"No, no, a thousand times, no. This just isn’t what happened."

[babylonsister]

Posted with permission.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/when_a_gop_plan_comes_together033277.php

When a GOP plan comes together

By Steve Benen


On the Senate floor yesterday afternoon, Senate Republicans killed a popular jobs bill, despite the fact that a majority of senators supported the legislation. But the public’s understanding of what transpired will be shaped by the media’s coverage — and some outlets were much more responsible than others.

The Associated Press, for example, got it right. Under a headline that read, “Senate GOP blocks Obama infrastructure plan,” the AP piece told readers, “Republicans in the Senate Thursday dealt President Barack Obama the third in a string of defeats on his stimulus-style jobs agenda, blocking a $60 billion measure for building and repairing infrastructure like roads and rail lines.”

That accurately reflects what transpired. Reuters got it right, too. The headline read, “Republicans block another part of Obama jobs plan,” and the lede told readers, “Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a $60 billion White House proposal to repair crumbling bridges, highways and other transportation systems as President Barack Obama’s job creation agenda hit another obstacle in Congress.”

So far, so good.

Others got the story very wrong. CNN’s headline, at least online, read, “Competing infrastructure spending measures fail in Senate.” Here’s the lede:

In a pair of votes aimed more at making political points than law, the Senate rejected competing Democratic and Republican proposals to boost construction of roadways and other infrastructure projects.

Politico’s report was even worse. The headline read, “Senate gridlock: Both parties block jobs bills.” And check out the lede:

Rival Democratic and Republican jobs bills failed in the Senate on Thursday, the latest sign of the partisan gridlock gripping Washington as Americans look for relief from high unemployment and a sagging economy.

No, no, a thousand times, no. This just isn’t what happened.

It’s really not that complicated. Democrats unveiled a real jobs bill, which was subjected to weeks of policy scrutiny, and enjoyed broad, bipartisan support in public opinion polls. It would have invested 50 billion in direct spending on transportation projects, another $10 billion to get the National Infrastructure Bank up and running, and it was fully paid for with a 0.7% surtax on millionaires and billionaires, representing just 0.2% of the population. Estimates showed the legislation would have created hundreds of thousands of jobs, but literally every Senate Republican killed it anyway.

The GOP offered a ridiculous alternative, pushing the so-called REINS Act, which doesn’t even try to create jobs, and as Jonathan Bernstein explained, is “not even remotely serious.”

So why did Republican leaders push this yesterday as an “alternative” jobs bill? To get media outlets to tell the public that “both sides” presented jobs bills, even though that’s not true.

And as CNN and Politico helped prove, this little stunt worked.

[deutsey]

1. Sigh.

:evilfrown:

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Why aren't they writing more about Obama's jobs bill successes?

He got all three of his "free" trade agreements through Congress. That certainly deserves more press.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. So the author adores it when Obama is bi/post partisan

but also expects the press to be ardently partisan? Years of hearing how Coburn is Obama's good friend, that the Republicans are honest brokers with great ideas, all of that makes a context in which it is not possible for the press to be honest, the President is not. 'my good friend, an honest man, Chuck Grassley is a good man' and yet you expect the press to basically target the GOP and argue with the President about it?
For three years, if a crowd booed mention of Republicans, Obama would wag a finger and chide them 'oh, we don't do that' he'd say. And yet the press should? Why? So that Obama call call them out as partisan?
All they can report is what the politicians do. If Democrats really called out the GOP that could be reported, but you can not expect the press to call them out for you, while you stand aside and wink to the GOP that these are not your words, you are a post partisan aisle crosser....
This shill lives in a dream world. The political pundit class is so far out of touch with reason and reality it can take one's breath away.

[TacticalPeek]

7. Perhaps you are thinking of some other author.

The "author adores it" when Obama is bipartisan? Got a link for that?

I don't read everything Benen writes, so perhaps I am wrong, but I don't think so.


October 21, 2011 12:35 PM The incentive behind GOP obstructionism

By Steve Benen

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_10/the_incentive_behind_gop_obstr032969.php

[dionysus]

8. LOL, this article doesn't blame obama for everything, therefore benen is a "shill"

:rofl:

[Cigar11]

4. Obstruction … What Obstruction?

The GOP is just looking out for the best interest of their contributors.

[ProSense]

5. It wasn't just the REINS Act, the Republican bill tried to dismantle environmental regulations

NRDC: Senate Transportation Bills a Stark Contrast: One is Pro-Jobs, the Other is Pro-Pollution

Today the Senate voted on a $60 billion transportation infrastructure measure -- part of the “American Jobs Act” proposed by President Obama – aimed at creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs by investing in infrastructure. NRDC supports funding public transit projects and repair work on the nation’s roads and bridges, and agrees that doing so is one of the most cost-effective methods of stimulating the economy.

This was a win-win opportunity for America. We need the jobs and we need to fix our crumbling transportation infrastructure. The bill offered today by Senate Democratic Leaders -- which failed narrowly on a Party-line 51-49 vote (in the Senate 60 votes are all-too-often needed to move bills) -- would put $50 billion toward road, bridge, rail and airport projects, along with $10 billion to establish an infrastructure bank that would provide loans or loan guarantees and seek to attract private sector investment for major infrastructure projects.

In contrast, Senate Republican Leaders proposed their own transportation legislation that is decidedly pro-pollution. Halloween may be over but the GOP alternative was a true “house of horrors” bill that would knock out environmental safeguards – including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, Clean Water Act standards, and Clean Air Act protections – while cutting funding for environmentally-friendly transportation funding for non-highway projects. The only good news is that this polluter wish-list legislation didn't pass either, by a wider margin of 47-53 thanks in part to one Republican Senator -- Olympia Snowe of Maine -- who bravely crossed Party lines.

NRDC adamantly opposed the GOP transportation bill and offered a qualified endorsement of the Democratic legislation. The Democratic bill is chock-full of good stuff but was far from perfect. It definitely would have been a lot more cost-effective and environmentally friendly if it included a “fix-it-first” provision, which invest in deferred maintenance and repair before new road-building. And unfortunately a big chunk of the money would be distributed by a simple (dare I say dumb?) formula instead of through competitive, performance-based grants that guarantee a better return on investment.

<...>

[Blue_Tires]

6. ttt

[chalky]

9. So when do we start Occupying the Media?

n/t

[dreamnightwind]

11. Good question - nt.

[Number23]

10. K&R

[kayakjohnny]

12. But good for you anyway for laying it out like this.

Thanks, babylonsister

[wakemewhenitsover]

13. K&R - ty for posting.