Broder the Banal

Update: Broder was in Madison last night offering his piercing insights.

David Broder is truly the Dean of American corporate journalism and commentary: Inane and living in a comfortable bubble of ideology.

No one is ever quite sure whether the Broders of the world are lying or deluded.

Today, Broder musters out a typical column in the Post: It's too early to call the presidential election for John McCain, no matter the opinion of the "party pros" Broder is in touch with.

Good, Mr. Broder, but what the frack are you talking about?

This is the same guy who can never quite get the nerve to call the Republicans bald-faced liars (we know these guys are liars), so I guess we should not be too surprised at any given Broder column, but he offers this beauty:

What we know is that the American people take the choice of a new president very seriously -- especially when their nation is at war and the economy is behaving in a way that causes real concern.

Actually, what we know is that the American people are remarkably depoliticized and ignorant of basic facts of our society and policies, and take the choice of a new president very casually -- most typically deciding for whom to vote (assuming they bother) based on the most trivial of concerns.

Stating such facts is impolitic to Broder and his ilk, who seem to believe their duty is to rob the American public of its capacity to think, though its capacity to do so is unclear.

Republicans count on voters following the elections very casually and formulating their political opinions flippantly.

Reaching voters is an engineering/marketing/PR project accomplished through appeals made through impressions and images that have nothing to do with such issues as Wars (like we're really mobilized to defeat an enemy), the economy or anything substantive.

One can go on about the many foolish assumptions in Broder's column ... but what is the point. Better to organize and not bother reading this truly trivial writer.