Parliamentarian strikes again...

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2021

...and Rachel takes a pass: Early in April, cable viewers in Our Town were given the latest good news.

On this extremely rare occasion, we weren't told that Mueller or Vance or some other such person was about to lock Trump or Rudy or some other such person up. That's the kind of extremely good news our stars more routinely dispense.

On this occasion, the extremely good news involved an alleged important ruling. The alleged ruling had  been handed down by the Senate parliamentarian, whoever that allegedly is. 

As usual, the news we were handed was very good—the kind of news which keeps cable viewers coming back for more. Cable stars exulted about the alleged ruling—but at this site, we offered this:. 

DAILY HOWLER (4/8/21): At the start of this week, the Senate parliamentarian, by all accounts, made a very significant ruling. 

The ruling concerns the legislative procedure commonly known as "reconciliation." How important is this ruling believed to be?

The ruling is believed to be very important! But can anyone in the upper-end press corps explain what the ruling was?

Can anyone explain what the parliamentarian said? The answer seems to be no. 

Behaving like a couple of clowns, Rachel and Lawrence spilled from their channel's Volkswagen bus, then pretended to explain the ruling. The pair gave a pair of clownish performances on Monday, April 5. Two nights later, Rachel offered an even more ridiculous endless attempt to explain the ruling

In theory, the parliamentarian had ruled that—oh, why even bother? We mention this matter today because the parliamentarian is now said to have issued another ruling. 

This new ruling seems to undercut whatever she may have ruled back then, assuming that she actually ruled anything back then at all.

What has the parliamentarian newly ruled? At New York magazine, Eric Levitz addresses that question under this gloomy headline:

Parliamentarian Erects New Obstacle to Biden’s Agenda

Oof! Meanwhile, over at Slate, Jim Newell's headline renders its statement in the form of a question:

Did the Senate Parliamentarian Just Foil Chuck Schumer’s Plan to Beat the Filibuster?

To the extent that Schumer ever had any such (viable) plan, the answer may be yes! 

For the record, Newell's report makes a striking claim. He says that Slate has "obtained a copy" of the parliamentarian's ruling.

Back in April, there was no sign that anyone had ever seen any such critter. That didn't keep Rachel and Lawrence from the ridiculous clowning in which: 1) they excitedly contradicted each other, without seeming to notice this fact, concerning what the ruling held; and 2) Rachel kept contradicting herself as she offered her filibuster-length explanations.

Back in April, we tried to call attention to the damn-fool nonsense involved in Rachel's attempts to explain the ruling. (Also, just click here.)

Back in April, there was a flurry of excitement about the parliamentarian's unseen ruling. Then, the topic disappeared. Until the last few days, this alleged original ruling had pretty much never been mentioned again. Our cable stars devised other ways to assure us that Our Town would win.

Now it turns out that, on May 28, the parliamentarian issued a new ruling—and the new ruling doesn't seem to convey good news. 

Possibly for that reason, Rachel hasn't mentioned the new ruling this week. Based on a search of her transcripts, it's been crickets—though possibly not Brood X cicadas—pretty much all the way down.

On balance, cable news is a ratings-driven, silly-bill corporate con game. Here's our own best guess as to what what will happen this summer:

Trump will be reinstated to the White House, quite possibly in August. Following that, Mueller will be restored to his gumshoe post, and our favorite stars will tell us that Mueller is about to send Trump to jail. 

UFOs may be involved. On cable, the news will almost surely be good. Imprisonment of those we loathe will be right around the corner again.

The real news—the fact that our system has already collapsed, with a silent secession already achieved—will be studiously avoided. Anthropologists could explain this rolling demise, but such experts won't be consulted.

Our Town's cable news is a sad, silly mess. According to several leading experts, our youthful analysts know what you need, but our cable stars know what you want!


26 comments:

  1. UFOs are definitely involved, dear Bob.

    We have it on good authority that Dark Lord Putin is controlling the mind of Parliamentarian from a UFO. But don't tell anyone, please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does all this happen after O’Donnell commits psuicide on air?

      Doesn’t matter, CNN is saved!

      Delete
    2. Back on top of the comments. Yea!

      Delete
    3. After Hunter rescues Parliamentarian from shape-shifting alien reptilians posing as msnbc talking heads.

