Broder: Reid Is A ‘Bumbling’ ‘Embarrassment’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/23/broder-reid/

Broder: Reid Is A ‘Bumbling’ ‘Embarrassment’

David Broder, the sagely insightful “dean” of the Washington press corps, attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today over his claim that the war in Iraq is lost.

Speaking on Sirius radio, Broder said that Reid should “learn to engage mind before mouth opens,” and suggested that Reid’s Senate allies “have a little caucus and decide how much further they want to carry Harry Reid” and his “bumbling performance.”

Asked if Harry Reid is “an embarrassment,” Broder said, “I think so,” since “every six weeks or so there’s another episode where he has to apologize for the way in which he has bungled the Democratic case.”

Listen at link~

This is the prototypical Washington “gaffe” which reporters like Broder find so “embarrassing.” It doesn’t matter whether what Harry Reid said was actually true or false, but whether it was impolitic. And what determines whether it was impolitic isn’t the opinion of American public, but whether conservatives got angry and called Reid “reckless” and “disgraceful.”

It’s apparently irrelevant that Reid’s views are shared by President Bush’s regular military adviser Henry Kissinger, or senior U.S. military officials, or the majority of the American people.

Maybe David Broder can “revisit and revise” his comments about Reid too.

Transcript:

EDWARDS: White House and congressional Republicans really blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for saying the war in Iraq is lost. Do Republicans believe it can still be won?

BRODER: Uh, Republicans, some of them believe that, and Democrats, by and large, wish that Harry Reid would learn to engage mind before mouth opens. This has become kind of a pattern for him, and, uh, I think at some point down the road the Democrats are gonna have to have a little caucus and decide how much further they want to carry Harry Reid. They’ve got able people on the Senate side, and they don’t have to put up with this kind of bumbling performance forever.

EDWARDS: You think Harry Reid is an embarrassment to the Democrats?

BRODER: I think so. I mean, he has been a pretty effective leader but he is verbally just a real loose cannon and it seems to me, Bob, that about every six weeks or so there’s another episode where he has to apologize for the way in which he has bungled the Democratic case.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Great, isn't it - Bush embarrasses every moment of every day - yet

he has set the bar so low that no one even notices any more.....

[n2doc]

2. No, 'Dean" Broder, You are the bumbling idiot.

Comparing Mr. Magoo to Broder is insulting to Mr. Magoo. STFU, Broder.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Funny--offhand I can't think of anything he had to apologize for.

What am I forgetting?

Jeez, dementia--I hate it.

[wtmusic]

7. Who is going to call the press on the miquote

where Reid's qualifying "if we continue down the President's path" is conveniently omitted?

Reid should not, and will not, apologize for anything.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Hey Broder, Reality sure bites, doesn't it? You and * just can't face it.

[bluestateguy]

5. And Broder is a Georgetown cocktail party establishmentarian

Has he ever spent any meaningful time outside of the Beltway?

[dennis4868]

43. Better yet....

let the asshole Broder spend a day strolling through the streets of Bagdhad shopping for carpets...

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Who's this Edwards guy that sets up a question like that?

There's only one way to fight these guys: hammer 'em with full frontal assault. No apologies, no backing down. Reid needs to kick the ass of his media war room into overdrive and start hitting back, and the Democrats need to start defending other Democrats and hitting Bush/Cons over the head with their repeated failures. BONK BONK BONK!!!!

[Fridays Child]

8. I'll just bet this nasty, little smear of Harry Reid is going to get you a real sweet...

...reach around from Chimpy, huh, Mr. Broder?

[Vickers]

9. Well, at least Reid knows how to:

- open a door

- eat a pretzel

- ride a bike

- carry a dog

- walk down steps

- go to the bathroom without asking permission

etc.

Hell, I'm guessin' ol' Reid could even ride a goddam Segway.


Now, *WHO'S* an embarrassment?

:eyes:

[yellowcanine]

10. "Democrats, by and large, wish that Harry Reid would learn to engage mind before mouth opens."

I wonder which Democrats Broder is talking about or if he just made that up? I am a Democrat and I think Herry Reid was spot on. The war is lost. Hagel has pretty much said the same thing. So has Murtha. Get used to it, David. It is you who is off track here, not Harry Reid.

