Cheney has broken poor David Broder's heart

[CatWoman]

cry me a river, you Bush-enabling dumb fuck

Years ago Lamar Alexander, the senator from Tennessee, told me of a lesson he had learned as a young man on the White House staff: It is always useful for the president to have at least one aide who has had a successful career already, who does not need the job, and who therefore can offer candid advice. When he was governor of Tennessee, Alexander made sure he had such a person on his staff.

Later, when presidential candidate George W. Bush chose Dick Cheney as his running mate, I applauded the choice, thinking that Cheney would fill the role Alexander had outlined. Boy, was I wrong.

What they discovered, in a year of work that reveals more about the inner workings of this White House than any previous reporting, is a vice president who used the broad authority given him by a complaisant chief executive to bend the decision-making process to his own ends and purposes, often overriding Cabinet officers and other executive branch officials along the way.

Where I thought, mistakenly, that it would be a great advantage to Bush to have a White House partner without political succession in mind, it has turned out to be altogether too liberating an environment for a political entrepreneur of surpassing skill operating under an exceptional cloak of secrecy.

Thanks to Gellman and Becker, some of that secrecy has been removed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062702234.html

[bigtree]

1. Broder wants to get on record cleaning up his earlier Bush licking

before he completely fades.

He's an ignorant liar.

[Supersedeas]

32. It won't come clean Broder -- it is a permanent indelible stain

[BurtWorm]

2. If only Broder would break Cheney's heart.

:hide:

[Hand]

3. The obligatory response: What heart? nt

[HereSince1628]

4. Well, that's what you get with an Un-president and Viceful President

And I predict that 500,000 to 1,000,000 American lives will pass before the nation even considers turning to a new course.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Dick and Bush are hot taters now!

Cornered rats are the meanest kind though.

[SoCalDem]

6. "...presidential candidate George W. Bush chose Dick Cheney ..."

Hah!

Poppy chose Dick to choose..and Dick chose.....


Dick :)

*² had NOTHING to do with choosing ANYBODY in his staff..(except maybe Condi & Harriet)

[Captain Hilts]

7. They don't relegate senile conservatives to the Style section like they did McGrory. nt

[blm]

8. TOO LATE BRODER - you helped push Bush-Cheney down America's throat

since BEFORE they took office and ramped it up after 9-11.

You are loathsome, Broder.

[triguy46]

18. That should be his new nickname: "Too Late" Broder.

[yardwork]

9. What a smarmy, self-serving, asinine column - typical of Broder.

[blogslut]

10. David Broder needs to retire

[redqueen]

11. i'm so sick of this 'i didn't know!' crap...

hearing it from all corners... powell.. these whores...

i call bullshit!

how many of us hadn't caught on within a few months who was really running the show?

fuckin liars... GRR!

[Uncle Joe]

12. Doesn't the Washington Post have spell check for Broder? n/t

[IChing]

13. He is lucky that Cheney didn't rip his heart out of Chest

[Gabi Hayes]

14. no fool like an old fool.....from the Post comments section:

Palcewski wrote:
Your portrait of Dick Cheney is accurate but incomplete, and about three or four years late. It's almost amusing to see your blinding flash of insight on the road to Damascus. But there is no humor in it at all, given your long, long record of being an inside-the-beltway apologist for virtually everything Dick and George and Karl did. You simply looked the other way or whitewashed all the disasters and failures of this administration.

Even now your sterile, dry, arrogant and pompous screeds overlook the the obscene slaughter and maiming of our sons and daughters in Iraq. You and the wealthy, plump TV talking heads enabled this obscenity from the start, and you continue. The sight of your pontificating with Timmy on Meet The Press last Sunday was nauseating. There you were, smugly embedded with all those well-fed and comfortable and self-important insiders. Washington's elite. You all are not merely a bad joke, or a parody, but morally bankrupt.

[Gabi Hayes]

15. I'm going to do this for awhile....it feels so GOOD

SGlover910 wrote:
Broder, you senile twit -- Cheney CHOSE HIMSELF! It was only seven years ago. Can't you remember that far back?!?!? Take the retirement package, quit embarrassing yourself, stop wasting trees on your vacuous wheezes.

[Gabi Hayes]

16. duh

[e-mail] wrote:
Gellman and Becker missed the part where the VP's office used willing stooges in the press to spread misinformation. I think you could have given them some inside info on that process.

[Vinnie From Indy]

17. LOL! I am going to go over and post a response!

That does seem like a bit o' fun to go with my freshly poured Margerita!

