Greg Pierce
Who were the big losers in the Trent Lott affair? According to David Broder of The Washington Post: the Democrats and the media.
"I think there are two losers," Mr. Broder said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press," in response to a question from host Tim Russert.
"Tim, I think the Democrats lost ground, in part, my old — former Senator Al Simpson from Wyoming said to me, they have defanged [Democratic leader Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota] now. Daschle can stand up there and point his finger and talk about those rotten, evil Republicans, and people are going to see Bill Frist standing across the aisle from him, who doesn't look rotten or evil.
"The other reason I think the Democrats are losers is that, when they had a moral issue in front of them, with President Clinton, they denounced him, but they never acted against him. Indeed, they rallied around him. And I think that contrast is one that people will remember."
Mr. Broder added: "Frankly, also, I think many of us in the news media also did not acquit ourselves terribly well. It took a long time for this story to develop. Many reporters at the event did not write about it in the first instance. And secondly, because we allowed anonymous sources from the administration to use us to take down Senator Lott."

-- Anonymous, December 23, 2002