The only thing fading fading faster than the Washington Post's subscription numbers is its editorial page quality.First, we have editorial page editor Fred Hiatt. His column today begins, "Is American democracy in paralysis?" Hiatt spends 756 words lamenting President Obama and Congressional Democrats' inability so far to pass much of their agendas ... without once mentioning the word "filibuster." Writing a column about Washington paralysis without mentioning the filibuster is like writing a column about DC commuting without mentioning traffic.
Then, David Broder dedicates his entire column to reiterating Republican talking points about health insurance reform. It's beyond lazy into actively misleading. To make his point about containing health care costs, he quotes Douglas Holtz-Eakin. What Broder doesn't mention is that Holtz-Eakin is a fellow for the Manhattan Institute, which takes funding from drug companies like Bristol Myers-Squibb and insurance companies like CIGNA to oppose health insurance reform. And of course, Broder has no interest in quoting a progressive to balance the insurance industry perspective.
If any good comes out of today's Broder column, it's that it finally puts the nail in the coffin to any pretense that Broder is "moderate." Broder has been nothing but critical of President Obama and is a constant cheerleader for the most conservative group of congressional Republicans ever.
Most embarrassingly for Broder's reputation, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) immediately ran to the floor of the Senate with a copy of the column. (Here's a hint: If your column is music to Mitch McConnell's ears, you're not a moderate.) Sen. Harry Reid derided McConnell's stunt, saying, "To focus on a man who has been retired for many years and writes a column once in a while is not where we should be." Ouch.
