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In Memoriam
David Broder, RIP
He was a liberal in the best sense of term.
The death of the Washington Post’s David Broder came as a shock to many even remotely connected with journalism in Washington, or indeed across the country. His last column appeared in print only a little more than a month ago. There had been no public clue as to his illness (complications from diabetes). He was 81.
I met him a couple of times and regularly read his column. He was a liberal but I don’t mean that as a criticism. Broder really did represent the ideal vision that some liberals do have of themselves. He was diligent and open minded and did see different sides of an issue. He knew that he wasn’t already in full possession of the truth. As the Post’s obit emphasized, he was also an excellent listener. That may seem like faint praise but how rarely do we encounter it!
One time — and just that once — I was invited to a party at the inner sanctum. I mean the Georgetown house of Katharine Graham, then the publisher of the Washington Post. She was holding a party for Charlie Peters, the owner of the Washington Monthly, where I had worked. Elsewhere, I had also published a few critical things about the Washington Post. Today I don’t even want to look at those pieces because they seemed excessive even at the time. I don’t think those things today.
So I suspected, when I entered Mrs. Graham’s establishment, that not everyone was thrilled to see me. But one journalist did approach me, and that was David Broder. It was shortly after the election of Ronald Reagan — perhaps in late November, 1980. He knew I was a conservative, and therefore represented a point of view he rarely encountered in the newsroom.
What did I think would happen now that Reagan was coming to Washington? Broder asked. The Post at that time was mounting a full court press against the incoming President. Basically I think they accepted the leftist argument that he was a warmonger.
I told Broder that I didn’t think much would happen, because the powers-that-be in the city were dead set against it. Of course I was wrong about that. Reagan did get things done. In his low keyed way he had a big influence. And I was far too pessimistic.
Broder listened carefully. It’s always flattering to be listened to, but he impressed me with his diligence, and with his courtesy. The same qualities were evident in his newspaper column.
I would say that Broder is one liberal whom the liberals really will miss. Because they will find it very difficult to find anyone else with those same qualities, combining hard work, fairness and open-mindedness.
Journalism is already in a state of such transition that its future cannot easily be foreseen. Broder’s death, coming at such a moment, may in retrospect be seen as its apt representation historically. The trade of journalism has lost one of its best people.
About the Author
Tom Bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, and most recently Questioning Einstein: Is Relativity Necessary? (2009).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Tom Bethell
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http://spectator.org/archives/2011/03/11/david-broder-rip
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.11.11 @ 6:31AM
This column reminds me of a joke about George Burns. When the comedian was a 100 years old someone told him to act his age so he did, he dropped dead.
Seriously, all this homage to liberals and liberalism is sickening.
Hitler was courteous too but he's referred to for his evilness.
If someone lies to and misleads the public every day, then there is no honor there. Not as far as I'm concerned.
And that's precisely what the liberal press does every day.
Anyone who was part of it doesn't deserve your respect, they deserve your contempt.
If a used car salesman lies about a used care that's to be expected. Journalists are supposed to inform the public but they are all part of the state run media.
In that sense, a quasi-bureaucrat just moved on.
Alan Brooks| 3.11.11 @ 8:36AM
"This column reminds me of a joke about George Burns. When the comedian was a 100 years old someone told him to act his age so he did, he dropped dead."
Here's a joke I made up about libertarians:
how many libertarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? one to call the other one a statist; the other to smash the bulb and stalk out of the room.
Steve A| 3.11.11 @ 11:13AM
Alan, How many liberals does it take to screw in a lightbulb?? Answer, none. They call the housing authority & complain on the welfare cell phone.
Alan Brooks| 3.11.11 @ 11:50AM
"Alan, How many liberals does it take to screw in a lightbulb?? Answer, none. They call the housing authority & complain on the welfare cell phone."
When you pay for Grandparents to live in nursing homes and assisted living, then you can diss the guvmint. You don't get it: no one is fooled anymore- they know what is going on so they don't respect you. The respect you want is the last 'thing' you will ever get.
Steve A| 3.11.11 @ 11:56AM
Huh? I think you need a nap there, buddy.
Doctor Right| 3.11.11 @ 1:46PM
Steve A:
Q: How many Liberals does it take to fill-in the Marianas trench?
