Despite recent findings from The Hill that show that 68 percent of media reports in a politically biased manner with 46 percent saying the media favors Democrats and only 22 percent believing media favors Republicans, Senate Democrats are still bitterly complaining to the media that they do not report the Democratic position often enough.When Jonathan Karl, a correspondent for ABC News, asked why Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) had blocked a short-term FAA extension offered by Republicans on the Senate floor Tuesday, Democrats lost their patience.
“There’s a certain naivety that comes with your question,” said Boxer. “The story here today is the fact that our leader is reaching out to [House Speaker John] Boehner [R-Ohio] to say, ‘If we want to resolve a particular issue, whatever it might be, let’s talk about it,’ but not have one side say, ‘Take it or leave it or people will be out of work.’ And the essence of your question doesn’t understand that.”
Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Charles Schumer added their complaints as well.
One reporter asked why Democrats didn’t swallow the cuts to small airports in their states to pass the short-term authorization and then return in September “to fight another day.”
But Reid retorted that Republicans would find other “hostages” to force Democrats to back down on the labor issue.
Democrats charged Wednesday that the media has fallen for the red herring of cutting subsidies to small airports.
“The fact is that you’ve got to dig a little bit behind the surface here of what this is really about,” said Boxer. “Whatever the issue is, this is about government by threats, government by one side making its demands …”
“And these folks falling for it,” Reid interjected, gesturing to the reporters in the Senate radio and television gallery.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is in charge of the Democrats’ messaging operation, then broke in.
“In all due respect, the issue is not essential air service, it’s not even a labor issue, it’s the issue of hostage taking,” he said.
The Politico reports John Boehner's response:
Republicans are pointing to remarks Reid made to reporters Tuesday in which he was open to accepting the House version if Boehner didn’t act on a clean bill.
“The only reason 80,000 jobs are at stake is that Senate Democratic leaders chose to play politics rather than keep their word and pass the House bill,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. “That’s indefensible, and they should end this crisis immediately.”
More reaction from The Daily Caller:
“All it will take to end this crisis is for the Senate to pass the House-approved FAA extension,” Boehner said. “The only reason so many jobs are at stake is Senate Democratic Leaders chose to play politics rather than pass the House bill. I respect the fact that Senators have certain objections, but they have had two weeks to respond to the House bill and done nothing, leaving tens of thousands of workers in limbo. The House has done its job, and now it’s time for Senators to do theirs.”
Republican House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica echoed Boehner’s comments.
“Senate Democrats had a House-passed FAA extension before them for two weeks but chose to do nothing,” Mica said. “Instead of passing this simple bill, Senate Democrats chose to protect outrageous ticket subsidies, as much as $3,720 per ticket in Ely, Nevada, on the backs of 4,000 furloughed FAA employees and thousands more out-of-work airport construction workers.”
Amazingly enough the media reported Democratic complaints and their temper tantrum but still did not get a straight answer to the question itself.
The Lonely Conservative provides the reason why Democrats blocked the short-term FAA extension. Seems the House GOP had stripped out favors to union bosses in their bill.
The Daily Caller provides ample examples, with dates,links and quotes, showing how very accommodating the media actually was in in mimicking the Democratic talking point calling Republicans "terrorists," using terms such as "hostage taking" during the debt deal negotiations.... but that isn't enough for these whining, sniveling, complaining Democratic Senators that simply did not wish to explain why they blocked the short-term FAA extension that passed the House of Representatives, which resulted in the temporary lay off 4,000 workers and potentially thousands more.
So now these Democratic Senators, who are showing how incompetent they are at their own jobs, think they should be in charge of what questions journalists and reporters ask, how they should be phrased and how they should report those answers.
This is your ridiculous item of the day.
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