Sunday October 7, 2007 08:02 EST
The remaining GOP base -- the 30%'ers and the Broder/Ignatius pundit
(updated below - Update II)
David Broder and David Ignatius both have excellent columns in this morning's Washington Post -- excellent because of how vividly they illustrate the shallowness and dishonesty for our opinion-making elite. Impressively, even though the two columns are ostensibly about completely different topics -- Broder writes about how terrible and self-destructive Congressional Democrats are being because they are too uncooperative and partisan (seriously) while Ignatius writes about the heroic efforts the Bush administration is undertaking to avoid war with Iran (seriously) -- they are actually identical both in their tactics and their "substance."
Both columns do nothing, literally, beyond mindlessly repeating what Bush loyalists have told them -- in Broder's case, the whole column simply recites what was told to him by RCCC Chair Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, and in Igantius's case, he does nothing but uncritically repeat what unnamed "senior administration officials" whispered into his grateful, flattered ear. There is not a critical thought expressed about any of it. Like the obedient puppets that they are, they simply adopt what they are told as their own opinions and then write it all down.
And therein lies the most important point: while the vast bulk of the country has reached the conclusion that the Bush-following Republicans are inept, dishonest and untrustworthy, the Beltway elite -- joined only by the 30% Bush-following dead-enders -- continues to view them as the truly Serious and Trustworthy adults, the ones whose knowledge deserves the highest respect and whose honesty, insight and good intentions merit blind faith. The Beltway conventional wisdom script continues to be written by the same Bush insiders who have been pulling their strings for the last six years.
* * * *
Ignatius' column has to be read to be believed. He announces in the first paragraph that he is here to rebut the claims from "the liberal blogosphere, and even the stately New Yorker magazine . . . . that the Bush administration is itching to drop a bomb on Iran." That is not true, argues Ignatius. How does he know that?
One reason and one reason only -- the only one Ignatius ever needs: "talking with senior administration officials this week, I hear a different line." Here is the real truth, says Ignatius:
They worry about Iranian actions, and they are disappointed that diplomatic overtures to Iran so far have resulted in little progress. They believe that Washington and Tehran remain on a collision course over Iran's nuclear program and its destabilizing activities in Iraq. But senior officials say they are seeking to avoid military conflict.
That is so very responsible and honorable of these anonymous Bush officials. They are, say they and therefore Ignatius, stalwart protectors of America, deeply concerned that they may have to reluctantly wage a war against Iran for America's security, but are desperately doing everything in their power to avert that tragic outcome -- just like these reluctant warriors did prior to oh-so-reluctantly starting the Iraq War. Ignatius mindlessly believed them then and, four years later, he mindlessly believes them now.
more...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
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