A: I have no idea, but let's try and find out!
Doctor Right| 3.11.11 @ 2:03PM
Alan:
How many Liberals DOES it take to screw in a light-bulb?
1 to assemble the light-bulb.
1 to make sure that the assembled light-bulb exceeds EPA requirements for "Green" energy.
1 to approve the manufacturing facility regarding all EPA, OSHA, and EEOP guidelines.
1 to request a permit to purchase a light-bulb.
1 to approve the permit.
1 to duplicate the permit in 3 copies (white, pink, & canary).
1 to insert the permit into an approved envelope.
1 to buy the stamp and mail it.
1 to inspect the lamp/light fixture and ensure that it's safe and meets all federal, state, and local EPA "green" energy requirements prior to insertion of said light-bulb.
1 to deliver said light-bulb to the retail outlet in government-approved, "green" packaging that meets EPA and OSHA requirements.
1 to approve the retail outlet to ensure that it meets all EPA, OSHA, and EEOP guidelines.
1 to make sure that said light-bulb does not offend Muslims.
1 to ensure that said light-bulb was constructed by Union labor, and is appropriately labeled as-such.
1 to double-check and make sure that all of the prior-described steps have been carefully followed and obeyed in accordance with USGSTA ("US Government Step-Taking Authority) guidelines.
1 to screw-in said light-bulb...
...and 1 to take-away said light-bulb since the EPA banned them in favor of wicker-candles
So the answer is...ZERO!
[Note: Due to recently released Government guidelines regarding the fire-hazard of wicker candles, said candles are now illegal, and scheduled to be replaced with fire-flies]
[Note: Due to recently released guidelines from the EPA and the SIERRA CLUB, the capture, imprisonment, and use of fire-flies for the purposes of obtaining useful light has been ruled illegal, and is punishable by a fine up to and including $20,000, 5 years in prison, or both if PETA has their way, you heartless, right-wing scum]
[Note: The Government is recommending that for the purposes of obtaining useful light during non-daylight hours ("daylight" being defined as that time when the "sun" is shining between "dusk" and "dawn"), that citizens should endeavor to give-off a nice, warm "glow"]
Lisa| 3.11.11 @ 3:07PM
LOL! Brilliant!
Steve A| 3.11.11 @ 3:25PM
DR, Nicely done. Needed that laugh.
JP| 3.11.11 @ 8:46AM
I always respected David Broder, despite the fact that I disagreed with him on most issues. Yes, he was a Beltway Insider; but so was Walter Lippmann and so is George Will and Robert Novak.
Broder was an old style liberal who didn't possess the snark that so many liberal reporters possess today. Even 25 years ago he could be distringuished from Sam Donaldson and Dan Rather. He was more in line with the demeanor of the late William Brinkley.
RIP
loulou| 3.11.11 @ 10:13AM
Bill Hussein O'Stalin: I agree. I'm sick of this log rolling from the journalistic elite.
Broder was a liberal Democrat. Enough said. If he was fair minded, he would not be a liberal Democrat.
Seek| 3.11.11 @ 2:32PM
There are honest liberals, too. Not too many, but they exist. Read Broder's 1980 book, "The Changing of the Guard," by the way, to read a good example of a reporter who did his homework.
Mitch Angoop| 3.11.11 @ 12:13PM
I do not claim to know what went through Broder's mind, but I am not one of those people who feel the need to make up faint praise just because they reached the inevitable end of life.
David Broder was an unabashed liberal and unashamed of the damage he helped cause. Because of Broder and his fellow miscreants at the Washington Post, they elected a democrat to the Senate from Virginia; knowing full well that the whole 'macaca' joke was illegitimate from the beginning. Like all liberals, David Broder did whatever he felt he had to so his fellow libs could get the power they crave to make over our nation in the warped vision they seek.
It is customary to speak only good of the dead, so I will write no more, other than to say that many of us are not shedding any tears. If David Broder was half the man you would like us to think he was, his supposed intelligence would have changed his mind and tactics long ago; especially in anticipation of death.
