Getting dizzy from the media spin

Talk abounds in the media this morning about how the Republicans in the Senate voted to kill the auto industry and ran the global economy further into the mud.

Many of us know that is bull crap. Last night a cloture vote was held to call the bill to a vote without debate and it lost 52 - 35... and the media will tell you that is because of the evil, America-hating Republicans.

But what the media is not saying is that Reid had an alternative, he could have opened debate on the bill. Which brings me to a quick aside, the auto bailout bill was not a bill, it was an amendment, the bill was intended to address the AMT for 2008, a bill guaranteed to pass... unless Pelosi and Reid attach a fundamentally unsound amendment that will cost tax payers 14 Billion dollars so Detroit can keep making the same jacked up mistakes while the banks, who have received $350 Billion can continue to horde that money and continue to disregard the reason the government issued the financial bailouts in the first place.

The media is also ignoring that while they are blaming the bill's defeat on Republicans, only 31 of those votes were Republicans... so the media is telling people that 31 Senators somehow prevented the other 68 members of congress from passing the measure. Reid voted against cloture so it can be brought back up for another vote, but three other Democrats also voted against cloture. That means had Reid and the other three Democrats voted for cloture then they would have been one vote shy of winning and moving the bill for a vote.
Since 52 and 35 do not equal 99 (the current number of Senate seats) lets look at the missing members of the Senate. Smith, Sununu and Stevens lost and have taken their marbles and gone home, Craig and Hagel chose not to run again and stayed home, and Kennedy is home ill.

That means Alexander, Biden, Cornyn, Graham, Kerry and Wyden opted to not report and vote. Had any one of the three Democrats listed shown up the bill would have passed cloture and been brought up for a vote without debate.

The media, instead of blaming the bill's failure on Democrats should instead be laying blame where it belongs... at the feet of Harry Reid who has distinguished himself as not being able to control the Senate, especially his side of the aisle, he even had the benefit of having 7 Republicans vote for cloture.

Reid has no one to blame for his failure but himself.

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U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 2nd Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary
Question: On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to Consider H.R. 7005. )
Vote Number:
215
Vote Date:
December 11, 2008, 10:42 PM
Required For Majority:
3/5
Vote Result:
Cloture Motion Rejected
Measure Number:
H.R. 7005 (Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008 )
Measure Title:
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide alternative minimum tax relief for individuals for 2008.
Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---52
Akaka (D-HI)Bayh (D-IN)Bingaman (D-NM)Bond (R-MO)Boxer (D-CA)Brown (D-OH)Brownback (R-KS)Byrd (D-WV)Cantwell (D-WA)Cardin (D-MD)Carper (D-DE)Casey (D-PA)Clinton (D-NY)Collins (R-ME)Conrad (D-ND)Dodd (D-CT)Dole (R-NC)Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA)Harkin (D-IA)Inouye (D-HI)Johnson (D-SD)Klobuchar (D-MN)Kohl (D-WI)Landrieu (D-LA)Lautenberg (D-NJ)Leahy (D-VT)Levin (D-MI)Lieberman (ID-CT)Lugar (R-IN)McCaskill (D-MO)Menendez (D-NJ)Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)Nelson (D-FL)Nelson (D-NE)Pryor (D-AR)Reed (D-RI)Rockefeller (D-WV)Salazar (D-CO)Sanders (I-VT)Schumer (D-NY)Snowe (R-ME)Specter (R-PA)Stabenow (D-MI)Voinovich (R-OH)Warner (R-VA)Webb (D-VA)Whitehouse (D-RI)

NAYs ---35
Allard (R-CO)Barrasso (R-WY)Baucus (D-MT)Bennett (R-UT)Bunning (R-KY)Burr (R-NC)Chambliss (R-GA)Coburn (R-OK)Cochran (R-MS)Coleman (R-MN)Corker (R-TN)Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)Ensign (R-NV)Enzi (R-WY)Grassley (R-IA)Gregg (R-NH)Hatch (R-UT)Hutchison (R-TX)Inhofe (R-OK)Isakson (R-GA)Kyl (R-AZ)Lincoln (D-AR)Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)McConnell (R-KY)Murkowski (R-AK)Reid (D-NV)Roberts (R-KS)Sessions (R-AL)Shelby (R-AL)Tester (D-MT)Thune (R-SD)Vitter (R-LA)Wicker (R-MS)

Not Voting - 12
Alexander (R-TN)Biden (D-DE)Cornyn (R-TX)Craig (R-ID)
Graham (R-SC)Hagel (R-NE)Kennedy (D-MA)Kerry (D-MA)
Smith (R-OR)Stevens (R-AK)Sununu (R-NH)Wyden (D-OR)