Andrew Perez on the Filibuster

James Stewart filibustering in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

This week on CounterSpin: NBC News recently reported that “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said…he is ‘100%’ focused ‘on stopping’ President Joe Biden’s administration.”

The statement is remarkable for the painful mockery it makes of Democrats’ and corporate media’s stubborn insistence that the most important value is “bipartisanship,” Democrats and Republicans getting along—over and against majorities of the US public getting the laws and policies they want and need, and have elected officials to enact.

But then, wait a minute, the Senate minority leader is vowing to “stop” the dominant party’s legislative agenda? How’s that work? Listeners know the problem stems from a Senate where, to start with, Wyoming, with 578,000 people, has the same representation as California, population 39.5 million—and then there is the filibuster, the rule that allows Senate minorities to block legislation indefinitely unless the majority can get 60 votes. It’s the crucial backdrop to any conversation about the Biden agenda, though media don’t always bring that point home. We’ll talk about the filibuster with Andrew Perez, senior editor and reporter at the Daily Poster.

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Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent press coverage of racist facial recognition, Naomi Osaka and billionaire taxes.

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