Ted Cruz's long speech (it's not technically a filibuster) in the Senate, aided by interjections by fellow Republican senators who sympathize with him, has just passed the 19.5-hour mark as I write this post. It's earned plenty of derision from pundits, especially those on the left, but Timothy Carney points out a similar action by another Texan just a couple of months ago was treated much differently by the media:
"The typical mainstream spin on [Cruz's speech]: It's grandstanding! He's just raising money! Fauxlibuster!
"Flashback to the summer: Texas state senator Wendy Davis, with the help of a screaming mob, runs out the clock on a legislative session, thus delaying the passage of a bill to ban abortions of most babies in the sixth month of pregnancy and later. But at the time, it was clear Gov. Rick Perry would simply call another session, and that the late-term abortion ban would eventually pass.
"So, Davis was delaying the inevitable (which is more than Cruz, for sure, who is not even delaying it), but rallying supporters of legal late-term abortion. Also, it helped her raise tons of money and it jumpstarted a gubernatorial campaign.
"The media spin was different: Hero! Giving a voice to women! Glowing interviews on every TV station.
"Davis's filibuster was no more likely than Cruz's to change the law. Davis's filibuster was just as self-promotional as Cruz's, and just as directed at a bid for higher office. And Davis's filibuster was in defense of something most people dislike: aborting viable and nearly-viable babies; while Cruz's filibuster was in opposition to a law most people dislike: Obamacare." (links original)
As I wrote yesterday, I'm not optimistic congressional Republicans have a winning game plan for defunding Obamacare. But if Cruz's long-windedness accomplishes anything, it might be laying bare the undeniable difference between how the media treat politicians depending on reporters' fondness for the cause and the letter that comes after the pol's name.
Kyle Wingfield is the AJC's conservative columnist. He joined the AJC in 2009 after writing for the Wall Street Journal, based in Brussels, and the Associated Press, based in Atlanta and Montgomery, Ala.
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