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Thursday, August 19, 2010

David Broder -- deep thoughts

Years ago on SNL, there used to be a feature called "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy". The screen would display a rolling text which would be read in rounded tones as if it were very important and very philosophical, but the content was actually ridiculous. Washngton Post columnist David Broder seems to be channeling Jack Handy these days. Today, Broder has a column called "Our Dysfunctional Politics" in which he takes both the Democrats and Republicans to task.

The Democrats are feckless vacillators since they are not backing the ground zero mosque, and according to Broder the opposition is "almost racist." While there is no question that Obama has flipped and flopped on this issue in the space of just 48 hours, not all the Democrats are vacillating. Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate those who oppose the mosque and Harry Reid is against it. I will enjoy watching Nancy investigate Harry. The opposition, however, is not racist, almost racist, or tainted in any way by racial or ethnic discrimination. No mainstream opponent wants to stop construction of the mosque; rather, they want to stop construction at that particular site. It is the juxtaposition of the mosque with the site where 3000 were killed in the name of Allah that is wholly inappropriate. David Broder obviously does not have a clue as to propriety.

Republicans get special condemnation from Broder. They are "a party that claims to deserve political rewards for almost unbroken and increasingly debilitating across-the-board opposition to common-sense measures in the national interest." And to what does Broder cite? They almost unanimously opposed the stimulus bill which was needed to save the economy. That is almost funny, but Broder is actually serious. Republicans were excluded from drafting that bill; it was done by Pelosi and Reic behind closed doors. When it was unveiled, it was called a stimulus, but it was not stimulative. Instead, it was a massive payoff to Democrat allies at the cost of a major increase in the national debt of the USA. Here we are 18 months later and it is clear that the so-called stimulus did not work. Next Broder cites to cap and trade and the failure to pass that. It is funny that he blames Republicans for this. The bill passed the House, but it got stuck in the Senate. For about half a year after the House passed the bill, the Dems had 60 votes in the Senate, but it is the Republicans who Broder blames. Perhaps he should look to his liberal allies and ask them why they did not pass that bill. He might also consider the reaction to learning that the basic data on which the predictions of global warming are based were phonied up by the East Anglia research team. Maybe he should be calling for a new and comprehensive and transparent bit of research that could determine past temperatures once and for all. Wouldn't it make more sense for us to actually know if the global warming theories are correct before we hamper the economy to solve a problem that may not even exist. Al Gore may tell us that the debate is over, but I doubt that there are too many Americans who want to give up their jobs, especially today, for an unproven theory.
In short, Broder writes nicely. The problem is that he is spewing nonsense and he does not even understand that.

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