[blm]

26. Broder has long spoken for the go-along, coverup wing of the Dem party. Now Reid knows

how it feels when they attacked other Dems who opposed BushInc forthright over the last 6 years.


http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13354

Whom does the biographer think his subject will pick as a running mate? Not Hillary Rodham Clinton. "There's really two different Democratic parties right now: there's the Clintons

and Terry McAuliffe and the DNC and then there's the Kerry upstarts. John Kerry had one of the great advantages in life by being considered to get the nomination in December. He watched every Democrat in the country flee from him, and the Clintons really stick the knife in his back a bunch of times, so he's able to really see who was loyal to him and who wasn't. That's a very useful thing in life."



http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/oct/07/did_carville_tip_bush_off_to_kerry_strategy_woodward

http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk1k0nUWEQg

[IndianaGreen]

40. Can we safely say that David Broder is a Democrat like Tweety is?

We know what sort of people these guys are. They are no friends of ours.

[blm]

41. Broder led the way in DC for that proBush-profascist style of journalism.

He helped to make it acceptable in print to reinforce the Tweetys on the news networks.

[acmavm]

11. This kind of shit it why I think it's bad bad bad for Reid to back

down and soften his language when he talks to Chimpy.

It's shit or go blind time folks, we need to draw that line in the sand and DARE them to cross it.

[BeyondGeography]

12. How's that for a non-answer to the main question

<EDWARDS: White House and congressional Republicans really blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for saying the war in Iraq is lost. Do Republicans believe it can still be won?

BRODER: Uh, Republicans, some of them believe that, and Democrats, by and large, wish that Harry Reid would learn to engage mind before mouth opens.>

In other words, don't quiz me on the substance of what Reid is saying, just let me rip him for the way he says it.

[gratuitous]

22. Got it in one

Sure, a majority of Democrats and a sizable segment of the Republican caucus agree with Reid, but for Broder, the offense is that Reid's statement was at variance with Broder's (and by extension, the smaller and smaller coterie of palace insiders he courts) deeply held faith in the inviolate word of George W. Bush. So even though Reid is right, in agreement with the majority of Americans, and unassailable on the facts, Broder has to condemn him for speaking the truth. And the Emperor's new clothes really are the finest ever seen, eh David?

[flpoljunkie]

13. Perhaps David "the dean of Washington politics" Broder should read Krugman's column today...

Closing paragraphs. Try technorati.com to read Krugman in its entirety...

A Hostage Situation
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 23, 2007

So how should Congress respond to Mr. Bush’s threats?

Everyone talks about the political risks of confrontation, recalling the backlash when Newt Gingrich shut down the federal government in 1995. But there’s a big difference between trying to force a fairly popular president to accept deep cuts in Medicare — which is what the 1995 confrontation was about — and trying to get a deeply unpopular, distrusted president to set some limits on an immensely unpopular war.

Meanwhile, there are big political risks on the other side. If Congress responds to a presidential veto by offering an even weaker bill, voters may well react with disgust, concluding that the whole debate over the war was nothing but political theater.

Anyway, never mind the political calculations. Confronting Mr. Bush on Iraq has become a patriotic duty.

The fact is that Mr. Bush’s refusal to face up to the failure of his Iraq adventure, his apparent determination to spend the rest of his term in denial, has become a clear and present danger to national security. Thanks to the demands of the Iraq war, we’re already a superpower without a strategic reserve, unable to respond to crises that might erupt elsewhere in the world. And more and more military experts warn that repeated deployments in Iraq — now extended to 15 months — are breaking the back of our volunteer military.

If nothing is done to wind down this war during the 21 months — 21 months! — Mr. Bush has left, the damage may be irreparable.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/opinion/23krugman.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26hp&OP=56b61c9dQ2FRL5nR,YmDD,R)IIQ25RI1R)Q27RDiQ3FtQ3FDtR)Q27lmv9xTt-Q22,xo

[ClassWarrior]

14. This from the media joke who has NEVER... not once... been right in his life.

NGU.

[Captain Hilts]

15. In psychology, they call that 'projection'. nt

[Kagemusha]

16. I've concluded Broder bases his gaffe conclusion on Lieberman's condemnation

of Reid's comments.

Lieb's comments prove that some Democrats (ugh) strongly disagree with Reid's views and view them as a gaffe and an embarassment.

I will say, yeah TPM says that Reid hasn't been apologizing for comments since becoming Senate Majority Leader, but he did famously apologize once or twice during the year leading up to that... and people wonder why Republicans try not to apologize for anything, ever!?

[CreekDog]

30. Reid called Bush "a loser" a while back

Reid is a lot of fun.

When Reid says these things, he actually gets media coverage. Kind of doubt his comments would get picked up if said some focused-group'ed, milquetoast comment.

I must say, this approach seems to be working better than the Daschle approach, which didn't work as well as the the later Gephardt "miserable failure" approach.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yellowcanine]

17. My email to David Broder......

Just read about your comment that “Republicans, some of them believe that, and Democrats, by and large, wish that Harry Reid would learn to engage mind before mouth opens.” (in reference to Harry Reid saying that the Iraq war is lost).

