No, Ted Cruz’s Fake Filibuster Isn’t The Same As Wendy Davis’s Real One

[Tx4obama]

No, Ted Cruz’s Fake Filibuster Isn’t The Same As Wendy Davis’s Real One

As Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) engages in a long speech in opposition to the Affordable Care Act, many of the nation’s top newspapers aren’t highlighting the Tea Party lawmaker’s efforts on their front pages, and several media outlets have actively criticized him for working to force a government shutdown. Cruz’s fellow conservatives say that amounts to the height of media bias — pointing out that outlets were much more receptive to Cruz’s colleague, State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-TX), when she filibustered a package of abortion restrictions in the Texas legislature over the summer.

“Gee I wonder why NYT and WaPo and everyone else gave ecstatic coverage to Wendy Davis but not to Ted Cruz. I just can’t make sense of it!” right-wing commentator John Podhoretz tweeted. After comparing the headlines covering Davis and Cruz, the Right Scoop blog concludes “the bias couldn’t be more obvious.” The Washington Examiner laments the fact that Davis was called a media hero and Cruz is being labeled a “grandstander,” suggesting that’s probably because the media supports legalized abortion and doesn’t want to defund Obamacare. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) took the comparison even further, tweeting, “If ObamaCare were an infant Democrats would support a filibuster to kill it.”

It’s true that the two senators from Texas are being received very differently in the media. But a perceived media bias isn’t the only reason why that could be the case. In fact, the disparities in the coverage could reflect the gulf between the actual impact of the lawmakers’ filibuster efforts.

Davis successfully delayed an anti-abortion bill that didn’t come up for a vote during Texas’ regular session, but that was brought up for consideration during a special legislation session that was specifically convened to give lawmakers more time to enact abortion restrictions. Davis’ 11-hour filibuster — during which she wasn’t allowed to sit down, take a sip of water, cede the floor, or stray off topic — ran out the clock on that special session. The Senate was not able to vote on the abortion bill in time. Davis’ efforts were backed by hundreds of grassroots protesters who rallied against the abortion restrictions for weeks.

-snip-

Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/25/2676901/ted-cruz-wendy-davis-filibuster/

p.s. Also, Wendy Davis had to abide by many strict rules, Cruz didn't.

Wendy Davis was not allowed to lean on the podium like Cruz did.
Wendy could not take long breaks like Cruz did many times,
Wendy stayed on camera the whole time so that we could see she wasn't over in the corner taking a power nap (like Cruz probably was).
Etc, etc, etc.
In my opinion, Cruz cheated - he took several LONG half-hour and hour breaks off of camera - while others stood up in the front of the camera and talked when he wasn't.

The Cruz 'talk-a-thon' was a ridiculous publicity fund-raising stunt.
Shame on Ted Cruz.

[gopiscrap]

1. you have that right!