Progressives have long ago learned not to expect a fair shake in the media.  Despite, and possibly because of, decades of claims from the wingers of "Left Wing Media Bias" the media has  gradually become anything but friendly towards anyone or any position exposed by those seen as "leftists."

Witness the Knock-Down Drag-Out Battle that took place between CNN and Micheal Moore this month, which ultimately led to CNN finally admitting the Moore's Data was absolutely correct and that they had made not just one, but Two Factual Mistakes in their attempt to "Fact Check" Moore.

Now it's Bob Schieffer's Turn.

Either that, or he's a complete idiot (not necessarily out of the question as Schieffer has never impressed me as being the brightest bulb, but he's long had a GOP bias and close friendship with the Bushes, and has been referred to by Bush as his favorite reporter).

On today's Face the Nation interview of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he kept repeating GOP talking points about how a "precipitous pullout" from Iraq leading to an "all-out civil war", "ethnic cleansing" and Iran taking over half of Iraq and its oil, and that that could "be as much the responsibility of Democrats as that of the Bush administration". I kept wondering if this was a supposedly unbiased professional reporter or if Lindsay Graham has just taken over Schieffer's body.

And as if that wasn't enough, Schieffer kept insisting that in this past week's all-night senate debate on the Levin-Reed amendment, Reid had caused the GOP's blocking of it coming to an up or down vote by refusing to allow a similar vote on GOP amendments, despite being repeatedly told by Reid in very clear language that he had in fact offered to put ALL of these amendments up for a vote so long as they allowed the Levin-Reed amendment a vote too, and that they had refused, thus forcing him to prevent their amendments from being voted on.

The "GOP mavericks" are really ticked off at Harry Reid today.

Here's the deal:  The Republicans, especially the infamous fake "mavericks" like Specter, wanted to be able to vote for toothless amendments and legislation like the Salazar Distraction and the Warner-Lugar amendment, so they could tell their constituents that they voted for withdrawal when they really didn't.

But when Harry Reid pulled the defense authorization bill, he also killed, for good, all of those toothless bits of CYA nonsense.  Follow me past the jump for an extended take.

Cross-posted from Left In Alabama, with minor changes.

Well, over a hundred thousand of us called, emailed or FAXed (about 60,000 FAXes alone) our Senators yesterday and this morning, urging them to allow an up or down vote on the Levin-Reed amendment that would require the President to redeploy most American troops out of Iraq in 120 days.  In spite of that, only 4 Republicans broke with the President and voted to allow an up or down vote -- the final tally was 52-47, short of the 60 needed to stop debate in the Senate.  Predictably, my two Senators from Alabama, Shelby and Sessions, were among the obstructionists.

The Senate debated the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill from 3:15 PM yesterday afternoon to about 11:05 this morning (EDT).

Levin-Reed will require redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment. The GOP doesn't want to have to vote on this amendment, Rs in re-election campaigns don't want to go on record in opposition to bringing the troops home, so they are refusing to allow debate to end.  Since the Rs won't vote to close off debate, Give em hell Harry Reid has forced the Republicans to actually talk, old school filibuster style, until they either agree to stop debate or reach the 30-hour cap.

As expected, the 11:00 cloture vote failed by 7 votes.

The vote was 52-47. Four Republicans voted for it: Senators Olympia Snowe, Gordon Smith, Chuck Hagel, and Susan Collins. Collins' support for the bill is a new defection from the Republicans.

The Senate debated the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill from 3:15 PM yesterday afternoon to about 11:05 this morning (EDT).

The text of the amendment is here: S.2766. (PDF)

Levin-Reed will require redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment. The GOP doesn't want to have to vote on this amendment, Rs in re-election campaigns don't want to go on record in opposition to bringing the troops home, so they are refusing to allow debate to end.  Since the Rs won't vote to close off debate, Give em hell Harry Reid has forced the Republicans to actually talk, old school filibuster style, until they either agree to stop debate or reach the 30-hour cap.

Periodic live quorum calls forced Senators to be physically present on the floor and kept most of them from getting an uninterrupted night's sleep.  The Sgt at Arms has not had to actually physically compel anyone into the chamber, but the mere threat of that has kept Rs showing up for the live quorum calls.

This is not political theater.  This is democracy.

After Republicans successfully blocked an up-or-down vote on the Reed/Levin Amendment that would have set a timetable for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, Harry Reid announced that he will allow no more votes on the Defense Authorization Bill until Republicans stop filibustering votes on Iraq-related amendments.  

Via TPM, Reid said:

I have temporarily laid aside the Defense Authorization bill and have entered a motion to reconsider.

But let me be clear to my Republican colleagues – I emphasize the word "temporarily". We will do everything in our power to change course in Iraq. We will do everything in our power to complete consideration of a Defense Authorization bill. We must do both.

And just to remind my Republican colleagues – even if this bill had passed yesterday, its provisions would not take effect until October.

So we will come back to this bill as soon as it is clear we can make real progress. To that end, I have asked the Democratic Whip and Democratic Manager of the bill to sit down with their counterparts to work on a process to address all outstanding issues related to this bill so the Senate can return to it as soon as possible.

52-47.

We couldn't do it.  And there will be diaries about this all day on this site for sure.