[Gabi Hayes]

19. try some of this with your tequila

hamletmachin wrote:
Dear David Broder,
I see you are beginning to master you crack addiction. "Boy, was I wrong" about Cheney is a good start. But you really need to go cold turkey. I see you are still very high when you write "he used secrecy -- to outflank and outwit others and thereby shape the Bush administration's agenda. It was not illegal, and it was not unconstitutional." What he did secretly--lie about Iraq and take us to war under false pretenses, manage the outing of an undercover CIA agent, hammer out an illegal eavesdropping plan--was clearly both illegal and unconstitutional. That's why his office is now stonewalling Congress! But I congratulate you for a least lowering the amount of crack you smoke. I can see that we won't have to read a column by you entitled "Cheney is poised for a come back."

[Gabi Hayes]

20. speaking of crack.....don't ask me, I just copied it

bobodesires wrote:
THE COALESCE)))) CONFISCATED IN THE PRINCIPLE OF SOVEREIGNTY WHAT RESPECT OF PROVISION HAS BEEN PERFORM, THE IMMPOSITION INJUNCTION WAS SAID AS PRIVILEGED,. DENOTING REASONABLE CAUSES DISPARAGING FREEDOM FOR PRIVACY! SEARCH AN SEIZURES REDRESS CONCERNS FOR THE ESTABLISHNEBT OF INSURGENT'S ABRIDGINR YOUR MUNDANENESS.

[Gabi Hayes]

22. take the package

lambert_strether1 wrote:
“A White House partner without political succession in mind…”

Hmmm… Let me try to translate that. Yes, I think little chunk of Broderese could best be rendered as “A White House partner with no accountability in a democractic system,” right?

Because democracy is so messy, don’t you see. So full of conflict. And hippies. So much easier and more pleasant for all concerned to have someone trustworthy who stands above the fray…. Like Royalty… Except with real power… To get things done…

Broder can say “mistakenly” and “Boy, was I wrong” (love the faux naivite) all he wants, but he couldn’t have done more to enable Bush and Cheney if the both of them had left the money right on the dresser. And, tellingly, Broder doesn’t really say why he was wrong, or what he was wrong about.

See, it’s really just a personalities thing: Bush turned out to be of weak character, and Cheney too “entrepreneurial,” but there’s nothing wrong with the idea.

To Broder, Versailles on the Potomac—and, by extension, the country—still needs Royals; just not these Royals.

Take the package, Dave! Take the package!

[Arugula Latte]

21. Damn! That's Gooooood!

Palcewski, I :applause: you!

[Ilsa]

23. That is an excellent response. I wish Broder would read it. I wish this

person was on DU. Hell, maybe he/she is.

[Gabi Hayes]

24. lots of them like that, which is among the best of all. here's a fun one

falconflight wrote:
Ya'll never gave him or the President a chance about anything. It's been a real kick to watch so many people come unglued no matter the issue, even if you otherwise agree with the President's position, i.e. the billions of dollars earmarked for treating HIV in Africa, you still would write, scream how much you hate him for not giving enough in AIDS money, not allocating it fast enough, he's only doing it to divert attention or to create a legacy etc...maybe you might get the picture? I doubt it.

This irrational hatred of the President and the Vice President hurts all Americans and will, if it continues, lead to political instability in this country that we've only seen happening in other countries. Beware...for all of our sakes.

[Gabi Hayes]

26. sad, but true?

stephens4461 wrote:
That Cheney has influence with George Bush is not a surprise and hardly worth an article. Bush is, without a doubt, the most intellectually challenged president we have had. Cheney is no great shakes in intellectual terms, but the only people who could not outfox Bush and Cheney are the supine Democrats. That Joe Liberman was a VP candidate speaks volumes about the Democrats failures. To capitulate to Bush on war funding and immigration policies are other evidence of the Democrats failures to confront these monsters of Cheney-Bush. And there is no help in sight; Hilary Clinton is as much of a joke as the slow thinking Republican reactionaries. If I were a praying person, I would be doing so now, but since I am not, I am leaving the country.

