David Broder & The Newly-Minted "Bush The Victim" Narrative

[Presstitutes]

http://www.presstitutes.com/presstitutes/2005/10/david_broder_re.html

We've been following with interest an evolving narrative being used by Pre$$titutes to frame Bush's collapsing presidency.

We first noticed it when CNN's Candy Crowley reported that Bush seemed deflated during his October 4th press conference. Her explanation? That Katrina, Plame, DeLay, Iraq, etc. had been "coming at him in a fierce way." As we observed, presumably he didn't create the mess he's in, it's just stuff coming at him.

Later that day, we noticed the same framing from Mike Allen of the Washington Post who said of Bush that "events have conspired against him."

Now we are treated to an editorial by opinion-elder David Broder entitled Bush's Fraying Presidency. Once again, the disaster that is the Bush presidency is defined within an implicit - and explicit - pro-Bush frame. Broder writes, ", a presidential scholar, defined Bush as "an orthodox innovator," meaning someone who inherits a governing doctrine from others -- in his case, Ronald Reagan -- but applies it in different circumstances and with different techniques.... Skowronek said that historically what leads to ultimate failure for orthodox innovator presidents is "sectarian infighting."

Wow. Impressive terms to skirt the fact that Bush is a callous, misguided, inept man, in way over his head, shredding America's hard-earned credibility and moral standing.

Broder's editorial makes glancing mention of "the administration's faltering response to Hurricane Katrina." But aside from that unavoidable nod to Bush's culpability, the entire piece implies that Bush is a noble victim, dragged down by circumstances outside his direct control, a political "innovator" whose political vision is being stifled by "infighting."

This new Bush the Victim narrative peddled by Pre$$titutes is audacious in its willingness to separate Bush from the catastrophic consequences of his personal failings, especially when so many journalists were eager to attribute p.r. fabrications such as "Bush the resolute, compassionate leader" directly to Bush. In other words, we're expected to believe that post-9/11, Bush was some sort of heroic leader, steering the ship of state with a steady hand, a protector who would keep Americans safe and hunt down terrorists. But now, all the woes that have befallen America are due to circumstances largely outside of his control.

Like all good Bush-licking Pre$$titutes, Broder is playing us for fools.

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UPDATE: Broder embellishes his Bush the Victim narrative on Meet the Press, attributing the problems we're facing not to the reckless decision-making of the past five years, but to an innocuous "second-term unraveling." Like a good Pre$$titute, Broder is pathologically incapable of pinning today's problems directly on Bush.

"Second-term curse?" Yeh, that's the ticket.

[patricia92243]

1. A couple of weeks ago my Republican sister said "you can sure say one

thing, a lot of bad things have happened to Bush during his Presidency." I thought it was just her talking. Now seems like this is the new Republican mantra. Never listen to Rush and co. I assume they are all saying the same thing.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Yes, and the Iraq War is the biggest one that they did to them/ourselves.

[Cocoa]

2. I guess Broder was wrong about Katrina being an "opportunity" for Bush

remember this?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301005.html

By David S. Broder
Sunday, September 4, 2005; Page B07

It took almost no time for President Bush to put his stamp on the national response to the tragedy that has befallen New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, a reminder that modern communications have reshaped the constitutional division of powers in our government in ways that the Founding Fathers never could have imagined.

Because the commander in chief is also the communicator in chief, when a crisis emerges the nation's eyes turn to him as to no other official. We cannot yet calculate the political fallout from Hurricane Katrina and its devastating human and economic consequences, but one thing seems certain: It makes the previous signs of political weakness for Bush, measured in record-low job approval ratings, instantly irrelevant and opens new opportunities for him to regain his standing with the public.We have seen this before. Bill Clinton was foundering in his third year in office when the destruction of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City shocked the nation and set the stage for his flawless performance of the symbolic rites of healing and comfort for the victims.

And of course we saw how Bush's response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon revived a presidency that looked to have lost its direction and purpose after eight months in office in 2001.

The challenges posed by this natural disaster are in some ways even more difficult than those of the terrorist attack, with anger and frustration now being expressed about the response of governments at all levels. But for a president who believes that actions speak louder than words, this is an advantageous setting.

more...

[Presstitutes]

5. Thanks for that reminder...

of Broder's continued Pre$$titution

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Here is my meme: Incompetent Arrogant Fools.

Fuck Broder and the rest of the media whores. That brief moment when the press-grunts on the ground in New Orleans got out of control and actually reported the reality of the situation betrayed how corrupt the media whores are.

Read AlGore on the problem we face. I don't know exactly how we are going to do it, which methods are going to work: freeway blogging, the internet alternate media, aar, current tv, word-o-mouth, new forms of public theater that tv can't ignore; but until we destroy the false reality they have constructed, until the public is aware that they are listening to a dozen baghdad bobs, until our ability to recognize, counter, and reverse their insidious memes makes their efforts laughable, until then nothing much is going to change.

[samdogmom]

6. Jeez! His whole life has been a series of failures. How can these

pundits (dimwits) be so blind? Everything he has touched in his life has become a miserable failure. At a certain point you've got to notice that the one thing every bad outcome has in common is that Dubya is/was at the helm.

EDIT: Are they really trying to say misfortune follows Dubya around like Pigpen's dust cloud?