David Broder's Scream - Bush didn't get rolled. He rolled with the punches.

Opinion Journal from the Wall Street Journal ^ | November 3, 2005 | Peggy Noonan

[new yorker 77]

"The conservative screamers who shot down [Harriet] Miers can argue that they were fighting only for a 'qualified' nominee. . . . But whatever the rationale, the fact is that they short-circuited the confirmation process by raising hell with Bush. . . . A cabal of outsiders--a lynching squad of right-wing journalists, self-sanctified religious and moral organizations, and other frustrated power-brokers--[rolled] over the president they all ostensibly support."

--David Broder, Washington Post, Nov. 2

Nothing like the calming tones of The Dean to bring context and a needed sense of perspective to the proceedings. In his comments on Sunday's "Meet the Press" and in his post-Miers Meaning of It All column yesterday, Mr. Broder was like someone who sat down at a table hungry, got served only Democratic talking points, swallowed them whole and quick, and is now burping them out in all directions. I write of it because he is important, and because I think his imagery is a bit--maybe the polite word is "heightened"--not because he misunderstands the Miers drama, though he does, but perhaps for other reasons.

Briefly: Mr. Broder says Bush got "rolled" by his own supporters in the Miers fiasco. But he did not. He got defeated by them. He made a bad choice, and they resisted. The White House fought back; conservative thinkers fought back even harder; Republican senators did not back the White House; the White House retreated, rethought and renominated.

This is not a scandal; it's a story--and a surprising one in ways Mr. Broder doesn't understand. The story is that the president didn't dig in. He was, for once, supple. He rolled with the punches. That's the "rolling" that occurred. And it's not a disaster, it's promising.

.....

[new yorker 77]

Mr. Broder seems to suggest the conservative beast is sated and they've settled down because they've proved Mr. Bush can be easily defeated. Actually conservatives have quieted down in spite of the myriad issues on which they disagree with the president--spending, the growth of the federal government, immigration--for reasons having to do with a certain maturity and seriousness. They are pre-eminently aware that there are three years to go in this presidency, and it does no one any good, at such a time as this, to have America led that long by a weak and wounded president.

HERE'S BRODER GETTING A FAKE DIPLOMA FROM A LIB SCHOOL:

[SquirrelKing]

[Christian4Bush]

bttt

[Piquaboy]

Right Wing Journalist? Who the heck are they? I can only think of maybe three.

[auboy]

A legend in his own mind.

[Semper Paratus]

The Old Guard of the MSM don't know yet that their time is past.

[BadAndy]

What the heck kind of homo mortarboard is he wearing?

[ClearCase_guy]

Journalists come in the following varieties:

Extreme far rightwing
Far rightwing
rightwing
unbiased

Most journalists are *cough* unbiased.

[johnny7]

Broder 'understanding' conservatives is like Kanye West 'understanding' quantum physics.

[Cautor]

I've always considered Broder just another left wing wacko. Never read his drivel and never will. The notion he's some kind of sensible guy is pure hooey.

[Piquaboy]

Pris Mouthspews, is he one of those unbiased ones?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Dinosaurs.

[SpinyNorman]

"Mr. Broder was like someone who sat down at a table hungry, got served only Democratic talking points, swallowed them whole and quick, and is now burping them out in all directions."

Minor correction: Dem talking points are actually FARTED in all directions.

[SoFloFreeper]

David Broder misunderstands the conservative movement, as do most of the MSM. We are happy to fight tooth and nail for the cause, not just for a personality.

The liberals and Democrats would fight to the death for Bill Clinton--defend his every illegal action and NEVER EVER criticize him. Ever. And now look where they are.

[Cicero]

The ComPost and the Slimes used to have extremely left wing but reasonably intelligent writers, if you allow them a reasonable ration of brain dead ones like Anthony Lewis.

Now it seems as if the majority of them are brain dead.

Lewis had only one column, which he produced weekly for the editorial page for many decades. He would fill in the blanks with different names to suit the occasion, but it was always the same column.

Now that's pretty much true for all of them. I agree. There's no point going to the ComPost to read the rest of this article, because it's so drearily predictable.

[Verginius Rufus]

I wonder if David Broder now calls himself "Doctor," like Ted Baxter started doing after he received an honorary doctorate in an episode of the Lou Grant sitcom.

I used to see Broder's column in the paper and could never manage to read through one of them because they were always so deadly dull. It was only in the last year or two that I realized what a rabid partisan he is.

[chiller]

HEAR ! HEAR ! The conservative cause is bigger and more important than any one persson, even if that one person is President.

[Virginia Queen]

Ditto!

[MJemison]

What the heck kind of homo mortarboard is he wearing?

Maybe it's french.

[Lancey Howard]

"I write of it because he is important"

That's a tremendous misread of present-day reality on Peggy's part. Broder is just another dinosaur, floundering around in a tar pit with the rest of the dying, socialist "mainstream" newsrooms. Broder may have been "important" a decade ago, but not today. No way.