Hardly worth mentioning, really

Today the House republicans walked out of the US Capitol to protest the house not extending the Protect America Act.

If you watch NBC News - this is the only part of the story worth mentioning.

What follows is what the Feb 14, 2008 broadcast of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams said about this subject:

With all of the hubhub surrounding this presidential election season, it's important to remember the business of Congress goes on - at least it's supposed to. Republicans, though in the House stopped all work for a time today and staged a walkout. They left the House chamber to protest the Democrat's refusal to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Law which expires this week.

That's it. No context - no reason why this dispute is taking place. No mention of retroactive immunity or the fact that (oh, by the way) even with the act lapsing, the wiretapping it authorized is permitted to continue until at least August.

It's just that those goofy Democrats are letting a law expire.

Almost like the GOP walkout achieved it's primary goal of framing the debate in a way most favorable to the administration.

If only there were some organization of lawmakers, people in power, who could hold a press conference and challenge this simplistic characterization of the issue.

Oh, wait - there is. And Speaker Pelosi had just such a press conference.

I'm sure there's a good reason NBC ignored it completely.