David S. Broder, 81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post and one of the most respected writers on national politics for four decades, died Wednesday in Arlington of complications from diabetes.
Mr. Broder was often called the dean of the Washington press corps — a nickname he earned in his late 30s in part for the clarity of his political analysis and the influence he wielded as a perceptive thinker on political trends in his books, articles and television appearances.
What can you say about a man like David Broder? He was, uh, around. Till the end! Yeah. RIP. [WP]
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RIP. He was a great writer, though I disagreed with his piece on Palin being "Pitch perfect" last year.
It's his rip day, so I'll lay off the direct snark, but this should be a total Ozymandias moment for about a hundred middle-aged purveyors of tiresome conventional wisdom lining up to fill his shoes.
Diabetes? Shoulda had his passport renewed. Too soon?
No, not if you include dentists per capita.
He and Tim Russert are probably at that great "round table" in the sky right now, pointing and laughing at the tea party, and David Gregory.
Ha the reality is even better, that they are simply mouldering into dust, forgotten and unloved.
He's probably already down in Hell's green room, fellating Reagan's burning corpse.
~
Broder would object that the Tea Party has some good ideas.
Russert is trying to get his questions about the Birth Certificate — "it's an issue of vital importance!" — to Gov. Abercrombie.
They are laughing, though, at somebody: Luke Russert. Even they can't stand that smug bitch.
And Molly Ivans is having a grand time mocking them both.
This image warms the cockles of my heart.
Fuck, I wish they done that while they were alive. Then I might have mourned them when they passed.
As for Broder, well I hold to the saying that if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all.
(Mouth shut).
Can you imagine living in a time when clarity of analysis led to influence?
oh if i could upfist you more…
Considering what that 40+ years of "clarity" led to. No.
That's a Lenten all-in if ever I saw one.
The 3 people still reading his column are going to miss him.
There was a time–late 60's? mid 70's?–that I read Broder pretty regularly. Found him to be even-handed and thoughtful, if I remember rightly. "Thoughtful." "Even-handed." Don't hear that much these days. RIP, David. Say hi to Walter and the rest for me. Your kind is an endangered species and there aren't many left (if any).
Should have been David Brooks.
But if David Brooks died, who'd weakly attempt to indict the crazy elements of modern conservatism?
To weakly indict them seems a little too extreme for me. I think we should stick with the plan of cowering in fear and shunning people who dare to question their motives in the hopes they'll leave us alone eventually.
Alphabetically he's next.
No, he's MINE.
Fortunately the WaPo will be able to recycle all his old columns like so many panels of The Lockharts. They never depended on historical context in the first place, and filling column space takes time and money. Plus security no longer has to worry about the old goat trying to fist the interns in the supply closet.
That does make it official, doesn't it? The Washington Post has no reason to exist anymore.
They are "through."
David Broder. You weren't half as awful as Novak.
How's that for a eulogy?
It's much better when Death actually stalks the halls of the WaPo opinion department, instead of just feeding the columnists talking points.
I shouldn't be laughing so hard at this. At all.
Stole this from you and put it on my FB page (with a h/t).
Both the Left and the Right must find solace in this difficult hour.
Couldn't he find some sensible middle-ground between life and death?
Isn't that what the last 40 years were for him?
Limbo!
Like being a ghost?
You mean appear on Face the Nation?
A+
Undeath.
Zombie Broder!
Damnit. Beat me to it.
Surely, he will haunt us in ghost form. Not quite alive, but not quite dead. Ooo! Zombie Broder will be even better.
David Broder was a bipedal primate who lived for a period and then died. He will be missed by all except those who will not miss him or do not know who he is. Of all the reporters who have ever worked in Washington, he was one of them. Requiescat in pace.
WIN(ing!)
Awaiting Palin's highly-sought opinion about this latest newspaper non-scandal in 3…2…never.
Q: What paper did David Brooks' column appear?
Sarah: All of them!!!
He writes for the Wasilla Bee smartypants I see his column there every third sunday.
Too extreme. He had to be a Buick or Dodge driver
I'm thinking 1981 Ford Fairmont sedan. They should bury him in that thing.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pennsy...