[faithnotgreed]

25. i love the specific truth about the inside the beltway crowd

they live such an insular and false life that they clearly arent in touch with reality yet they are given full reign to spread their devastating lies

thank you for posting it gabi

[Gabi Hayes]

27. sure. nothing in any of these responses is new, btw. he just says it

quite well

the most illuminating comments are the ones by the delusionals who think that broder/russert etal have been TOUGH on this junta!

they'd be funny if they weren't so pathetic

[Gabi Hayes]

28. another excellent one

emainland wrote:
Down in flames goes David Broder. This is the last straw. "Not illegal, not unconstitutional"
he says.. That was the last of Broder's reputation gurgling down the drain. Cheney's slimy
unconstitutional illegalities, covered up all these years by Broder and his ilk, are not just those
of an aberrant power-mad rogue conniver. They constitute the central totalitarian project
that is at the core of today's GOP, the evil authoritarian spawn that now infects the Supreme
Court, the Federal bench, layers of the U.S. civil service, and Bush's horde of political appointees.


The core is the Federalist Society and the sinister "unitary executive" doctrine. Broder has
mindlessly refused to admit that the GOP has morphed from being an ordinary political party into an
extra-legal criminal enterprise that sets aside law and custom, settled precedent, checks and
balances, intent on shaping a one-party state quite unlike anything ever seen before in
American history. Tone-deaf Broder and the spineless Washington Post editorial board have
been among the most influential enablers. Give Bush a pass. Hear no evil, see no evil. But the
evil is there and it is growing daily. Just look at the Supreme Court's direction and weep for
America.

[Gabi Hayes]

29. step away from the turnip truck

NMremote wrote:
Hey, all you liberals back off! Look at what your administration has done for you - just a few buzz words: Student Loans, World Bank, Supreme Court, Stem Cell research, Iraq, Drug War, No One Left Behind, Election Fraud, Homophobia, Health Care, Drug Programs, Inflation, Military Spending, National Debt, Flag Waving, Family Values, Global Disrespect, Ridicule, Sorrow, Iran, Korea, Russia, Defensive Missiles, Hunting Accidents, Media Pool, Pacemaker Shootings, Scientific Creationism, Enron, Gas Prices, Record Energy Profits, Immigration, Fences, Privacy, Eschelon, Big Brother, Doublespeak, etc

[Gabi Hayes]

30. Mr. Broder, the reason you have your high paid job as an aribiter of

public opinion is your insider connections, your wisdom, your perspicacity, yes?

you've just admitted you've failed miserably at your job

My question to you is:

why do you still have it?

[Gabi Hayes]

31. camorra?

jmcauli1 wrote:
I have previously commented on some of Broder's work and on occasion in those posts wondered in writing, trying to be droll, whether someone hadn't dropped his Smith Carona on his head just before he typed his piece.

It is I who now must confess I feel like Broder dropped his typewriter on my head. No, actually, he dropped a bombshell, and I quote-

"And ultimately the president is responsible for what has become, in very large respect, the resulting wreckage of foreign policy, national security policy, budget policy, energy policy and environmental policy under Cheney's direction and on Cheney's watch."

Say what? You, sir, should be reminded that it also happened on YOUR WATCH. Worse yet, you not only watched but led the cheers, being a camp follower of the lowest order.

So, you finally are willing to admit that Bush and Cheney have wrecked just about everything they have touched, wrecked everything held sacred about America by America and the world, that they have wreaked havoc on America, but there is at least one piece of wreckage you left out of your truncated list: the American Constitution itself.

But you know better than most, in your heart of hearts, that YOU helped them, YOU aided and abetted them, YOU carried their water for them.

But they had help, not just yours. They had the help of every other Republican politico, for they all wanted the same things you blithely ascribe to just Bush and Cheney and seem to forget you touted yourself.

You filled foolscap after foolscap with drivel helping clear the way for them, and now think that one paragraph buried in a piece about the vice president's garroting of America which was aided and abetted by the Supreme Court, the president, the entire Republican Party, and fools like you and all is righted.

I once warned in a previous post to one of your past columns if you weren't careful some cruel wag might, rightly, describe you as nothing but the piss bucket carrier for the Republican Party. I'm afraid I must be that cruel wag.

You really are nothing but the piss bucket carrier for the carbuncled camorra known to the world as the Republican Party, whose moral fiber has the consistency of the foul, feculant matter sludging from a privy vault.

You and your fellow Republicans can no sooner separate yourselves from Bush and Cheney than you could separate yourselves from your own shadows: one could not exist without the other.

Tell me now, having been so consistently wrong about Cheney, and I would say wrong about Bush and the Republican Party, and just wrong in your own beliefs, who should ever read another thing you write.

[Hand]

33. Wikipedia sez:

The Camorra is a mafia-like criminal organization, or secret society, in the region of Campania and the city of Naples in Italy. No explanation of "carbuncled camorra" as distinct from other types, however. :rofl: