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David Broder:
Symbol of Major US Media Depravity
By Stephen Lendman
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, November 2, 2010
Currently writing a twice-weekly Washington Post column, Broder is
called America's "dean" of political journalists, having covered every
presidential campaign since Kennedy-Nixon. At age 81 (ironically born
September 11, 1929), his bio lists an array of awards as well as accolades
like: -- "Washington's most highly regarded columnist; --
Best Reporter; -- Hardest Working; -- the high priest of
political journalism; -- the most respected and influential
political journalist in the country; and -- Least Ideological,"
among others. Phew, for a man distinguished more for supporting
power and privilege than delivering real journalism, the kind found
nowhere in the dominant media, especially in establishment broadsheets
like The New York Times and Washington Post. Both papers and their star
reporters are plagued by conflicts of interest, Broder more than most.
Atop the media food chain, maybe all, and it shows. On April 27,
2007 in Media Matters, writer Jamison Foser detailed an array of harsh
truths, questioning Broder's "best of the best" selection, more hyperbole
than fact. For example: -- he calls anti-war Democrats
"elitist;" -- on October 7, 1969 he "lament(ed) that the nasty
anti-war activists were out to 'break' an unfairly maligned president
named Nixon;" -- in 2005, he "touted President Bush's response to
Hurricane Katrina;" -- in 2006, he "praised Dick Cheney and Donald
Rumsfeld as 'stalwarts of economic and national security policy;' "
-- the same year he wanted journalists "to apologize to Karl Rove" for
outing Valerie Plame; and -- besides other hard-right extremists,
he supports Joe Lieberman and John McCain. During Lieberman's 2006
reelection campaign, he wrote (WP, July 30): "Lieberman's three decades of
constituency service - the jobs he's saved, the grants and contracts he's
helped secure - entitle him to another term." During the 2008
presidential campaign, he said (WP, April 24): "in an age of deep cynicism
about politicians of both parties, McCain is the rare exception who is not
assumed to be willing to sacrifice personal credibility to prevail in any
contest." Rove is an old friend, Broder saying on May 18, 2003:
"I like Karl Rove....we had many long and rewarding conversations. I
have eaten quail at his table and admired the splendid Hill Country
landscape from the porch of his historic cabin (he) and his wife Darby
found miles away and had carted to its present site on their land."
On April 26, 2009, Broder headlined, "Stop Scapegoating, Obama Should
Stand Against Prosecutions," saying: "....there should be no
prosecution of those who carried out what had been the policy of the
United States government," including amnesty for "lawyers and bureaucrats
who devised and justified the Bush administration practices." No matter
that grievous war crimes were, and continue to be, committed, including
genocide, torture, and the destruction of two countries, among others.
Embodying Beltway values, Broder advocates immunity, saying prosecutions
"cloak an unworthy desire for vengeance." Clearly, justice and the rule of
law aren't issues that concern him. On September 18, 2006, Glenn
Greenwald called him a "Poster Child for the sickness of American
journalism." Aging more hasn't mellowed him. In January 1997,
Edward Herman's "The Illiberal Media" article called his views:
"pure establishment; he evades tough issues, joins almost every
establishment crusade (NAFTA, Persian Gulf war, Soviet Threat and military
buildup, welfare and entitlements out of control), and devotes maximum
attention to election horse-racing. He also never fights for principles
against strong establishment opposition - thus, while disliking Reagan's
Central American wars, he simply abandoned the subject, giving the floor
to (right-wing extremists like George) Will, (Charles) Krauthammer, and
the administration. So Broder never bothers anyone important, adapts
beautifully to class and imperial warfare, and is the ideal liberal for an
era of counterrevolution." On October 15, 2010, Harper's
Washington editor Ken Silverstein called him "the ultimate expression of
someone who cannot see beyond the absolutely narrow confines of
established wisdom in Washington." It's apparent in his February
11, 2010 WP article headlined, "Sarah Palin displays her pitch perfect
populism," saying: "Take Sarah Palin seriously. (Her Nashville)
keynote address to the National Tea Party Convention (and) her debut on
the Sunday morning talk show circuit with Fox News' Chris Wallace showed
off a public figure at the top of her game - a politician who knows who
she is and how to sell herself, even with notes on her palm. This was not
the first time (she) impressed me," referring to her vice presidential
acceptance speech in 2008, calling her "populist" advocacy for
"conservative principles and common-sense solutions....perfectly
conventional." "The lady is good," he concluded, his column more
delusional than serious about an extremist moron. During the 2008
presidential campaign, AP said "She has more experience catching fish than
dealing with foreign policy or national affairs." She's no better informed
today or has the intellect to grasp big issues. Moreover, in 2008,
she was only notable for being chosen despite no qualifications for the
job, let alone for president. Let alone for governor or any other public
office. She's extremist, incompetent, and a testimony to corrupted
politics, neither party with a lock on who's worst, both infested with
warmongering anti-populists. Broder Advocates War with Iran
On October 31, he headlined, "The war recovery" saying:
"....Democrats have fallen into a peck of trouble and may lose control of
Congress, but even they do, Obama can still storm back to win a second
term in 2010." However, economic conditions will test him, the
nation "suffering from high and persistent unemployment, lagging
investment, massive public and private debt, and a highly inefficient tax
system." So far new growth hasn't been spurred, and if Obama can't do it,
"he is unlikely to be reelected." With that dilemma, Broder
suggests an "obvious" solution, "but its implications are frightening."
With America already waging three wars, against Iraq, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan's North and South Waziristan regions, he says "War and peace
influence the economy," crediting WW II for ending the Great Depression,
then adding: "Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With
strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to
become a nuclear power (suggesting weapons with no proof), he can spend
much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will
help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on.
And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy
will improve." Saying he's not "suggesting (Obama) incite a war to
get reelected, he adds that the nation will rally around (him) because
Iran is the greatest threat to the world in a young century." Again, no
proof or the fact that, unlike America, Iran threatens no one and hasn't
attacked another country in over 200 years. Broder's hyperbole, however,
is that if Obama "contain(s) Iran's (legal) nuclear ambitions, he will
have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most
successful presidents in history." A truly astonishment assertion
and utter disconnect with reality. The man is senile. The US/Israeli/UK
alliance (the real axis of evil) alone threaten world stability, peace,
and perhaps survival, what the "dean" of establishment journalists won't
suggest, not even hint. At age 81, he's still atop the Beltway
media food chain, appearing twice weekly in the WP, regularly as a TV
pundit, moonlighting for huge speaking fees (calling it corrupting in
1995), paid for supporting power, not popular interests, common sense, or
right over wrong. On April 23, 2007, Harper's Magazine writer
Scott Horton was right in his article titled, "Broader Bumbles Again,"
saying: "....the most offensive part of (Broder's) bumbling is its
brainlessness." He doesn't even "get his basic facts straight....Clearly
(he's) earned retirement. It's time (he stopped) doing more damage to the
public debate over important issues (he's) no longer intellectually
capable of tracking," not that he ever was truthfully or admirably,
qualities the dominant media reject. Stephen Lendman
lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US
Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived
for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
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