Lawrence Cannon| 3.12.11 @ 8:19PM
How many Liberals does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None....Liberals prefer living in the dark.
mames| 3.11.11 @ 8:32AM
Broder was intellectually confusede at best. Now that he is dead lets not insult him further by saying what a "nice guy" he was. He ALWAYS saw himself as the smartest man in the room, a man "above the fray" in a very arrogant manner. I pitied his self delusions.
Alan Brooks| 3.11.11 @ 8:33AM
"He was a liberal in the best sense of term."
As the previous blogger indicates, Broder's being a liberal in the best sense would make him more hated by the far Right than Ted Kenne-died was.
JP| 3.11.11 @ 8:49AM
A classic Liberal is a Neo-Con (conservative on security issues, rather mushy and moderate on social issues). The best represenative of a classic liberal was the late Scoop Jackson, as well as about every AFL-CIO leader between 1945-1985.
Alan Brooks| 3.11.11 @ 11:53AM
"moderate on social issues"
Goldwater? he wasn't exactly Anita Bryant or Alan Keyes on gay issues. He never said "Barney Fag"
Mitch Angoop| 3.11.11 @ 12:16PM
You're at it again. What does anything Barry Goldwater said have to do with the topic under discussion? Every time you attempt to communicate with the outside world you betray your innate intellectual inferiority. You are simply incapable of correctly utilizing facts in any situation; thus you go off onto some tangent in the faint hope that your intellectual superiors will 'tire of your antics'.
Chalkdust| 3.11.11 @ 8:42AM
"He knew he was not in full possession of the truth." If true, you could hardly tell it buy reading his columns.
He was held in high esteem by the Wash/compost crowd because he toed the liberal line, not because he was fair and balanced.
Because in all my years I have not been able to Divine or develop the ability to understand the liberal mind-set, the best I can say about David Broder is; He would not have sold state secrets to the USSR.
loulou| 3.11.11 @ 10:16AM
"He would not have sold state secrets to the USSR"
We don't know that. I wonder what his opinion was of Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, etc. and did he speak disparagingly about Senator Joseph McCarthy?
Chalkdust| 3.11.11 @ 1:17PM
He might given them away, but never sold them.
emilio lizardo| 3.11.11 @ 10:21AM
His columns were dreadful, unreadable and soporific to the extreme, and not even well-written enough to piss one off. A relic from bygone and best forgotten times, when the D.C. press corps swarmed with flacks like Helen Thomas, this is not a loss for journalism. RIP, David.
ncatty| 3.11.11 @ 10:44AM
Richard Lugar praised him to the skies. That tells you something.
Handy| 3.11.11 @ 10:46AM
Wow!!!
I thought there would be an outpouring of praise for this column, but was pleasantly surprised that the commenters, so far, saw through the thin veneer that was David Broder. This guy was such a Beltway insider that he never travelled farther west than Georgetown nor farther east than the Supreme Court. He was nothing more than a political tout, and seemingly without any firm convictions whatsoever.
We have a number of these creatures who have veered away from conservative principles to pragmatism, as well. Peggy Noonan, David Brooks and David Frum come to mind. I quit reading Broder for the same reason I have quit reading them. They are, and he was, boring. At the end of their articles, I always ended up asking myself exactly what points they were making. Kathleen Parker and that little fruit, David Brock, are more honorable, because they are admitted traitors.
Broder was a bland, affable guy (I met him once at an embassy function.), but he was neither inquisitive nor did he offer any particular insights. His columns reflected the man, I guess.
It is supposed to be bad form to criticize the dead, but do we have to heap undeserved praise on them?
Alan Brooks| 3.11.11 @ 11:57AM
"It is supposed to be bad form to criticize the dead, but do we have to heap undeserved praise on them."
cf Joe Sobran.
Occam's Tool| 3.11.11 @ 4:06PM
Must agree---David Broder---oily, venomous Leftist reptile; Joe Sobran---oily, venomous, Holocaust minimizing PaleoConservative scumbag. Very similar.
loulou| 3.11.11 @ 8:14PM
Add to that, Robert Novak---oily, venomous, anti Semetic self-hating Jew.
Bob K.| 3.12.11 @ 11:03PM
Novak became a Catholic convert late in life. He and his parents were never religious Jews. He also was a Democrat.
