Here's one of the reasons we have such a low opinion of the Beltway weenies, or The Villagers.
David Broder today, on whether there should be an investigation of the Bush years:
“I understand the reluctance to open a wide-ranging probe of past practices. It seems to me we are better off focusing on cleaning up the policies and practices for the future than trying to settle scores for past actions.”
David Broder, famously, as Clinton’s administration wound down:
“He came in here and he trashed the place, and it’s not his place.”
The disparity in outrage is really amazing. The above Broder quote comes from an infamous 1998 piece in The Washington Post by Sally Quinn in which many D.C. establishment figures expressed raw shock about how Bill Clinton had despoiled what Quinn called their “town.” In that piece, Chris Matthews summed up the emotional reaction of the townies by saying: “I resent deeply being constantly lied to.”
By any measure, there hasn’t been anything close to this level of emotion or recrimination about the past administration during this transition. Why not? There’s the argument that D.C. has been wired for Republican rule for a long time. There’s the argument that this town is more easily outraged by sexual indiscretions than legal ones..read on.
President Bush helped destroy our economy, lied us into a war with Iraq, implemented a national policy of torture, wiretapped American citizens, and took a host of other hideous actions on his watch that are too many to list here. But Broder just wants to look forward. It might be nice to to get it out in the open and then put in safeguards against the reign of an incompetent leader. Oh, and I bet Broder's 401K and stock portfolio got crushed too.
(Sorry for the light posting on my part. I've been a bit under the weather the last few days and also was trying to keep an eye on the site updates. A big h/t to Jamie, our webmaster.)
