C'mon, Reporters, Really?????

I hate onions. No, really, I do. Everyone in my family, and lots of my friends know all about it. I mean, I try to be polite, but if you ask me, I'll tell you that I hate onions. So, you know, it's probably not a good idea to ask me whether an onion soup or an onion bagel or latkes made with onions are any good; I'm not going to like them. My family and friends, not being idiots, don't ask me about that.

Which brings me to the national press corps. Hey, I already covered this as recently on Friday, on reports of what Ted Cruz was going to demand on the debt limit (that he surely will vote against no matter what's in it).

Well, today we have a Politico item about the Senate showdown "deal" potentially not holding. It seems that Rand Paul may do another talking filibuster. And there are various threats to derail future exec branch nominees -- threats from John Thune, from John Cornyn, Mike Crapo, from Chuck Grassley. Uh huh. You know what they all have in common? None of them were part of the showdown deal; all of them voted against Perez, McCarthy, and Cordray last week. In fact, Cornyn, Crapo, Grassley and Paul even voted against cloture on the nominee for the Export-Import bank; they are four of only sixteen Republicans who opposed cloture in each of these votes. So what do we care if they threaten to vote against the next round? Their votes aren't needed, and aren't really expected.

To be fair: Politico is also reporting that John McCain intends to put a hold on one nomination. But it's a traditional hold apparently used to get some information out of the administration. Presumably, they'll cut a deal, and the nomination will move forward. Nothing in the reported deal prevented that sort of thing from continuing.

Really, reporters: cut it out. If Lisa Murkowski says she's going to vote against cloture, then maybe the deal is in trouble (although even then: pro-deal Senators didn't necessarily vote for cloture on every nominee last week). But if the same people who opposed cloture in all cases last week say they're going to oppose cloture for some specific nominee in the future, it's not an indication that the deal is in trouble.