Give domestic terrorists box cutters and they’ll slash the economy’s throat. Or at least threaten to. Republicans in the U.S. Senate Monday afternoon blocked passage of a House bill that would extend the debt limit, thereby bringing the country once again to the brink of default. Only under Democratic presidencies do they do this.
CNBC’s headline reads Senate GOP blocks bill that would fund government and suspend debt limit, as time runs short to avoid shutdown and default:
Lawmakers need to approve government funding before Friday to avoid a shutdown. The U.S. risks default if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling by a point that is likely to come in October, according to the Treasury Department.
After every House Republican opposed the measure, the Senate GOP also refused to help Democrats suspend the debt limit. In a 48-50 vote, all Republican senators opposed advancing the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no as a procedural move so he can bring up the bill again later.
Democrats now have to pull off a daunting series of maneuvers to avoid a sequence of events that could ravage the economy and cost millions of Americans their jobs.
The Washington Posts’s Greg Sargent considers the press is complicit in masking the GOP’s radicalism:
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes had the jump on Sargent by two minutes.
Media critic Eric Boehlert anticipated the worst, titling today’s PressRun offering, Headlines you won’t see: “GOP votes to derail U.S. economy”
But headline writers did surprisingly well, at least online:
CNN: Senate Republicans block bill to suspend debt limit and avert shutdown in key vote
Washington Post: Senate Republicans block measure to fund government, stave off U.S. default (posted minutes after Sargent’s tweet)
Los Angeles Times: Republican senators block bill to keep government going
US News: Government Shutdown Looms as Senate Republicans Block Debt Ceiling, Funding Bill
USA Today: Senate Republicans block funding bill as Congress scrambles to avoid government shutdown
Even The Hill: GOP blocks debt limit hike, government funding
But naturally not Fox News. Nor Politico. Nor the New York Times.
Boehlert takes the Times to task for its typical Both Sides framing. The Times calls the Republican refusal to pay U.S. debts as “a stalemate” that “Congress” must address, and a “political game.”
But Mark Jacob (formerly with the Chicago Tribune) presented a Twitter thread adding to the debate on how the press has contributed to, well, the U.S standing at the brink not just of default, but of falling into fascism:
Mainstream media have long tried to treat Republicans and Democrats equally. Some, like me, thought that was the way to be fair. In fact, it was the way to be lazy and not have to sort out the facts. Just quote a Democrat and quote a Republican and you’re done. 2/9
When I edited political stories, I went so far as to count the quotes from Republicans and Democrats, thinking an equal number would make us fairer. I didn’t think I was helping either party. I thought I was helping the readers. I was wrong. 3/9
If you look back 3 or 4 decades, you see many corrupt pols in both parties. Scandals like Abscam and Keating 5 were mostly Democratic. But in recent decades it’s obvious the GOP is more unethical and anti-democratic. Which means treating the parties equally helps Republicans. 4/9
Hillary Clinton mishandled emails. George W. Bush lied to get us into a war. Both were bad. But one was way worse. The media’s self-assigned job to treat Republicans and Democrats equally has compelled them to pump up coverage of Democratic scandals. It’s fairness-signaling. 5/9
The Republicans have overwhelmed the media with corruption. They’ve created scandal fatigue, prompting journalists to do something I call ethics norming. That’s when something that would have been a huge scandal in the recent past is considered normal now. 6/9
The Republicans have pulled off quite a trick. If news is defined as something unusual happening, GOP corruption is not news because the party is so widely corrupt. Some media have turned off their outrage impulse and decided that corruption is normal. 7/9
What’s needed is new framing. Not party-oriented but democracy-oriented. Truth-oriented. The media shouldn’t elevate liars in the interest of “fairness.” Yes, media should be fair – to the readers, to the facts. But not to the 2-party system. To our democracy. 8/9
We are now in the midst of an assault on democracy unlike any our country has ever seen. Any journalist who doesn’t frame their reports in that context is doing a grievous disservice to our country. 9/9
Fairness-signaling is a handy term. One major political party wants to govern in the 21st century. The other wants to roll back the 20th. There is no equivalency here. Just because the headlines today call out the terrorists does not unwind Both Sidesism. Decades of the right-wing “working the refs” has produced a “set” both in the public’s mind and among a fourth estate that treats both major parties as equally credible and equally cuplable in the country’s fortunes/misfortunes. This mindset elides just how extreme the Republican Party has become.