Bloodless Coup

What's It Take to Fire David Broder?

Okay, so I've written many times here about the off-point, self-righteous meanderings of David Broder that are completely divorced from political realities that exist outside of his self-lovin' mind - but if he keeps writing ridiculous things like today's column on Harry Reid, I'm going to feel forced to respond on occasion. If you can struggle through the inanities and false similarities and get to the end you'll learn that Reid's real sin is that he disagrees with Broder over how much military force can accomplish in Iraq. But to get through that you've first got to struggle through a bizarre comparison to Alberto Gonzalez, a willful misreading of Chuck Schumer, a cheap shot at Bill Clinton, and a list of times when Reid's engaged in the kind of "straight talk" that a lot of Americans like (calling a hack a hack) and gets celebrated in some circles (St. McCain), but which apparently Broder's puritan sensibilities finds unseemly. Well, that or perhaps Alan Greenpan is a sometimes dinner companion of Mr. Broder - hard to say really as Broder doesn't same anything about why it's wrong to call him a hack. And Broder himself says such things aren't a big deal, just a sign of intemperate behavior (which apparently is a severe sin in the world of Broder), though of course he write about them nonetheless - yes, in a column that begins with a discussion of the supposedly similarly "inept" behavior of Alberto Gonzalez.

It really is classic Broder though - a discussion of the Democrats' bad character (and they are bad people because they disagree with Broder's analysis), and equating a few stylistic transgressions on their part to major substantive transgressions by the Republicans. And he's making fun of Sen. Schumer's ability to engage in logical analysis?