Paul from SA| 3.11.11 @ 12:24PM
Handy, good comments! I read them after I posted.
Alan Brooks| 3.11.11 @ 11:56AM
Most journalists left and right aren't worth reading. Only two I give A+ to are Geo Will, Tom Wolfe.
Mitch Angoop| 3.13.11 @ 6:32PM
I'll certainly remember to ask you before I read any opinion pieces in the future.
Steve A| 3.11.11 @ 12:01PM
Krauthammer is solid & offers some interesting perspective.
Mitch Angoop| 3.11.11 @ 12:20PM
That's because he is a brilliant man who has decided to ignore the devastating disease that is wasting his body away. I may not always agree with Dr. Krauthammer, but I always hang on every word. I happen to know one of your frequent 'posters' who is in much the same position as Charles is, and he shows the same tenacity to overcome his own affliction. It just shows the calibre of the readers here at TAS.
loulou| 3.11.11 @ 2:50PM
Dr Krauthammer is brilliant and is always thought provoking but remember, he formerly worked for Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale.
Paul from SA| 3.11.11 @ 12:22PM
Conservative journalists always heap praise upon liberals journos when they die. I am not a journalist, so I am not beholden to the profession to comment postiviely about me when I die.
Broder was a liberal , and that is not a compliment. Broder suffered from many ailments that all liberals possess: uninformed, misinformed, bias against conservatives and conservatism. His opinion of conservatives was the typical liberal one.
It was getting too difficult to read his columns. He was clearly a liberal.
gearjammer| 3.11.11 @ 1:05PM
Typical of his ilk, all in love with the FDR legacy.
an adorer of all things Kennedy. Fought tooth and nail against soc security reform. Oh please, he needed to retire ages ago. I always said to myself when I ran across him on tv, " David Broder, your brain gots body odor". He hurt me and my country with his idiotic political views. He had influence and he thus mattered. He was not some inconsequential nobody on PBS in some obscure local. He did harm.
Mitch Angoop| 3.13.11 @ 6:34PM
If Broder worshipped at the altar of FDR, he's have come out strongly against the public employee unions. FDR was strongly against any unionization by any public employees. Period!
Steve A| 3.11.11 @ 12:26PM
Just an observation here but would it not have been possible to find a better photo to accompany this story? I mean, come on, they look like they forgot the sun block & fell asleep on the beach in Cabo.
Doctor Right| 3.11.11 @ 2:13PM
Sorry to be contrary, but to me, Broder was another sour-puss Lib pining for the good ole' days of FDR, Kennedy, Johnson, and the Great Society.
I particularly remember his pathetic, illogical defense of Clinton during impeachment in '98. Sometimes it was hard to tell him apart from Eleanor Clift (Broder was the cute one).
I'm tired of hearing about "the 'good' kind of Liberal". Sorry, but they all stink. Whether or not they're personally odious is not the issue. The issue is whether or not they embrace Constitutional government, or policies that destroy the foundations of Constitutional government. If you're a Lib, it's the latter, and there's nothing "good" about that.
BTW...No one should be surprised at the death of someone who is 81.
Occam's Tool| 3.11.11 @ 4:08PM
A GOOD Liberal was Charleton Heston---walked in the Civil Rights campaign with MLK, defended Second Amendment Right to Bear arms and was a Reaganite. That's a good Liberal. Broder---meh.
Bob K.| 3.11.11 @ 6:52PM
The future journalists and by extension journalism will remain unchanged. As Lord Beaconsfield observed: "One day they are blackening your character; the next day they are blackening your boots."
Leveut| 3.11.11 @ 11:08PM
David Broder appeared on Washington Week In Review on PBS. One night in the mid/late 90s we were watching and he expounded.
He explained he had ventured out of his office and up to Capitol Hill to a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Jesse Helms.
He reported that, to his great surprise, Helms was chairing a hearing on serious issues and that they were being discussed in a serious manner.
(His fellow panel members didn't believe any of it.)
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 6:05AM
The death of the Washington Post's David Broder came as a shock to many even remotely connected with journalism in Washington, or indeed across the country.
Creative Recreation | 8.11.11 @ 1:44AM
is good