Letters to the Editor
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GG-pls correct...
..."Thus, even with the above-excerpted praise of the President, it is sometimes diluted slightly be qualifiers," be="by"
and I don't think re-inforced (next pp.) needs the hyphen, does it?
bamage the nitpicker
I was in the "Green room" for your "debate" w/ Gaffney. Never made it on air. His fabricated quote was still @ the top of his column as you were debating...
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re: the nitpicker
Bamage:
was in the "Green room" for your "debate" w/ Gaffney. Never made it on air. His fabricated quote was still @ the top of his column as you were debating...
Glenn’s original link to Gaffney’s column now goes to an entirely different column, not the one in question at all. And the Lincoln “quote” is gone from that same column on Frontpage.com. It has been re-written:
President Abraham Lincoln took a dim view of those who, during wartime, acted in ways that damaged the morale of the American people and undermined the military. During his administration, some were arrested, others were deported.
Musical links. No correction, but rewritten without explanation.
But then, we didn’t expect honesty did we?
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=26939
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Confluence
Broder's superficial commentary, and avoidance of any commital position on our most important substantive issues, is precisely the lubricant that allows hard-liners to convert radicalism into normalism. Every time a so-called pundit wrings his or her hands over an important issue, disavowing it as too complicated to resolve, that pundit essentially invites the people to throw up their hands and fall back asleep, comforted by the fact that nothing their government is doing is actually outrageous or dangerous, but simply staking out an honest position in a vastly difficult and intricate world.
These shoe-gazing pundits, therefore, set the rhetorical stage perfectly for the svengalis of the radical movement to disguise the government's extremism as sensible and measured, even necessary, in light of all the weighty problems surrounding the country. In fact, we might even thank the government for being so clear-eyed and resolved, unflinchingly tackling questions and issues that are simply too difficult for the rest of us.
Really shows the truth in the saying that "If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem."
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The Dean of East Egg
I know Broder only from Sunday morning talk shows, but it seems to me that he is the "dean" by virtue of his being, like George Will and Cokie Roberts, among the last of an old-line establishment press corps for whom the Bushes of Kennebunkport, regardless how badly they screw up, are still "people like us." Bill Clinton, on the other hand, wasn't entitled to be president no matter how many times he was elected by the lower classes. Fitzgerald warned us about these people and their reckless values. Like Gatsby and the poor woman run over with his car, the half-million dead on the other side of the world, in the end, simply have nothing to do with the Broders or the Bushes or their class mates.
For better or worse, the Dean's old clique already has been elbowed aside by a rougher crowd of O'Reillys and O'Donnells, Hannitys and Limbaughs, Matthewses and Russerts. For very different reasons, this crowd savored the impeachment of a popular pro-choice president and lustily cheered the neo-con crusade against the Muslim infidels. (Oral sex, we now know, is an impeachable offense; but is it a mortal or merely a venal sin?)
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Why do people call Broder a centrist?
To answer you directly, birdfish, "sycophantic, goddam fool" sounds--on its surface--a little too harsh a judgment to be laid on the Dean.
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Broder's Investments
BRODER: The notion that I am invested in him is bizarre--unless it is meant to suggest that anyone who would rather see his country and his president succeed than fail is "invested" in him.
Well, if that is the case, based on his columns during the Clinton years, it is clear that, at that time, Broder wanted to see his country and his president fail. Perhaps he believe his current patriotism forgives his previous treason.
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In His Own Words
Ouch!
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Maybe Broder will take the bait...
TMKF - Thanks for posting Broder's e-mail address. I sent the following:
Mr. Broder,
You are being mercilessly attacked. Please defend yourself, at least in your column. It would be better, I think, if you would take Mr. Greenwald to task personally in a live debate.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/02/17/broder/index.html
Best of luck to you.
Rick
There is a slight risk posting this here: If he reads the comments, he will see this and know I don't actually give a damn about him being attacked or that I wish him (good) luck. But I think his ego won't permit that to happen.
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Perhaps Not....
RicK:
I wouldn't count on it. Just as Mr. Broder has people to do his makeup, walk his dog, and sharpen his pencils, he undoubtedly has people to do his reading for him, and to characterize it as well.
II can't imagine that he'd deign to engage Glenn directly in any case. What was that old saying, The Lowells speak only to the Cabots, and the Cabots speak only to God....
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What's wrong with T. Friedman?
Glenn, you made one reference to having disliked a full reading of Friedman's columns, kind of out of the blue, and then didn't elaborate. Or if you did, I missed it. Certainly, there is much to take issue with where TF is concerned, but can you tell us why you would find him as objectionable as Bootlicking Broder -- or point me to the place where you have already done so?
Personally I think TF is trying to get it right, where Broder is on auto-pilot, having checked his brains at the door long ago.
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What's wrong with T. Friedman? Well....
If I had a Friedman Unit or two at my disposal, I'd be happy to have a bash at telling you what's wrong with him, but Glenn has already done it better -- maybe someone will provide a link to the posts in question.
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WT
I'm sure you're correct. But, if there's any chance of getting through to him, I figure an appeal to his ego would be more effective than simply calling him the ass that he is.