Especially the Fairmont that had the 2 liter four cylinder with automatic transmission. Much like mister Broder, incapable of getting out of its own way.
I think he was askin' for it.
Well, it wasn't his house anyway.
As of post time, St. Peter and Satan were unavailable for comment.
Given what the state of American journalism has become, he should have felt insulted to be called the Dean of it. And said so.
He and Hunter Thompson were friendly during the 1972 campaign. Hopefully they're decrying that very state of affairs right now and plotting revenge.
The title of "Dean" dies with him. The elder statesman of American journalism will now be refered to as "Principle Clown."
Wrong! It's Brit Hume.
Now, it won't be just Megyn Kelly essing Brit's dee.
Now that has Broder has passed, the Post should try and bring some vibrant, youthful energy to its' editorial page by bringing in someone in their mid-sixties. Must be a white guy, enjoy blowing up brown people.
Someone who is 69 years old, will not seek re-election in 2012 and wants to invade Libya? Someone like that?
Yes, and it can be someone who calls himself a Democrat but is constantly attacking the Democratic Party and its leadership; that person would fit right in.
paging Mickey Kaus.
And someone whose wife wants us all to take drugs … and that would be name-brand drugs advertised on TV, not those cheap generics, or worse yet the ones cooked up in the house down the street from me.
Oh you guys….Lieberman won't go to Wapo unless he can be on teevee…his boring, Muslin hating ramblings can only achieve full effect on teevee, especially when your remote battery dies and you're too lazy to put your double down, or baconator or stuffed cheeseburger and waddle your ass over and change the channel…maybe that's why they invented the scooter? So old lazy and obese white people can literally move around all day without having to NOT be eating a double down without fear of dropping it?
Lord, he could do the sunday pundit shows and do the droopy dawg act weekly just like now. Wapo could get Kristol-Lite and everyone would be happy forever after…
Broder? I hardly know her.
Does his dying on ass (whoops Ash) Wednesday mean something? Actually I thought he had been dead for at least a decade.
Yeah it means that if you stumble in an alley and smear shit on your forehead, people will assume you are observing a solemn memorial rite.
Perhaps now purgatory will at long last return to the high level of bipartisanship it so admirably displayed in David Broder's youth.
Some say Broder's life function expired. Others say he's taking a nap.
Others say those are indistinguishable from his appearances on CNN.
This now means that Richard Cohen is the dean of the Washington Press Corp, so this is indeed sad news.
But good news for comedy, because Richard Cohen knows funny!
He's the Roger Dudek of the District.
That's blood libel!!!!!
Who will enable the GOP Freshmen?
This is like when Tony Montana died at the end of Scarface. False equivalence is their cocaine, & Broder was their pusher.
Broder has gone to that Great Matlock Set in the sky; no one will be capable of filling his soggy Depends in our lifetime.
David Broder Dead
How can they tell?
Beat me to it!
It was just lying on the ground, sparkling in the sunlight, so I picked it up.
And you were quicker than me, my friend.
To paraphrase Michael Steele: Broder still here.
Except he isn't, so fuck the whole idea.
It was Palin saying 'WaPo, you're through' that did him in.
Haha…yes, Broder died in response for fear of the facebewk snowcunt's snowbilly rage, good point. I'll wager Glenn Beck will has a conspiracy all loaded up on his poop deck blaming Obama, Soros and Van Jones for the whole episode in 5…4….3…2…1….
Once again, we see the Far Left blaming Palin….
Will wear my trousers with the belt line just below the nipples in his honor today.
One less ponderous self-important white guy knowitall.
We can hope George Will joins him soon.
Don't get me started on the chinless wonder.
Broder is born, Broder dies; how'd you explain that?
In conclusion, David Broder is a land of contrast. Thank you.
As they say in the newspaper business, only the good die young.
I hope he turns up at Fox as a poltergeist.
On the one hand, David Broder shares in the basic decency of all human life and it is right to mourn him. On the other, he committed high crimes of journalism. In tribute to David Broder, we should solve this conundrum by all just agreeing with whatever powerful people think of this.
Hmm…well, honestly I'm not all that familiar with David Broder other than the man must be a fucking legend to our reporters/corporate representatives or something. Hey, at least you guys can keep kicking Dickie Cohen around, right? That's something…
Yes, I know…you might be thinking "Damnit Teabaggers how can't you be familiar with David Broder?" and my answer is well first, I'm a teabagger and we're not well known for a grasp of history, or reality, or self awareness (judging by the NPR "scandol")…also, David Broder's period as resident genius (or something) was JUST A BIT before my time….still, from what he stood for (which was good reporting?) I'm guessing it's a much bigger loss to journalism than Dickie Cohen would be?
You're no teabagger…you can spell! Mostly.
In 17 hours we can look forward to Sarah Palin tweet about how David Broder was her favorite game show host.
Now you have me imagining the Palin Family on the "Dysfuctional Family Feud" on Howard Stern's programme. I don't know if it would be funnier to pit them against the Penthouse Pets or Wack Pack, though.
If you do the Wack Pack, Trig could play on both teams.
Is it a fortnight or what before I can do the whole spitting thing?
If a David Broder dies in Arlington, will anyone notice?
These days, to move to the middle he'd have to go left. Far left.
First Phil Collins retires and then the man who is to punditry what Phil Collins is to music passes on. Should whoever's drawing "Blondie" these days be worried?
But at least Phil in his younger days had moments of being a kick-ass drummer and prog rock legend. Broder was plain white bread all the way wasn't he; with his wimpy "bipartisanship" that made it so he couldn't get tough on Nixon & Reagan & Bush etc.
My condolences to the family
In which case you bro'ed her, bro.
none of these guys e.g. Broder & Russert et al ever pointed out that Emperor Teabag has no clothes; so should we really care? They always found some bogus "middle" ground as if you have to lend an ear to the most insane jerkoffs this country has produced. I mean they would never in a million years have a Walter Cronkite moment where he finally is fed up with the Vietnam War fiasco etc.
This is good news for John McCain.
Still, let's not forget that the real victim here is Sarah Palin.
So I wonder who Bradlee is going to bring on board? No doubt some winger to add "balance", but most of the yappy ones are running for, or pretending to run for president. Giuliani maybe?
That sounds about right. Replace the consummate moderate with a raving extremist for "balance". We are fucked.
Bris?
Diabeetus kills? Wilford Brimley better watch out!
Of course this happens right after I gave up pissing on graves for Lent.
Previously, this has only happened to other people.
I demand a death certificate. Right now.
Okay, so there is not a chance in hell that some Wonketteer did not beat me to this demand in the slew of shit I didn't read above, so let me add my lame voice in all caps: AMERICA DEMANDS A DEATH CERTIFICATE. PROVE THAT DAVID BRODER IS DEAD. WE ARE NOT GOING TO GO APE-SHIT BONG PARTYING FUCKDAPOLICE UNTIL WE HAVE SEEN THE DEATH CERTIFICATE!!!
Then, I want police dogs to sniff his rotting corpse. Then, I want some pundit to compare his rotting corpse with democracy. Then, i want an interview with the maggot who is eating out his left eye as we speak. David Broder is dead? This is the best that 2011 has to offer so far? Sux!!
I can respect someone who did his job dutifully to the very end, but I strongly disagree with the "consensus for its own sake" mentality he perpetuated.
Hell, for the DC interests — cough, Joe Klein, cough — this is worse than what happened to Gabrielle Giffords, Taylor Green, the Judge, & all the rest.
And, my poor fool is hanged…
I'm going to miss America's Favorite/Most Notable Tortoise. Who will ever be able to wear a bow tie like him? No one, that's who. He makes Tucker look like a little bitch.
Who then, shall we get to take up the great Broderian mantle?
Well, how about that soon-to-be NPR orphan, Mara Liarsson? She's smart, sexy, savvy, wears turtlenecks, and makes pop-eyed grimaces on Fox 'n Friends. Plus, she has an attention-getting speaking style that suggests she's masticating her own vomit.
Molly Ivins once said she liked to know that she was getting a reaction, at least. After all, she pointed out, no one ever says, Man, today's David Broder column really has me steamed.
Dead? Who knew.
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