What happens when bloggers who don’t understand Congress try to write about Congress? This kind of post. And this kind. And this kind (whose author at least had the half-decency to sort-of apologize).
This week, the House considered a resolution lauding the 50th anniversary of the admission of Hawaii as a state. After the the routine speeches in favor (there was no opposition), Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., yielded back the last seconds of time for debate. The Speaker pro-tem called for a voice vote on passage, which is also routine. And Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who happened to be holding the floor for the Republican side, objected to the vote because of the absence of a quorum — which is also routine. This led the chairman to postpone the floor vote until later in the day, which is also routine.
Then, all of the sudden, posts from the Think Progress and Wonkette have the whole Left-blogosphere abuzz over the fact that Bachmann must be a “birther!” How do they reach that conclusion? Well, Hawaii is the state where President Obama was born — or NOT born! So Bachmann must be making a statement by trying to not congratulating the state where President Obama was not born!
Uh, yeah, sorry, but that’s just stupid. A single afternoon of C-Span should be enough to teach you that this sequence of postponing votes until the evening occurs nearly every day in the House of Representatives, especially with relatively uncontroversial measures that are expected to get two-thirds of the vote, and totally uncontroversial resolutions like this one.
Such resolutions are introduced during the day, when the House chamber is nearly empty. Rather than let such symbolic resolutions pass unnoticed in a mid-day voice vote, the House frequently postpones proceedings for a roll call vote later on, when members are actually present on the floor. In the afternoon or evening, members save valuable time by taking up to 10 or 15 roll call votes in a row, usually right before going home. They name post offices, and recognize “National Whatever Day (or week, or month),” and honor war veterans and athletes and universities’ anniversaries. (The process is very different with big-ticket legislation.)
Now, Bachmann is an easy target. She’s a conservative woman, which is usually enough. Beyond that, she’s taken a high television profile and said some ill-considered things in public. (And bloggers never do that.)
But before they start lambasting her for a routine act on the House floor, perhaps the folks at Think Progress, Wonkette, and the Huffington Post should educate themselves on what they’re talking about.
By the way, Bachmann and every member present voted for the Hawaii resolution around 7 pm on Monday.
And then, within the next fifteen minutes, the House voted unanimously to exchange some land in North Carolina, and by a lopsided margin to establish a national monument in Texas. Earlier in the day, according to the Congressional Record, members had objected to voice votes on both of those measures, too, postponing them until an evening vote, using the exact same parliamentary formula Bachman had used.
UPDATE: Over at Townhall, Jilliian Bandes exposes a similar fact-free orgy of video-editing and echoing by liberal bloggers, designed to make it appear that a large number of Republican Congressmen believe in the “Birther” conspiracy theory.
