Yesterday, the House Republicans brought up the Democrat draft bill, hoping to use its crushing defeat (402-2) to emphasize that it wasn't supported by any Republican. The two members who voted for it were both Democrats, as were all its sponsors.
The LA Times front-page headline? Republicans Glad to Lose on Bill to Start New Draft. Not until paragraph 16 does it mention that it was a Democrat bill. The preceding paragraphs repeatedly imply otherwise, and not until paragraph 22 do they tell you this:
Only Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) and Rep. Pete Stark (D-Hayward) voted for the measure.Posted by Kevin Murphy at October 6, 2004 09:57 AM | TrackBack
This one doesn't sound so bad to me. Normally, Congressmen don't push for a vote on a bill unless they want it to pass. In that sense, the Republicans who pushed for the vote can indeed be said to be glad to have "lost," even though that was their objective, i.e., they didn't really lose. That the bill was authored by a Democrat is largely irrelevant; he wasn't the one pushing for the vote.
Posted by: Xrlq at October 6, 2004 11:24 PMWith all the misinformation on the subject from both spamletters and the MSM, the headline and the first part of the story sure reinforces the idea that Republicans offered a draft proposal.
Posted by: Kevin Murphy at October 7, 2004 12:14 AM