Quote of the Day

"Instead of reinforcing the important proposition -- defined by the Iraq Study Group-- that a military strategy for Iraq is necessary but not sufficient to solve the myriad political problems of that country, Reid has mistakenly argued that the military effort is lost but a diplomatic-political strategy can still succeed."

David Broder

Two points.

1. If Broder actually thinks the Bush administration is following the guidelines set forth by the Iraq Study Group then he is as delusional everyone inside the Beltway believes he is.

2. Reid didn't mistakenly argue anything. There is no military option for America in Iraq. There is a civil war between the Sunnis and Shi‘ites. There is no way militarily to make these people want to live in peace with each other. For Broder to argue that the military option is still viable is foolish.

Broder also compares Reid to Alberto Gonzales. Harry Reid's approval rating in the Harris Interactive survey is up from this time last year. Senate leaders usually have low approval ratings. Reid's 22 percent is still better than Dick Cheney's approval rating. Democrats in Congress are polling at 35 percent. Congressional Republicans are at 22 percent. Reid as Senate Majority leader deserves credit for helping Democrats poll better than the GOP.

For Broder to compare Reid to Gonzales is bizarre. Reid is in in solid standing with his party. Republicans are publicly asking Gonzales to resign. No one questions Reid keeping his job. Getting in a verbal sparing match with Dick Cheney does zero damage to Reid. In fact, it helps him with the Democratic base. Cheney's base of support is nearly nonexistent.

Glenn Greenwald give a perfect example of Broder's hypocrisy. The pundit felt that Bill Clinton should have resigned for lying about the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Washington, D.C.: Mr Broder, if you feel Karl Rove is owed an apology from the pundits and writers over Valerie Plame, did you also call for an apology to the Clintons after Ken Starr, the Whitewater investigation and the failed attempt to impeach President Clinton? If not, why not?

David S. Broder: As best, I can recall,I did not call for such an apology. My view, for whatever it is worth long after the dust has settled on Monica, was that when President Clinton admitted he had lied to his Cabinet and his closest assoc, to say nothing of the public, that the honorable thing was for him to have resigned and turned over the office to Vice President Gore. I think history would have been very different had he done that.

In the same online chat, Broder is asked if Bush and Cheney should resign for lying about bogus links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Broder's answer is truly amazing.

David S. Broder: I think if you want to disqualify as lying everyone in government who believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, you would empty not only the White House but most of Capitol Hill. I think the way to do that is through election, not mass resignation. Resignations seem appropriate to me when individual responsibility is clear and unique.

Apparently, Broder doesn't read the stories in his own paper about the White House using false intelligence and overstating the threat to sell the Iraq invasion to the public. Broder was one of the columnists cheering the war on. The great thing about being an op-ed writer is they never have to worried about getting fired. Bill Kristol got hire to Time and I be hard-pressed to think of when he was ever right about Iraq.