Government Shutdown! Oh NO! Oh wait not really....

It almost seems like deja vu, didn't  we just do this last October, and the October before that? Oh wait we did.  It seems that our Congress has no time during the year to actually work on the Government's budget until the day it is due, October 1st. Actually what is happening in our Congress is a whole lot of wasting time and then waiting to the last minute to blame each other for not getting their jobs done. 

Now depending on who you get your news from you may have a very different idea of what is actually happening with our Senate and House over the budget.   Here is the jist.  Our fiscal year ends/starts October 1st every year. The Senate and House have to pass a budget each year in order to fund the government for that year.  This year, like the last two, each party - republican and democrats have delayed, blocked or simply not done their job of getting a budget done.  If a budget is not passed by Monday October 1st at midnight there will be a partial shutdown of non-essential agencies until a budget is passed.  So if you read WSB's Washington Reporter, Jamie Dupree's blog or editorials you will have gotten as much of a non-biased approach to the budget crisis

Jamie Dupree's unbiased middle of the road reporting-
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jamie-dupree/2013/sep/29/budget-mess-congress/

 If by change you read Reuters' you are more likely to blame Republicans for this entire mess.  While they do point out that the agencies that will be shut down are non-essential, they also note that they have to close their doors for the first time in 17 years and refer to this as the Republican government shutdown.

Reuters' left leaning bias reporting-
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/30/us-usa-fiscal-idUSBRE98N11220130930?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

And for some more media perspective on the budget issue we look at the more right leaning Washington Post.  While it gives the facts in a decent manner, much as Jamie Dupree's, it paints the democrats as stalling and causing the trouble.  It also points out that somehow President Obama leaving on a week long trip to Asia, is a problem.  While yes he needs to sign it, just like he did before he can use technology to do that.

Washington Post's more right leaning reporting-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-republicans-to-propose-one-year-delay-in-obamacare/2013/09/28/1e884de6-2859-11e3-9256-41f018d21b49_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

So who is controlling the story, the politicians or the media?  I would have to say this goes for a win in the media's column.  Washington no matter how they want to try and spin this, are not controlling this story.  The media, no matter how bias, does not like that they aren't doing their jobs.  So we will see how they get this done and when.....

Grandstanding not equal in the eyes of the Main Stream Media

Last week we saw Republican Texas Senator, Ted Cruz give a filibuster style speech on the floor of the U.S Senate in opposition of Obama Care.  He spoke for 21 hours and 19 minutes.  Very impressive for anyone to undertake.  And why did I call this a 'filibuster style speech'? Because it was not a true filibuster.  Senator Cruz was talking during an allotted amount of time given to anyone in the Senate, nor was he holding up a Senate vote. What Senator Cruz was doing was bring as much media attention to the issue of Obama Care.  Without a doubt he did just that. But has this attention be equal among media sources?  Not by a long shot.  News organizations such as Politico and CNN were quite to point out the fact that while this was long speech it was not holding up any real business in the Senate. While news organizations such as Fox News and Red State focused more of their coverage on more of the substance of what Cruz was talking about, defunding Obama Care. 

Now does this point out Media bias, not really.  What happens when we compare this quasi-filibuster from a Texas Republican to another filibuster, this time from a Texas democrat.  Enter Texas state Senator Wendy Davis.  Senator Davis reached headlines when she held a true filibuster to hold up the vote on Texas' most strict ban on abortions.  She was successful in delaying the vote so long that the the law could not be passed and signed into law by its deadline of midnight, but Texas Governor Rick Perry did call a special session of the State's legislature to get it to eventually pass. She spoke for 11 hours and 39 minutes.  The glaring difference in the media's reactions to each of these speeches is how much Wendy Davis was praised and embraced compared to Ted Cruz.

News organizations like the Huffington Post, largely left leaning, was praising her stand on abortion and calling her a hero. Also calling for her to be the next Governor of Texas; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-stanford/wendy-davis-governor_b_3670241.html
While it came to Senator Ted Cruz's speech we wasn't held was as much praise or esteem from the Huffington Post; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/24/ted-cruz-obamacare-speech_n_3983954.html

Not all speeches, filibuster, or grandstanding are created equal.  Each is for a different cause, some work, some don't and some are just for the attention. And not in a bad way, they all want the media to take notice of what they are doing so they can get their message out the people.  So when it comes to both Cruz and Davis they did what they set out to do, get attention to their cause.  A side effect to this attention is that sometimes your message is changed, altered or eliminated by the ones reporting. 

In the beginning...

And so begins a journey into the vast, complicated, symbiotic world of media and politics.  This blog will examine, highlight and ponder who really has control, the media or the political parties?  I see them as symbiotic in nature- one can not live without the other, but who is the more dominate of the two?Is one more in control than the other? Or do they switch off control depending on the need of the media or the need of the party?  All burning questions that I look forward to exploring.