Preserve the Balance
Team Supreme Blog
Counting the Proverbial Chickens
This week's newspapers brought to mind an important lesson in politics and journalism: don't always trust headline writers. This Tuesday's Washington Post reports "Roberts Unlikely To Face Big Fight; Many Democrats See Battle as Futile." But then the next day the New York Times reported "Senate Democrats Increase Resistance to Roberts."
One needs to look no further than the Chicago Daily Tribune "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline to realize that the media is fallible. Which reminds me of another lesson in politics: momentum does not equal success.
As the folks supporting Roberts at ConfirmThem.com know, nothing is certain until the final Senate vote. They rightfully point out that at this point in Clarence Thomas's confirmation, his success seemed doubtless. "Thomas to Win High Court Seat, Senators Predict," wrote the New York Times at the time. "Democrats Admit Thomas Heading Toward Senate Confirmation," said the Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times reported, "Democrats Talk as if Court Seat for Thomas is Assured." With an eye to the past, even Roberts' hard-core supporters know he's not a shoo-in.
Perhaps it is because the more we learn about Roberts' record, the more troubling it becomes. And this is with tens of thousands of pages of documents left to analyze. We already know that Roberts is hostile to civil rights, women's rights, worker's rights, and other fundamental Constitutional protections. If I were on their side of the fence, I wouldn't count my proverbial chickens either — especially before the American people have a chance to get a full and complete picture of Roberts' record.
One needs to look no further than the Chicago Daily Tribune "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline to realize that the media is fallible. Which reminds me of another lesson in politics: momentum does not equal success.As the folks supporting Roberts at ConfirmThem.com know, nothing is certain until the final Senate vote. They rightfully point out that at this point in Clarence Thomas's confirmation, his success seemed doubtless. "Thomas to Win High Court Seat, Senators Predict," wrote the New York Times at the time. "Democrats Admit Thomas Heading Toward Senate Confirmation," said the Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times reported, "Democrats Talk as if Court Seat for Thomas is Assured." With an eye to the past, even Roberts' hard-core supporters know he's not a shoo-in.
Perhaps it is because the more we learn about Roberts' record, the more troubling it becomes. And this is with tens of thousands of pages of documents left to analyze. We already know that Roberts is hostile to civil rights, women's rights, worker's rights, and other fundamental Constitutional protections. If I were on their side of the fence, I wouldn't count my proverbial chickens either — especially before the American people have a chance to get a full and complete picture of Roberts' record.
Comments
Go get em - take the media on!
posted by Anonymous | 8/23/2005 10:32 PM | Permalink
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