David Broder Can't Handle The Truth

When David Broder, the Washington Post's nationally syndicated columnist, attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this Monday on Bob Edwards' XM radio show it was the latest example of just how far out of touch with reality and the nation at large the Washington press corps has become.

Mr. Broder, who has been referred to as the dean of the Washington press corps, called Mr. Reid an embarrassment to the Democrats and further alleged that the Senator had a pattern of being forced to apologize for his remarks.

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. (audio)

Mr. Broder and Mr. Edwards are both guilty of discussing Mr. Reid's comments less than fully. Media Matters has covered the reporting on Mr. Reid's statement and most news organizations reported only that he said "the war is lost" and failed to mention that he later said "the war, at this stage, can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically." According to Media Matters only Agence France-Presse and Reuters services managed to include all of Mr. Reid's comments in their stories.

Once again right wing pundits and the Washington media elite began to hound a Democrat and have insisted that Mr. Reid is wrong on this issue and a danger to the Democratic party; much as these groups warned that the American public didn't want hearings about the US Attorney scandal and that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would suffer for her trip to Syria. Polling has shown that it is not the Democrats who are out of touch but the beltway elites on both sides of the isle who continue to get it wrong when they report on Washington.

As Think Progress has repeatedly pointed out Mr. Reid is hardly alone in having said that the war has no military solution. Many military and defense leaders as well as much of the American Public have joined him in reaching this conclusion, including retired General William Odom, head of Army intelligence and director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Joined as Mr. Reid is by this illustrious company, without a single Democrat to be found complaining about his statements, and an approval rating of 46% (more than 10 points higher than President Bush who Mr. Broder has yet to label an embarrassment); Mr. Broder would seem to be awfully far off the mark.

Mr. Broder further suggests that Mr. Reid fails to think before he opens his mouth and as such has had to repeated apologize for his remarks on a nearly monthly basis. In reality Mr. Reid has not apologized for any comments he has made in the four months since he officially became Majority Leader. Once again the question must be asked is it really to much to expect that journalists check their facts, especially before baselessly smearing an elected official?

The reality of the situation is that Mr. Reid's statements have not been detrimental to himself or the Democratic party, they have largely been embraced. The 'bumbling' and 'embarrassment' are only to be seen in the eyes of the war supporters and their apologists, the Washington press corps. After having tragically failed to behave as journalists in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq Washington based reporters continue to hide behind attacks on the war's detractors in an effort to ignore their culpability in the disaster that our nation now finds itself. In doing so the main stream media continues to move further and farther out of touch with the American public in general as well as with a fact based reality.