"Broder, of course, is a gasbag. The Hindenburg of pundits"--Paul Begala.
The gist of what Broder has said (more than once) is that Obama is to blame for the McCain attack ads because Obama won't hop and do what John McCain tells him to do (follow McCain around the country at McCain town halls). Thus Broder is shamelessly goading Obama to sidetrack the fifty-state strategy and allow McCain to set the agenda of the Obama campaign. These "town halls" are events that everyone knows are staged. Does anyone believe they wouldn't be rigged for McCain's benefit? At the same time, though, given McCain's pathetic performance at these events (contrary to media-fanned myth that he excels at them, he acts befuddled, foggy-headed, and buffoon-like as he pumps his arms and flails) Obama would likely trounce McCain. The problem is allowing McCain to set the travel schedule, or even half of it, for Barack Obama. The latter has a brilliant campaign strategy, which DOES include debates, but also assures Obama leaves virtually no state uncontested. Obama should not play defense on this. He needs to set his own agenda. Anyway, even if he went along, McCain, his campaign, the host of talking TV fools, and Broder would find something to complain about. Now they are even saying stupid things such as Obama is "too presidential," too physically fit, too good of a speaker, as if any of those things aren't oxymorons. More on that idiocy later. And the rest of the media --well- they out to put a sock in it too, lest the last pretense that they are a real press fall by the wayside. Links and more are on the flip.
Here
Broder has shilled for McCain on the "town hall" issue ad nauseum. Here's another example. The youtube rant above is at its best at the very end. In short, The Young Turks rant condemned the "everything's-Obama's-fault" line. And the video makes clear: This supposition is from the "dean" of the Washington Press Corps, and the folks who brought us Iraq, torture, the end of habeas corpus, and more.
Note also that, as has been discussed here at RK, Obama offered to debate McCain more often than McCain actually agreed to. But never mind, the so-called MSM keeps on keeping on with their be-a-mouthpiece-for-McCain agenda.
In summary, the self- and media-appointed arbiter of "conventional wisdom," David Broder is actually a McCain shill who long ago crossed over the line to pure propagandist in the guise of a reporter/commentator. His accomplishment therefore is that he helped propel the current failed president into office and re-selection, enabled a war without evidence or legitimate purpose, and acted as a wholly owned subsidiary of the McCain campaign. And he still expects people to read him. The wonder is that the credible folks (e.g., the Dana Priests, Eugene Robinsons, and the too-small number of others reporting and commenting on national scene at WAPO) can stand the place. The Post deserves to lose every reader who justifiably will drop this paper in disgust over this long trudge toward full-time McCainism. It is long past time Broder should retire. It is too late for WAPO. It is long past credibility. (I feel a rant about Dana Milbank coming too. But that can wait till another day.)
I more than agree with you ...
The Post deserves to lose every reader who justifiably will drop this paper in disgust over this long trudge toward full-time McCainism. It is long past time Broder should retire. It is too late for WAPO. It is long past credibility.
I think somebody needs to start a separate website for each of these shills in the next month or so to track exactly what they say and to hold them accountable before the election.
McCain deserves a take down. I think it is Barack's job.
The real battle being fought in the political arena now, IMHO, pits the institutions that have dominated the political debate in this country for the last 30 years -- establishment politicians, lobbyists and the Washington press corps -- against the actual people, both conservatives and progressives, who are no longer content to be sheepishly led along by the nose but are trying to take back control over their own futures through the the citizen journalism that the Internet makes possible.
I don't think Broder's argument is so much one that states McCain is in the right as much as he is telling all of us who insist, and who use the Internet to prove, that McCain's reputation as a "maverick" and truth-teller is a creation of a fawning press that has been pushed on the electorate for 9 years now to just STFU.
It's not just Broder. Neither he nor any of the rest of the people who form the Washington press will ever admit that McCain is full of it, because to do so would be to destroy their own power, and for any institution to do that is not natural or normal.
So, I would part company with this diary when it comes to the Dana Priests and the Eugene Robinsons. Priest is a great reporter (although I think Robinson is only a fair columnist -- for great mainstream columnist, I would vote for E.J. Dionne and Colby King, but that's neither here nor there), but until the Preists and Robinsons of the world are willing to come out and say that Broder, Cohen and the rest are part of the problem, they are simply enablers.
In this way, I have less of a problem with writers like Krauthammer and Brooks. Yes, they are fact and logic challenged, but as least they make no bones about where they are coming from. Those guys don't give a fig about the Washington establishment except to the extent that it furthers their ideological agenda.
I too very much appreciate E.J. Dione and Colbert King. And my comments do not concern Metro or features writers. The news staff, however, are for the most part, inmho, just shills for the administration.