It's becoming a mantra for this session of Congress.  We lost again.  If it isn't a presidential veto, it's Republican obstructionism in the Senate.  While we can muster significant majorities in the House, we can't move much forward without victories in the Senate.  Even in the minority the Republicans have become a bottleneck stymieing attempts to govern this nation according the views of constituencies and the general public.

In holding the People hostage, they threaten the nature of our democracy--just as would "the terrorists".

The Senate Democrats have been debating H.R. 1585 - The Defense Authorization Bill and the Republicans have spent the night whining and wanting to stay the course.

Cloture Vote took place at 11:00 am edt
The vote was 52-47. Four Republicans voted for it: Senators Olympia Snowe, Gordon Smith, Chuck Hagel, and Susan Collins. Collins' support for the bill is a new defection from the Republicans.

What this means: A majority of the U.S. Senate favors withdrawal from Iraq, the Senate can't vote on a measure that would accomplish this -- because the GOP Senate leadership won't allow it.

Harry Reid has pushed and made the Senate stand and be accountable. Let's keep track of what's going on and remember we made big strides in putting  the GOP on record as being against the troops and for the President.

You can watch on C-Span2

OK.

I pulled the obligatiory all nighter, and watched the entire Senate debate.  Before I crawl off to grab a quick nap, I want to offer a few observations on what I saw, and heard - and the questions generated.

Everybody has lined up, on one side or the other.  Nothing new there.  Everybody has staked out their position.  So what?  All of the talking points have been said, and in that great witty observation, everybody has said them.

BUT I STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES!

Our Democratic leadership finally heard our voices and forced the Republicans into a filibuster on the Levin-Reed Amendment, which will require redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment. As a result, the Senate has been debating Levin-Reed since 3:15 PM yesterday afternoon. We owe them our thanks for finally exposing the obstructionist Republicans for what they are: anti-troop, pro-Bush, and frankly, unAmerican.

We Kossacks have been there for every minute, thanks to a heroic and intrepid bunch of livebloggers. Kudos to every one of you who have participated, as diarists and commenters--you rock!

Our post-vote coverage continues below the fold...

GOT TO NEW DIARY

LiveBlog 31

The Senate is debating the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill which requires redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment.

Other Links

Front Paged at msnbc.com

Hecklers at the vigil in D.C.

Josh Marshall wades through the complete misundertanding of what is happening & whether the press is doing it intentionally.

Contact your Senator via democrats.org.  I did it - you can do it too!!

Yahoo/AP story

Live Q&A at Wash Post at 11 E.S.T.

It was one one hell of a night in DC and a hearty bunch of kossacks have been there for every minute of it thanks to liveblogging.  On the east coast, the morning rush hour is over on this Wednesday, July 18th and the Senate has been debating the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill since 3:15 PM yesterday afternoon.  Levin-Reed will require redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment. The GOP doesn't like that idea and so the debate has been joined.

Edwards had a very odd answer to a question about the current Senate debate on Iraq in a recent Washington Post interview.

"Edwards said he opposes a precipitous withdrawal but would like to see all combat forces out of Iraq over a period of about a year."

Edwards needed to be more decisive. Would he vote for it or not. Edwards answer looks like the kind of political calculation that lead him to vote for the Iraq war in the first place over his better instincts which told him to vote against it.

Does Edwards consider the Levin-Reid Iraq bill to be a "precipitous withdrawal" or is he saying that so as Iraq mess devolves as US troops leave he can distance himself from the consequences of making the hard decision?

Webb's answer posted by Teacherken here is a much more direct answer. Webb had reservations about the bill but stated he was voting for it and why.

The Senate is debating the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill which requires redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment.

Harry Reid has requested a standard simple majority vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans have developed a pathological fear of cloture.

This is the political version of the World War One Battle of the Somme.  Both sides of the aisle continue to pound on each other, neither side yielding, with little or no ground being gained by either side, and little good coming to the country despite all of the energy and frustration.

That is from the statement Sen. Jim Webb made on the floor of the Senate during the extended debate on Levin-Reed.  I am one of a number of bloggers on the press distribution list from his office, and I will post the entire statement made by Jim Webb as distributed by his office below the fold.

I will offer only a few comments of my own.  And I do want to give potential readers a heads up -  Jim Webb is very much his own man - he does not completely agree with the resolution, but he wants to move the nation forward.  Please keep reading.

go here now

This is now the Mothership Liveblog diary.  Please rec it, and it only.  Go unrec Cedwyn's diary here.

The Senate is currently debating whether or not to bring the Reed-Levin Amendment to the floor for an up or down vote.  The Republicans have been filibustering, the Democrats have been calling for a vote.  The amendment would put forth a beginning withdrawal date from Iraq.

Some rules:

No pictures, no videos!

Please identify the Senator your are "live blogging" in the subject line.

Jump to the next diary at 200 comments.

                               
The Senate is debating the Levin-Reed Amendment to the defense appropriations bill which requires redeployment of troops out of Iraq within 120 days of enactment.

Harry Reid has requested a standard simple majority vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill.

The text of the amendment is here: S. 2766. (PDF)

The Republicans are filibustering and Harry Reid says that they have to actually debate in this filibuster rather than simply voting on cloture to quash the effort to get an up or down simple majority vote.

So thirty hours of debate is the order of the day, night and day again.