A couple acquaintances and I were having a conversation about Congress' shockingly low (18%) approval rating. One of the guys, a staunch Republican, believes this is proof that people resent the Democrats for 'backpedaling' on all of their campaign promises. I was inclined to agree, noting that they've squandered a real opportunity in the post-2006 cycle.

Hilzoy on Obsidian Wings, though, pointed out something interesting today. Democrats have obviously dropped the ball on 'funding,' a tool for porking out funding bills. But if you think back to the 2006 election cycle, the conversation was about... well, the economy and the war. Most of their commitments were about things like minimum wage increases, passing the 9/11 commission's recommendations, reform of the shockingly expensive Medicare drug bill, renewable energy research funding, etc.

You know what's interesting? They passed them.

All of these measures got a majority votes -- when they were able to make it that far. Unfortunately, Republican members of congress have blocked their passage with parliamentary maneuvering, like refusing to appoint enough committee members to put the measures to a full Senate vote, or the much-maligned filibuster.

The filibuster is especially interesting, since just months ago we were hearing from everyone and their brother how 'broken' the system was because it allowed a minority party to 'obstruct' the will of the people. Remember all the chanting about "The Nuclear Option" that the Democrats were considering using to prevent righteous Republican bills from passing?

Today, house Republicans filibustered Jim Webb's amendment to the armed forces appropriation bill, which would have ensured that soldiers on rotation in Iraq would be assured of some downtime here at home between deployments, and protect them from more than three non-voluntary tours of duty.

Support the troops, yo.

What's fascinating is that the national narrative while Republicans are in power is that Democrats were 'obstructionists' for even considering things like filibusters. Now that people voted Democrats into power, and Republicans are resorting to things like cloture votes to prevent full congressional votes on Democrat-sponsored bills, what's the generally accepted narrative?

Democrats breaking their promises, of course.

This is the thing that makes me scratch my head when folks talk about the liberal media. If they're so liberal, why the weirdly distorted double standard? The media, for the most part, rolls with whatever story fits the prevailing narrative. And for better or worse, Republicans have managed to wrestle control of that narrative to the right. Actual events don't matter -- they're wearing white hats and the Democrats are wearing black, and everyone knows what that means.