In his interview of Nancy Pelosi, Charlie Rose parrots GOP Propaganda ... AGAIN!
I was not surprised to hear Rose repeat another conservative Big Lie, when Pelosi responded to Rose's statemeet that the public has a very low opinion of Congress, to which Ms. Pelosi pointed out that there has been massive obstructionism in the Congress and it's no wonder people are angry at the body.
Charles chimed in with the oft repeated refrain of BS that the Democrats had the majority in Congress in the first two years of the Obama administration - and thus cannot blame Republicans for the Republican campaign of legislative sabotage. Should I believe Rose really thinks this is true - since he purports to be in the news/information business?
In fact, during Obama's first two years, while the Dems held a majority of the seats in the House, in the Senate (Where filibusters occur, Charlie) they NEVER HAD 60 VOTES NEEDED TO BREAK A FILIBUSTER. Nowadays, the Republicans use what's called the threat of filibuster - which really is the same thing. It takes 60 votes to pass a cloture motion (a motion to stop discussion of a bill and take a vote to see if it can pass). It's the same thing as the old style filibuster, but this is something nobody in Corporate media, like you Mr. Rose, ever brings to the attention of the viewing public. They (you) only go so far as to say: "The Democrats accuse the Republicans of obstructionism" ... without ever mentioning that the facts entirely back up the Democrats accusations.
In the first two years of Obama's Presidency, the 111th Congress, there were 139 motions for cloture filed (all but one filed by Democrats). To put this is perspective in past years motions for cloture were fairly rare events. It was only during the Clinton administration that the Republicans started the 'drag-to-a-halt' approach to achieve their anti-legislative agenda.
Charlie, you might want to read Peter Beinart's excellent article on this program of 'legislative sabotage' by the Republicans in Time magazine (Feb 18, 2010) entitled "Why Washington is Tied Up in Knots" at
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1966451-1,00.html
allow me to quote Mr. Beinart:
By October, the process had dragged on for the better part of a year, and the public mood had grown bitter. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, the percentage of Americans who said Obama had done a "very good" job of "achieving his goals" was less than half the level of January 2009, and significantly fewer people believed he was successfully "changing business as usual in Washington."
"With these acts of legislative sabotage, Republicans tapped into a deep truth about the American people: they hate political squabbling, and they take out their anger on whoever is in charge."
You should read this article Charlie. You will learn something which you apparently don't know - if your ignorance is not feigned.
for more on the GOP campaign of sabotage of Government see: GOP Promise Two More Years of No Compromise