Filibuster Falsehoods

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If you haven’t already, take a gander at Media Matters for America’s list of filibuster falsehoods — falsehoods bandied about by filibuster opponents and blithely repeated by reporters who should know better. Here’s the no-frills list. More detail at the always useful MMA site.

1. Democrats’ filibuster of Bush nominees is “unprecedented”
2. Bush’s filibustered nominees have all been rated well-qualified by the ABA; blocking such highly rated nominees is unprecedented
3. Democratic obstructionism has led to far more judicial vacancies during Republican administrations than Democratic administrations
4. “Nuclear Option” is a Democratic term
5. Democrats oppose Bush nominees because of their faith, race, ethnicity, gender, stance on abortion, stance on parental notification …
6. Public opinion polling shows clear opposition to judicial filibusters, support for “nuclear option”
7. Filibustering judicial nominees is unconstitutional
8. Clinton’s appellate confirmation rate was far better than Bush’s rate
9. Sen. Byrd’s alterations to filibuster rules set precedent for “nuclear option”
10. Democrats have opposed “all” or “most” of Bush’s judicial nominees

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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