partisanship-n2308081).
Nevertheless, in an effort to draw a false moral equivalency, lefties are leaning on a Democratic distortion about Republicans' supposedly "unprecedented" number of filibusters against President Obama's judicial nominees.
In his irate screed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitch-mcconnell-the-man-who-broke-america/2017/04/07/8e12f1d8-1bbd-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.876592a0f9ec) against McConnell, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank (http://thefederalist.com/2014/06/17/friends-dont-let-friends-read-dana-milbank/) repeats the claim that “by 2013…79 of Obama’s nominees had been blocked by filibusters, compared with 68 in the entire previous history of the Republic.” This talking point would suggest that the GOP's actions were truly extraordinary and outrageous, and might offer a legitimate justification for Harry Reid's decision to "go nuclear." The dramatic number does, however, seem difficult to square with the fact that over the course of his first term (leading into 2013), Obama's circuit court nominees enjoyed a higher confirmation rate (https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43058.pdf) than George W. Bush's did. That's because the statistic is "absurdly wrong," as explained
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/10/facts-matter-debunking-democrats-misleading-claim-on-unprecedented-obama-filibusters-n2311462
Facts Matter: Debunking Democrats' Misleading Claim on 'Unprecedented' Filibusters
As Justice Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court, furious liberals are channeling their bitterness in various ways. Two popular refrains are that Gorsuch is an "illegitimate (https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/850380112835072000)" justice who occupies a "stolen" seat (wrong (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/12/26/nyt-why-these-illegitimate-republicans-have-stolen-a-scotus-seat-n2263682)), and that Mitch McConnell is History's Greatest Monster for placing a risky political bet (while playing Democrat-style hardball) and winning (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/10/report-how-mitch-mcconnell-made-justice-gorsuch-happen-n2311085). These arguments ignore historical precedent (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/02/15/analysis-senate-gop-can-and-should-prevent-obama-from-replacing-scalia-n2119606) and inconvenient context (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/02/22/video-biden-urges-obama-not-to-nominate-scalias-replacement-in-election-year-n2123261), and rest on the preposterous notion that McConnell and his party are the bad actors here. As Matt noted earlier, even former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle -- who was ousted by South Dakotans in 2004 in large measure due to his featured role in anti-Bush obstructionism -- acknowledges that Democrats have "far dirtier hands (https://twitter.com/RealClearNews/status/851074771890692096)" on these issues than their opponents. He's right (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/04/unprecedented-make-senate-democrats-pay-for-their-toxic-partisanship-n2308081).
Nevertheless, in an effort to draw a false moral equivalency, lefties are leaning on a Democratic distortion about Republicans' supposedly "unprecedented" number of filibusters against President Obama's judicial nominees.
In his irate screed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitch-mcconnell-the-man-who-broke-america/2017/04/07/8e12f1d8-1bbd-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.876592a0f9ec) against McConnell, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank (http://thefederalist.com/2014/06/17/friends-dont-let-friends-read-dana-milbank/) repeats the claim that “by 2013…79 of Obama’s nominees had been blocked by filibusters, compared with 68 in the entire previous history of the Republic.” This talking point would suggest that the GOP's actions were truly extraordinary and outrageous, and might offer a legitimate justification for Harry Reid's decision to "go nuclear." The dramatic number does, however, seem difficult to square with the fact that over the course of his first term (leading into 2013), Obama's circuit court nominees enjoyed a higher confirmation rate (https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43058.pdf) than George W. Bush's did. That's because the statistic is "absurdly wrong," as explained
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2017/04/10/facts-matter-debunking-democrats-misleading-claim-on-unprecedented-obama-filibusters-n2311462