Gun Violence Prevention Legislation Added To Legislative Calendar

Washington Post: Senate Gun Violence Prevention Legislation Includes “Universal Background Check System; Stricter Federal Criminal Laws For Gun Trafficking; And Provisions To Improve School Safety.” A March 21 Washington Post article reported that Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) placed gun safety prevention legislation on the legislative calendar. The legislation included “a universal background check system; stricter federal criminal laws for gun trafficking; and provisions to improve school safety”:

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) plans to begin Thursday night the formal process of beginning the first congressional debate in more than a decade on limiting gun violence, setting up what is expected to be a heated debate for several weeks in April. 

Reid announced that he will move a package of gun-related bills onto the legislative calendar and set it up as the first  order of business when the Senate returns from its two-week break over the Easter and Passover holidays. While the package will not include a ban on assault weapons -- Reid said Tuesday that proposal has less than 40 votes of support -- it will include provisions to impose a universal background check system; stricter federal criminal laws for gun trafficking; and provisions to improve school safety. [The Washington Post, 3/21/13]

Right-Wing Media Push For Gun Legislation Obstruction

Mark Levin: Anyone Who Does Not Filibuster Gun Legislation Is “Voting Against The Constitution.” During an April 9 interview with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), The Mark Levin Show host Mark Levin lavished praise on Cruz for his threat to filibuster gun violence prevention legislation, concluding that anyone in the Senate who does not support a filibuster by Cruz and some of his colleagues are “voting against the Constitution.” [Cumulus Media Networks, The Mark Levin Show, 4/9/13] 

Erick Erickson: “The Only Way To Stop It Is To Filibuster.” In an April 9 RedState blog post, Fox News contributor Erick Erickson chastised certain Republican senators for wanting to allow an up or down vote on gun violence prevention legislation, claiming that the legislation can only be stopped by a filibuster:

Several of the Republicans are using the Manchin-Toomey compromise plan as an excuse to cave on the gun filibuster. They claim that Senators Lee, Cruz, and Paul are running ahead of the conference in their insistence on a filibuster.

What they fail to see is that the cloture vote is the vote to stop the gun legislation from passage.

Several Republican Senators intend to vote against the filibuster, but then vote against the overall bill. This is too clever by half. The GOP does not control the Senate as the GOP is want to say every time they don't want to fight.

Their only power to block a gun control bill is to unite and filibuster. 

Voting for cloture is voting for the gun control bill because, again, as the GOP reminds us, they are not in the majority. The only way to stop it is to filibuster. [RedState, 4/9/13]

Laura Ingraham: “I Say Thank Goodness” For A Filibuster Of Gun Legislation. During the April 8 edition of her radio show, host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham praised a potential filibuster of gun violence prevention legislation by Republicans, thanking them for having the “courage to stand and be reviled.”

INGRAHAM: My question to you is, is there anyone, I mean anyone, today, in Congress or the Senate who speaks with the clarity, and the conviction and the courage, of a Lady Thatcher? One, one person. I know there are people coming up through the ranks. Do you believe for instance, someone like a John McCain, speaking about the filibuster that is coming to stop the gun control bill from being considered. Now the filibuster is going to be led by Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and 12 -- I guess a total of 13, Rand Paul, all of this. They're going to go up there and they're going to stand for the Second Amendment and individual liberty -- the ability to defend oneself.  

[...]

And so for Rand Paul and Mike Lee and all the rest to be standing for the Second Amendment, I say thank goodness it is finally happening. Thank goodness we have people of conviction and frankly, courage to stand and be reviled. [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 4/8/13]

Right-Wing Media Have A History Of Pushing And Praising GOP Obstructionism

RIGHT-WING MEDIA HAVE PREVIOUSLY SUPPORTED UNPRECEDENTED GOP OBSTRUCTIONISM VIA FILIBUSTER

Right-Wing Media Conducted Ongoing Campaign To Block The Administration's Judicial Nominees Via Filibuster. Media Matters documented right-wing media's history of insisting that the Republican Party filibuster and otherwise obstruct judicial nominees who are insufficiently conservative. The resulting court vacancies have led to “judicial emergencies,” but right-wing media have made it clear they will not let up as the Senate considers President Obama's nominees to the crucial D.C. Circuit. Recently, right-wing media have targeted Caitlin Halligan, President Obama's nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. [Media Matters, 2/14/13]

