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You are here: Home / Neutral observers

Neutral observers

by DougJ|  November 13, 200912:33 am| 26 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Good News For Conservatives

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Broder:

While House Democrats spent the week congratulating themselves for squeezing out the midnight passage of their version of health-care reform, neutral observers were reminding them: You’ve left the job half done.

I know some of you think that I spend too much time reading Broder. But “neutral observers”? This stuff is gold, readers, gold.

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26Comments

  1. 1.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 13, 2009 at 12:36 am

    I know some of you think that I spend too much time reading Broder.

    Teehee, but we love ya anyways. Never fails for Dave to wank the obvious. But then he is the Dean of DC Wankers, according to neutered sources.

  2. 2.

    MBSS

    November 13, 2009 at 12:37 am

    if broder says something in a forest, and no one hears it, does it matter?

  3. 3.

    MBSS

    November 13, 2009 at 12:39 am

    neutral observers = david brooks

  4. 4.

    gizmo

    November 13, 2009 at 12:41 am

    I don’t remember Broder and his friends in the neutral observer industry issuing any cautions about deficits and responsible fiscal behavior back in the days when Bush and Cheney were busy putting us in a $10 trillion dollar hole.

  5. 5.

    soonergrunt

    November 13, 2009 at 12:44 am

    @gizmo: You’re right. Broder was busy telling Democrats that they needed to capitulate to every crack-brained, psychopathic impulse of the Cheney-Bush administration in order to be bipartisan because only conservatives are supposed to have principles. He was very neutral about telling us this for the whole eight years.

  6. 6.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 13, 2009 at 12:58 am

    Does anybody other than the Republican Party fall for Broder’s studied neutrality anymore? Ok, there is the MSM I guess.

  7. 7.

    Keith G

    November 13, 2009 at 12:59 am

    Ya know, what ya expect? Broder gives much ink to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation which is a sibling to the Concord Coalition and of course the Dean of the press corpse cite study…..by, wait…….. the Lewin Group.

    Neutral? Hah!

    I actually almost feel bad for Broder. He really is dotty, I mean really. If you get a chance, catch a recent clip. He seems to really have to concentrate to get thoughts into words. Which might be why I see him less frequently as a guest.

    He needs to retire and enjoy whats left of his mind and his life.

  8. 8.

    Roger Moore

    November 13, 2009 at 1:01 am

    @Chuck Butcher:

    Does anybody other than the Republican Party fall for Broder’s studied neutrality anymore? Ok, there is the MSM I guess.

    I thought you said anybody other than the Republican Party, so the MSM/SCLM doesn’t really count.

  9. 9.

    Chuck Butcher

    November 13, 2009 at 1:12 am

    @Roger Moore:

    so the MSM/SCLM doesn’t really count.

    I stand corrected

  10. 10.

    Lev

    November 13, 2009 at 1:12 am

    Broder is like Mick Jagger. Seriously. Both dudes are still singing the same tunes they were back in the 1960s, long after they should have stopped and moved on. The difference is that Jagger’s shit is timeless, while Broder’s stopped being true sometime between Watergate and Bush I.

  11. 11.

    mai naem

    November 13, 2009 at 1:27 am

    Don’t forget Broder got paid for speaking to health insurance groups. Ya think that affects his opinion on this topic,ohhh just maybe a teensy bit?

  12. 12.

    arguingwithsignposts

    November 13, 2009 at 1:43 am

    David Broder can blow me. Well … not really, but he seriously needs to retire. He’s the ultimate concern troll. F–k him.

  13. 13.

    CalD

    November 13, 2009 at 1:55 am

    Broder: “You’ve left the job half done.”

    …not to be confused with half the battle won.

    This indeed is good news for conservatives.

  14. 14.

    JackieBinAZ

    November 13, 2009 at 1:58 am

    if broder says something in a forest, and no one hears it, does it matter?

    low-hanging fruit, but I couldn’t resist…

  15. 15.

    phantomist

    November 13, 2009 at 2:18 am

    A surprise visit from Kenny Bania?

    The mug is round; the jar is round… they should call it Roundtine. (pauses) That’s gold Jerry, gold!

  16. 16.

    cmorenc

    November 13, 2009 at 3:06 am

    Actually, like a broken clock, Broder is occasionally right about something, even if his insight mechanisms are all rusty and quit working years ago. So what’s he right about?

    The fact that the dems ought not to get too self-congratulatory about getting HCR through the House, that’s what, cause it IS only a job half-done and the grade the dems get for HCR is an ‘INCOMPLETE” unless and until it gets WHOLE-done and into law and in decently workable shape for intended purposes. From your college days, surely you remember how an ‘INCOMPLETE’ grade effectively gets factored into your transcript unless and until completed – as an ‘F’, no matter HOW GOOD a grade you got on that big midterm paper in the course. Leave it incomplete too long, and – it becomes a permanent ‘F’ on your record.

    Just when the dems thought they were on their way to a solid ‘B’ at least, maybe still an ‘A’ in health care reform a week or two ago, along comes first Lieberman and then Nelson hoarding the books the rest of the dems need to finish the course.

  17. 17.

    bago

    November 13, 2009 at 3:26 am

    I’ve been in DC for a month, and it seems that there are two classes of people. Those that live here, and those that pretend to live here and use their influence to push people around. In the past 3 weeks there have been 2 Energy CEO meetings at the resturaunt at the north end of Union Station. All kinds of security to protect these wankers from the dangers of the public that might exist within 3 blocks of the Heritage Foundation. When they have a meeting they shut down the SEC and the Thurgood Marshall Building. Seriously. Doing a triple backflip through a hoop is one thing, but fucking that up, shooting your friend in the face, and forcing him to apologize for getting in the way of your bullets… Goddamn.

