WaPo: Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

[no_hypocrisy]

-snip-

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.

-more-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html


The Post is calling on the media to do its job to call out the republicans.

[madokie]

1. The republicon party of today is anti democratic

They want it to be overlords and serfs

[G_j]

2. K&R

[G_j]

3. I'm impressed with their call-out of the press.

<snip>
We understand the values of mainstream journalists, including the effort to report both sides of a story. But a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality. If the political dynamics of Washington are unlikely to change anytime soon, at least we should change the way that reality is portrayed to the public.

Our advice to the press: Don’t seek professional safety through the even-handed, unfiltered presentation of opposing views. Which politician is telling the truth? Who is taking hostages, at what risks and to what ends?

Also, stop lending legitimacy to Senate filibusters by treating a 60-vote hurdle as routine. The framers certainly didn’t intend it to be. Report individual senators’ abusive use of holds and identify every time the minority party uses a filibuster to kill a bill or nomination with majority support.
<snip>


incidentally there is a poll one can take on the page:

Who do you blame for increased gridlock in Washington?
Republicans - 74%
Democrats - 15%
Both parties - 11%

[mmonk]

5. That poll shows the media failure in positing the both sides argument.

[G_j]

9. and those results are DESPITE the media framing nt

[mmonk]

18. And what I find pretty remarkable about this article is that it was cowritten

by a fellow of the American Enterprise Institutue.

[G_j]

21. yes, they obviously are not pushing an "agenda" with this piece.

it comes across as objective, offering reality based observations.

[G_j]

4. kick,

[Wind Dancer]

6. K & R!

[gulliver]

7. Republicans want to run things because they want to run things.

You can tell true assholes by the way they behave when their ideas fail. Republican ideas and policies plainly created the worst economic catastrophe in generations. Yet Republicans don't show any sign of thinking about where they might have gone wrong. In fact, they are angry and blaming others. They have no data. They have no science. They have no integrity. All that is meaningless to them. They just want to run things, and they don't care if they don't deserve it and are incompetent to handle it.

[MrScorpio]

11. Exactly

It's my dream to drop all the Republicans who insist on doing this on some remote island and let them figure that out for themselves.

[Jamaal510]

8. Our "liberal media" needs to quit acting as if both sides and extremes are equally bad,

and start calling the liars as they are. Both sides are NOT equally bad; one side is more intent on helping the working class and the oppressed, while the other just wants to help the 1% of our population and fear-monger.

[G_j]

12. "..a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality."

I thought that a good description.

[Dawson Leery]

13. The Democrats have compromised too much, the GOP has not at all.

[HughBeaumont]

17. To anyone who pulls the "both sides are bad and dangerous" crap, ask them this:

1. How many dedicated major media cable channels does the far left have (the far right arguably has 2).

2. How much representation does the far left have in the legislative and judicial branches?

3. How overwhelming is police presence at a far right wing protest march/gathering, with racist/threatening signs a plenty and a few of them armed to the teeth?

[WillyT]

10. K & R !!!

[gtar100]

14. We need more of this. Good to hear it from within a somewhat more mainstream source.

Now, to move it to the front page:

Republicans Filibuster Yet Again!![\b]

[RobertEarl]

15. Obama has wooed them good

This is a sign of the correctness of Obama's approach. Had he been much more confrontational such articles as this would have never been written: It would have been the same old 'both sides are to blame'.

We simply must change congress placing in it a majority of critters who will work for the country. Failing that, we will see articles such as this forever.

[deacon]

16. k/r

[opihimoimoi]

19. KnR # 31

[PotatoChip]

20. Excellent opinion piece.

The rest of the article is well worth the read. It rightfully calls out the MSM for it's failure to hold the Republican party accountable in a misguided effort to appear 'fair and balanced'. False equivalency abounds among a huge majority of our media coverage, and it really needs to stop.

It's good to see WaPo bringing up this very valid point. My only complaint is that we need to see more opinion pieces like this one.

[gratuitous]

22. Remarkably ironic

Considering it has been Fred Hiatt and his stable of enablers who have contributed so much to the dysfunction of politics in pursuit of David Broder's mythical chimera of bipartisanship.

Is this editorial a mere outlier of its own, or does it signal a new willingness to make assessments of political claims based on facts and reality instead of some slavish devotion to idiot objectivity?

[G_j]

23. k