      Delete
  2. The parliamentarian communicated with congressional leaders, who didn't share much info. That is why Maddow was limited and speculative about what the ruling was. That is hardly her fault and her guesses were about the same as everyone else's. This is an unfair criticism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do the contradictions fall under your labels of limited or speculative? Limited as in limited self-awareness and effort, I suppose.

      Delete
    2. Members of congress were vague in speaking to the press about what the parliamentarian said. The parliamentarian has not spoken directly to the press. Somerby tends to blame Maddow for the uncertainty about how the rules work.

      Delete
  3. "Trump will be reinstated to the White House, quite possibly in August."

    If Somerby believes this will happen, he is an idiot as well as an asshole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So he needs to put a "/s"? Seriously?

      You should probably just read a different blog.

      Delete
    2. Somerby never bothers to signal when he is being humorous or sarcastic. That is bad writing. It isn't the reader's fault if he is unclear about his intentions.

      He gets no benefit of the doubt because he has been arguing so many conservative talking points lately (seriously).

      Delete
    3. How far along the spectrum are you, Anonymouse 5:11pm?

      Delete
    4. Nice, a knock against those with disabilities.

      Delete
  4. 'The real news—the fact that our system has already collapsed, with a silent secession already achieved—will be studiously avoided.'

    Well, Somerby and other hardcore, malevolent Trumptards like him have certainly tried hard to carry out secession and collapse the system.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bob has actual Trump supporter fans, and leftists that actually think he is a Trump supporter. Confused readers across the board! Trying their hardest to discern his intent and play the appropriate counter-points out of that old worn-out deck.

    ReplyDelete
  6. “On cable, the news will almost surely be good.”

    Interesting, because, much of what they have been covering is the inability of the Democrats to pass bills due to the filibuster, and the faux-audits and the anti-democratic laws being passed by Republican legislatures around the country. It has been grim, and many of the guests are people on the ground (Stacy Abrams, Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic Secretaries of State in swing states like Arizona and Michigan, voting rights lawyer Marc Elias, who successfully argued in court against many of the insane Trump lawsuits last fall, etc, etc) who are laboring to stave off the collapse of democracy.

    But Somerby would rather focus on a ten-minute speculation from months ago that may or may not have been correct, thereby misrepresenting the actual news coverage. Maybe that is why he can’t help from laughing occasionally at the demise of civilization. He’s having a ball.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay so you're premise is that the cable news has been grim. I'm not sure this premise is correct, unless they are reporting wildly differently than what I see on their websites.

      What I'm seeing follows mainly two formats:

      1. Democrats are kicking butt and doing amazing things
      2. Republicans continue to be ineffective morons and let's LOL at them

      A site that gathers news from many sources is maybe a good barometer? Reddit's /r/politics is chock full of stories that meet the above criteria.

      Perhaps there are certain times of day where they dispense of the feel-good style of news and get slightly more serious.

      I don't know, you tell me!

      Delete
    2. @4:43 You are being vague and general whereas mh is being specific about which coverage he is talking about. Further, mh is addressing the same news shows that Somerby refers to, whereas you are talking about Reddit.

      I think you are not dealing with what mh has said. And you ignore Maddows original segment too.

      Delete
    3. mh, what do you think Somerby means by the term “silent succession”?

      In light of history, how humorous and frivolous is that opinion of the people you think that he doesn’t take seriously?

      You think most Americans, thus described, would find his sentiments to be respectful criticism?

      Delete
    4. mh, what do you think Somerby means by the term “silent succession”?

      In light of history, how humorous and frivolous is that opinion of the people you think that he doesn’t take seriously?

      You think most Americans, thus described, would find his sentiments to be respectful criticism?

      Delete
    5. How silent is it when those in Shasta County (CA) who dislike Newsom's policies try to get a measure on the ballot to vote to secede from CA, instead of just packing their bags and moving to Idaho? This is a noisy secession attempt, not a quiet one. It is part of the conservative culture war and its goal is to attract voters, not achieve any sort of actual change.

      Delete
  7. "Possibly for that reason, Rachel hasn't mentioned the new ruling this week."

    "that’s how #Resistance media deals with unpleasant truths: it blacks them out,"

    That's why you get so many dummy commenters around here. They're completely shielded from any unpleasant divergence from the party line. For God's sakes they still think Trump was colluding with Russia!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Poor baby. Still want some vaseline for that butt hurt ?

      Delete
    2. Biden's landslide rout of Trump in the 2020 election, has driven the Right even crazier.

      Delete
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