Opinions on Shape of Earth Differ

Suzanne Gamboa of the ap gives equal time to the senator who say no means no Durbin and the senator who says no means yes (Specter). The failure of a vote to block amendments implies that the senate will not pass an immigration bill before the Easter break.

The Senate sidetracked sweeping immigration legislation Friday, leaving in doubt prospects for passing a bill offering the hope of citizenship to millions of men, women and children living in the United States illegally.

A carefully crafted compromise that supporters had claimed could win an overwhelming majority received only 38 of the 60 votes necessary to protect it from weakening amendments by opponents.

Republicans were united in the 38-60 parliamentary vote but Democrats, who have insisted on no amendments, lost six votes from their members.

Gamboa is not explicit but arithmetic says all the Republicans voted no and thus, according to the opening paragraph, sidetracked the legislation.

This does not prevent Gamboa from giving equal time to the claim that Democrats blocked the bill

"It's not gone forward because there's a political advantage for Democrats not to have an immigration bill," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

[snip]

Democrats blamed Republicans for insisting on amendments that would weaken a compromise that Senate leaders in both parties had celebrated Thursday.

"This opportunity is slipping through our hands like grains of sand," said assistant Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Actually not quite equal time as no named Democrat is quoted blaming Republicans.

I guess that Specter's theory is that Democrats had to make the Republicans vote to allow amendments to a compromise bill after their effort to obtain obstructionist cloture failed.

Matthew Yglesias laments the fact that US Republicans have not achieved the same level of absurdity as the Italian right. Specter seems to have taken up the challenge.

final warning. No one in Italy has heard of the Mirror story and I can't find anything about it in Italian with google. I fear that mr Pisa may have sent an April fools article which his editor published on April 4th because you know how those English can't manage Italian levels of punctuality.