Now he tells us.
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
In an extraordinary confession of journalistic failure, CBSnews.com editor Dick Meyer reveals that the House Republican leadership for the past 12 years were a bunch of weirdos and misfits unfit for public office.
Really, it's just a simple thesis: The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. Together, they comprised one of the oddest legislative power cliques in our history.
What are American journalists supposed to do when they are face to face, day after day, with hypocrisy and deceit in our nation's Congress? What excuse does an editorial writer have for not revealing these dangerous weaknesses to his readers?
And for 12 years, the media didn't call a duck a duck, because that's not something we're supposed to do.
Sorry. That's not good enough. If you don't call a duck a duck, who will? This is precisely what you are supposed to do, whether it is Democrats or Republicans in Congress.
It's not as if you didn't have plenty of evidence.
I'm not talking about the policies of the Contract for America crowd, but the character. I'm confident that 99 percent of the population -- if they could see these politicians up close, if they watched their speeches and looked at their biographies -- would agree, no matter what their politics or predilections.
I'm confident that if historians ever spend the time on it, they'll confirm my thesis. Same with forensic psychiatrists. I have discussed this with scores of politicians, staffers, consultants and reporters since 1994 and have found few dissenters.
We here in the 99 percent of the population do not see these politicians up close. We don't meet every day with politicians, staffers, consultants and reporters, who with "few dissenters" universally accepted your thesis that Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, Dick Armey, Dennis Hastert and others were morally, ethically, and politically flawed and destructive people.
We count on you - Dick Meyer - as editor of a major American news room - to act on our behalf. When you have so much evidence in hand that serious damage is being done to American political discourse, to the role and reputation of the Congress, to the very concept of good government - it is your job to tell us. And not 12 years later when they are finally out of power.
How convenient you have found religion now that these weirdos, hypocrites, and psychopaths no longer run the House of Representatives. We should all be happy that you are going to be a lot more diligent about the Democratic leadership, calling them out for their flaws when necessary (it's already begun with Nancy "train wreck" Pelosi).
But I think, Dick Meyer, that you owe all of us a lot more introspection and self-criticism. What was it about Republicans that allowed you to give them a pass, but not the Democrats? When you've figured out that answer, come back to us with a truly sincere apology.