ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Posted in Senate Rules — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Russ Smith writes about the New York Times's biased coverage of pro-judicial-filibuster Senator Robert Byrd:

The paper's antipathy---more shrill than the mere condescension of a decade ago---toward any creature that "smells" Republican, is aptly typified by Sheryl Gay Stolberg's homage to 87-year-old Sen. Robert Byrd in the news section on April 3. The reporter's affection for the showboating Byrd is so pronounced that, again, in an honest world, the article would've been slugged at the top, "A Times Editorial." The ostensible reason for the piece is the upcoming congressional battle, with Byrd as lead gladiator, over the GOP's attempt to torpedo the filibuster so that Bush's judicial nominees are subject to a majority Senate vote rather than the 60-vote supermajority that thwarted some of them in the president's first administration.

Stolberg taps away, presumably not chuckling at the keyboard, "Christian conservatives and right-wing bloggers are unearthing [Byrd's] past as a one-time member of the Ku Klux Klan," as if that obituary-leading blot on the West Virginia legislator's record hasn't been well-reported by mainstream media outlets for years now. She goes on to describe the left-wing ... group MoveOn.org's infatuation with Byrd, claiming that at a recent rally the "crowd swooned like schoolgirls catching their first glimpse of the Beatles," when the man who has compared the Bush administration's tactics to those of the Third Reich gave a speech. And, in an interview with Byrd at his office last week, Stolberg swoons herself, saying "Mr. Byrd seemed energized, casting thunderbolts like Zeus from the mountaintop."

This is the very first time I'd ever considered that Zeus was an asshole.

NOTE: Smith's piece is also here.