I know a lot you who habituate these blogs know this, but just for the record: Most every mainstream print, web and TV/radio news outlet I checked this afternoon (not all of them, of course) were 1.) reporting the "defeat" of the "bipartisan" gun background check amendment and 2.) not doing much of a job explaining that, once again, a MINORITY of lawmakers from the Republican Party fundamentally were responsible for this.
Which is an epic fail not just for politicians but also for too many journalists, because to let the GOP off the hook on this is to aid their mid-term election prospects. After all, the measure gained what in any other political venue in this country was a comfortable win -- 54 votes out of a possible 100. But a GOP cabal announced it would filibuster and thus the Senate needed to vote 60 percent in favor.
Inside the Beltway, that's well understood. But it's increasingly clear to me that typical voters aren't at all clear that the Senate's arcane filibuster rule -- as greatly augmented in recent years mostly through GOP machinations -- is gumming up federal government, so that the GOP can go out and rile up voters against ineffective government. Which ineffectiveness those lawmakers actually prefer and try to make happen as often as possible.
Some will of the people, there, hey.
Sure, a handful of Democrats voted against the bill in an effort to preserve their office in rather conservative states -- a misguided move, morally and politically. But it was dozens of Republican nays that provided the base for this defeat of a measure that absolutely huge percentages of Americans have indicated in polls they support.
It truly isn't over, because the political ground is shifting markedly, and quickly. But at the very, very least, Democrats and Sen. Henry Reid in particular need to insist that filibusters be carried out on the floor, with speeches, so Americans who watch C-SPAN and reporters whose job it is to observe Senate proceedings might just get a clue about how this happened, and who did it. Otherwise, it's all back-room finagling and we're back to the GOP's "incompetent" Democrats-can't-get-stuff-done meme.
The brick wall those Democrats are punching against is starting to crumble a bit, but it's still a thick, impenetrable barrier against democracy. Mr. McConnell: Tear down this wall!