FACT CHECK: Senate did favor Libya no-fly zone

[babsbunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110401/ap_on_re_us/us_libya_congress_fact_check

By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Donna Cassata, Associated Press – 43 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Some lawmakers are grousing loudly that President Barack Obama sent the nation's military to Libya without Congress' blessing. They're ignoring a key fact: The Senate a month ago voted to support imposing a no-fly zone to protect civilians from attacks by Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

With no objections, the Senate on March 1 backed a resolution strongly condemning "the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Libya" and urging the U.N. Security Council to take action, "including the possible imposition of a no-fly zone over Libyan territory."

There was no recorded vote. It was simply approved by unanimous consent.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

1. K&R nt

[gratuitous]

2. This again?

Yes, the Senate "unanimously" passed a non-binding resolution on March 1. What goes into a non-binding resolution? That's a very good question.

The United States Senate likes to style itself as the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. As such, it's firmly fixed in the public mind that the Senate moves ahead magisterially, with great deliberation, and passes things only after lengthy and weighty discussion and consideration.

Yeah. Well, let's just say there's perception and then there's reality.

Non-binding resolutions are passed all the time, with about as much care and deliberation as a skit on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Intoning the magic words, "I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks," a Senator can then insert just about anything he or she wants into the Congressional Record. Senators have in the past used this shibboleth to have a speech that says the exact opposite of their remarks published in the Congressional Record. Everyone loves a winner, and Senators love to be loved; hence the subterfuge.

On to the subject at hand: Non-binding resolutions. They aren't printed up beforehand. There's no debate or discussion of them. Intoning the incantation above, a Senator or two can introduce a non-binding resolution that says practically anything. Using the magic of "unanimous consent," a non-binding resolution is published that purports to convey the "unanimous" sense of the Senate, when in fact it presents the unanimous sense of whoever proposed it. The Senate doesn't even have to have a quorum to conduct business to pass a non-binding resolution. You might as well say that the playing of the national anthem before a Cubs game makes everyone at Wrigley Field a flag-waving patriot, even the woman at the concession stand who's getting a hot dog and the guy in the can recycling one.

People who pretend that a non-binding Senate resolution means anything are either ignorant of Senate procedures, or are hoping that their audience is ignorant. Please stop citing this non-binding resolution as an indication of anything meaningful, because it isn't.

[slipslidingaway]

5. kick nt

[11 Bravo]

6. Yeah, really! Can't we just stick to "Fuck that war-mongering Obama" threads?

[gratuitous]

7. You know, I'm pretty much on record as being in the Alexander Mack camp

And if you don't know who that is, more's the pity. Educate yourself, or just wave your flag. It's always worked in the past.

But as big a sin as war is, lying about war is pretty much up there, too. I've seen numerous citations over the past couple of weeks to this unanimous non-binding Senate resolution, as if it means something in the national discussion about what we're doing in Libya, why we're doing it, and who decides all of that. It doesn't, and by this point, I'm more than a little tired of stating the obvious to people who know - or should know - better.

If there's an argument to be made for yet another armed incursion by the U.S. in another country, then make it. Citing bogus resolutions that weren't written beforehand, were never debated, and passed by dint of some Robert's Rules of Order legerdemain doesn't bolster the argument. It's like diagnosing a bed-ridden, brain-dead woman based on 30 seconds of carefully edited videotape.

[11 Bravo]

8. I'm vaguely familiar with the Church of the Brethren.

And I'm not much of a flag waver.

I'm just tired of the incessant Obama bashing. If I slammed a principled adherent to the tenents of the Brethren, then I apologize.

[former9thward]

3. The Senate is not Congress.

[slipslidingaway]

9. Appears the house of reps can just go home. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

4. donna cassata = full of it

[dkf]

10. I didnt think a no fly zone's purpose was to provide cover for one side to attack the other.

Was that really part of the presentation of what a no fly zone is meant to do?