  18. 18.

    Batocchio

    November 13, 2009 at 4:42 am

    I’m guessing that neutral observer was Broder’s pal, Karl Rove.

  19. 19.

    Sly

    November 13, 2009 at 5:18 am

    Broder’s getting a bit more ballsy than usual. I guess he really likes those speaking fees.

    1) Relies on two studies commissioned by an industry front group.

    2) Relies on the “unbiased” comments of a third person who heads the foundation that was commissioned to do those studies by the above front group.

    3) Doesn’t mention the relationship between 1 and 3, nor the ideological bent of the foundation.

    Move over George Will.

  20. 20.

    Scruffy McSnufflepuss

    November 13, 2009 at 6:34 am

    I like this game:

    Democrats think it was a great thing that they got a healthcare bill passed in the House, and Republicans think it was a terrible thing. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.

    Democrats think it’s a terrible thing that rape victims can’t sue employers who aid and abet their rapists, and Republicans think it’s fine for employers to do that if the future rape victims sign a waiver of their rights at the time of hiring. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle.

    Obama claims he loves America, Karl Rove says he hates it. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle.

    Obama claims he was born in Hawaii, while Orly Taitz claims he was born in Kenya. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle. (Obama was born in Indonesia or thereabouts.)

  21. 21.

    ericblair

    November 13, 2009 at 8:28 am

    @Scruffy McSnufflepuss: Obama claims he was born in Hawaii, while Orly Taitz claims he was born in Kenya. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.

    Actually, if you map the Great Circle route between the two, Obama was born somewhere close to Lake Baikal, Siberia. OMFG, the conspiracy deepens! He’s a Siberian CommieIslamoFascist! I’m going to have to get thicker aluminum foil for the hat, not the crap grocery store stuff.

  22. 22.

    El Cid

    November 13, 2009 at 8:44 am

    Goldman Sachs performs a neutral analysis of insurance reform options for their impacts on the insurance industry’s long term profits:

    A Goldman Sachs analysis of health care legislation has concluded that, as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing to do is nothing. A close second would be passing a watered-down version of the Senate Finance Committee’s bill…
    …
    The study’s authors advise that if no reform is passed, earnings per share would grow an estimated ten percent from 2010 through 2019, and the value of the stock would rise an estimated 59 percent during that time period.

    All is not lost, though — if you can get the ‘conservative’, ‘cost conscious’ Senate Democrats to ‘water down’ (their words) the bill enough, you can pretty much get the same result and claim that you’ve done ‘reform’!

    The next best thing for the insurance industry would be if the legislation passed by the Senate Finance Committee is watered down significantly. Described as a “bull case” scenario — in which there is “moderation of provisions in the current SFC plan” or “changes prior to the major implementation in 2013” — earnings per share for the five biggest insurers would grow an estimated ten percent and the variance with current valuation would rise an estimated 47 percent.

    So, according to that fine, publicly subsidized gambling firm known as Goldman Sachs, who provides directly or indirectly the economics and financial policies of our Executive branch, here’s what insurance companies and investors should want out of ‘reform’:

    (1) Block the reform. (Maybe the crazy anti-choicers will help with that.)

    (2) Pass an even more watered down version of the Senate Finance Committee bill.

    And, if all else fails,

    (3) Pass the Senate Finance Committee bill.

    And since the ‘conservative’ Senate Democrats writing the Senate Finance bill were basically writing it for the insurers in the first place, it’s a great place to start.

    Get watering down, Senate Dems! The insurance profits of the next 10 years depend on you !!!

  23. 23.

    Dork

    November 13, 2009 at 8:57 am

    This stuff is gold, readers, gold.

    Brilliant Banya reference. God I loved that show.

  24. 24.

    Bulworth

    November 13, 2009 at 9:23 am

    “[Walker] proposes a four-part test of fiscal responsibility for any health reform plan: “First, the reform should pay for itself over 10 years. Second, it should not add to deficits beyond 10 years. Third, it should significantly reduce the tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded health promises that we already have. Fourth, it should bend down — not up — the total health-care cost curve as a percentage of” gross domestic product. ”

    Hasn’t this bill already been scored by the CBO–which is a pretty serious player in this town–as reducing the deficit? And where were these demands when our media was demanding that Democrats join the GOP to pass Bush’s tax cuts? Or send the army to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq? Sounds like a serious case of moving the goal posts. The fact is no cost controls (or taxes) would be acceptable to this group.

    And that line at the end about “costs” and our grandchildren is just some gawd awful wankery.

  25. 25.

    Jesse

    November 13, 2009 at 11:13 am

    At first I thought, “No way could Broder simply be referring to the fact that HCR is not law, and that it has to go through the Senate as well as the House.” If that’s correct, then his reading of things is painfully disrespectful. Is he really nagging the House Democrats for celebrating when—OMG—there’s a whole other side to the legislative process (that somehow these legislators totally missed)?

    What an asshole. Of course the job is only half done. Is there anything that this dude won’t piss on? (Oh wait, the last several years provide many case studies showing that I’m asking a false question.)

  26. 26.

    skippy

    November 13, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    neutral observers were reminding them: you’ve left the job half done.

    k, not to get technical, broderboy, but the other half of the job belongs to the senate. i’d be hard pressed to see how the house of representatives could be chastised for not doing the senate’s work.

    but i guess in broderworld, that makes sense.

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