Right-Wing Media Attacked Administration Recess Appointments, Aiding Unprecedented GOP Obstructionism. Right-wing media called President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) during a Senate recess of fewer than three days an “open declaration of war on constitutional principles” and an “unprecedented power grab.” However, neither the Constitution nor the courts have specified how long the Senate must be in recess for a president to make a recess appointment; past presidents have made recess appointments during recesses of three days or fewer; and congressional Republicans engaged in unprecedented obstructionism that prevented hundreds of Obama nominees from being confirmed. Congressional Republicans continue to block Richard Cordray and other nominees in the confirmation process. [Media Matters, 1/4/12]

FOX ATTEMPTED TO SMEAR OBAMA'S SECOND-TERM CABINET NOMINATIONS TO AID OBSTRUCTIONIST EFFORTS

Fox Attacked UN Ambassador Susan Rice Ahead Of A Potential Nomination As Secretary Of State. Fox News figures attacked Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in an attempt to stop her from being nominated as the next secretary of state by pushing the debunked myth that she made inaccurate statements about the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya. [Media Matters, 11/14/12]

Fox Revived Discredited “Swift Boat” Campaign To Obstruct John Kerry Ahead Of Possible Defense Secretary Post. Fox News distorted John Kerry's record and revived the debunked 2004 “Swift Boat” campaign against Kerry in an attempt to discredit his possible nomination as Defense secretary. Kerry was ultimately appointed to the position of secretary of state. [Media Matters, 11/14/12]

Fox Targeted Former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel In Campaign To Prevent His Nomination As Defense Secretary. Amid reports that former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) might be nominated as secretary of defense, Fox figures supported GOP efforts to obstruct the nomination by mischaracterizing Hagel's record and opposition to the troop surge in Iraq in 2007. [Media Matters, 12/10/12]

FOX FIGURES ENCOURAGED AND CHEERED GOP OBSTRUCTIONISM ON OBAMA'S AGENDA

Dick Morris: Obama Has No Mandate, And Republicans “Need To Stand Up Against The Socialist Agenda” He Is Pushing. In an appearance on Fox & Friends, former Fox contributor Dick Morris claimed Obama did not have a mandate and it was up to Republicans to oppose Obama and his “socialist agenda”:

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): As Gretchen just said, nothing has changed with the balance of power. We need somebody who can reach across the aisle, but from the books I've read about this administration, Barack Obama, in many ways, doesn't have a bipartisan bone in his body.

MORRIS: Yeah I think that's true. I don't think there's going to be a lot of reaching. But in response, we need to understand just how weakly this president was re-elected by the skin of his teeth.

First of all, a switch of two-tenths of one percent of the vote would've changed the outcome. And secondly, he is the first President of the United States ever to be re-elected by less than he got elected by. Every other president who's won a second term, gained in their margin. Ronald Reagan won by more in '84 than in '80. Bill Clinton won by more in '96 than in '92. Bush won by more in '04 than in 2000. He won by seven in 2008 and by one in 2012.

This is not a mandate. And the Republican Party needs to work with him when he is positive, but otherwise we need to stand up against the socialist agenda and stop him from fundamentally changing the United States. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/7/12, via Media Matters]

Fox's Krauthammer: Obama Has “No Mandate” And Republicans “Are Not Going To Budge.” In a post-2012 election interview on Fox News, contributor Charles Krauthammer claimed that although Obama won, “he's got no mandate,” and predicted that House Republicans were not going to work with him:

KRAUTHAMMER: They are not going to budge. There's no way in which after holding out on Obama for two years they're going to cave in, and Obama doesn't have anywhere really to go. He governed very large in the first two years. [Fox News via Examiner.com, 11/7/12]

Fox's Lou Dobbs Praises GOP Obstructionism On Jobs As “Prudence And Judgment And Responsibility.” During a discussion on Republicans blocking President Obama's efforts to increase government spending in order to create jobs, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs claimed “one man's obstructionism is another's prudence and judgment and responsibility.” [Fox Business, Lou Dobbs Tonight, 6/14/12, via Media Matters]