I am wondering which Democrats that would be or did you just make this up? Doesn’t just about everyone agree that the war is lost, including many Republicans? Haven’t Chuck Hagel , Henry Kissinger, John Murtha, et al. said roughly the same thing – not to mention many former generals and the majority of the American people, if polls are to be believed? Or is your judgment on this about as good as your infamous “Bush Bounce” column (“Bush Regains his Footing” WP 2/16/07)? And is it now considered a “gaffe” to tell the truth in Washington, D.C.?

[Forkboy]

18. heh...always good to point out their prior idiocy when addressing their current idiocy.

:)

[Bitwit1234]

19. Is this bush's talking point for this week??

Does he think this guy will take the focus off his bumbling mumbling asinine speeches....If there was every a person who should have his mouth sewn shut it is BUSH ...THE PERSON WHO STOLE THE PRESIDENCY.

[spooky3]

20. DB apparently ignored Reid's other comments (mediamatters.org)

as many of his good buddies did:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704200012

[bunkerbuster1]

21. Retire already, David

Nobody needs to hear another word out of the Wise Old Man of Washington, who still pines for imaginary good old days when Democrats and Republicans got shitfaced together.

[paulk]

23. Broder really needs to get acquainted

with a mirror....

[Reader Rabbit]

24. Tape the Moyers special and send him a copy.

Then ask him who the embarassment is.

[lpbk2713]

25. We've had six years of *bumbling embarassments* .....

one more shouldn't even cause a ripple when you compare it to Smirky's track record.

[Stinky The Clown]

27. Stinky the Clown: Broder is an irrelevant asshole.

And he looks the part ......

[The Magistrate]

42. Hear Hear, Sir!

[Uncle Joe]

28. Broder, and the rag he works for, the Washington Post have become our national embarrassment.

You enabled this corrupt, incompetent to power to begin with, you slandered, obfuscated and basically bore false witness against our best and brightest. You and the Post sold your journalistic souls, if you ever had them to begin with, years ago, what the hell makes you believe anyone gives a rat's ass what you think. You have more blood on your hands, than you can ever wash off, have a miserable night's sleep.

[JNelson6563]

29. I wouldn't let that asshole carry my shoes

not even shoes I don't like very much. Broder is about as insightful as the shoes I wouldn't let him carry.

Julie

[NastyRiffraff]

31. Okay Broder...

NAME an episode that he's had to apologize for. You said "every six weeks or so"...that gives a whole lot of "episodes" you can choose from. Name one.

This is called "projection."

[agincourt]

32. Broder has been coddled for too long,

He gets passed off as being slightly right of center but he's been a GOP partisan hack for too long. In short he's a milktoast Limbaugh. Group the asshole with Beck and Hannity, where he belongs.

[demgrrrll]

33. Interesting projection..... n/t

[Cha]

34. Mediawhores are a dime a

dozen and don't even warrant that. Lazy Cheap POS that can't stand they beat the DRUMS Ever So LOUDLY FOR THIS War On Iraq and the bushits blew it all to HELL.

[CreekDog]

35. Where's Media Matters?

Apologizing every 6 weeks means that Mr. Reid would have apologized twice since he became Majority Leader. I don't even recall once.

Broder should substantiate what apologies have been made by Reid and when and if they don't match what he said, well, I dunno, but he would admit he's wrong and, well I dunno since I moved into the realm of fantasy over a dozen words ago.

Geez, can't he just insult some ethnic or religious group so that we can be done with him?!

disclaimer: please do not insult ethnic or religious groups

[nolabels]

36. Oh please let it be and continue, please, oh please

I don't believe much in prayer but sure do hope corporate media continues to outsmart themselves making spectacles like this.

My guess about this old but still not too wise guy is probably is that he figures on retiring real soon. Broder trying to go out in flames should pretty much be expected because he has not much to loose.

[saltpoint]

37. Broder's been at what he does a while. And doesn't have much to show for it.

I don't think he's more than a pedestrian journalist. Very risk-averse and flat-toned.

His late colleague at the POST, Mary McGrory, could write blue rings around Broder on any topic.

And I do mean blue.

[IndianaGreen]

38. I suppose Broder thought that Sen. Wayne Morse was an embarrassment

for opposing the Vietnam war and voting against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 57,000 Americans died because people that Broder thought were not a "bumbling embarrassment."

We are now facing the same dilemma in Iraq that we faced in Vietnam so long ago. Those that state the obvious, like Reid saying the war is lost, are chided by those that are too cowardly to acknowledge the truth.

David Broder is an embarrassment to his already disgraced profession.