Media use Republican disarray to bash Democrats

Summary: In recent days, AP writer Tom Raum and U.S. News & World Report contributing editor Gloria Borger have taken pot shots at Democrats while ostensibly writing about problems within the Republican Party.

In recent days, Associated Press writer Tom Raum and Gloria Borger, a CBS News contributor and U.S. News & World Report contributing editor, have taken pot shots at Democrats while ostensibly writing about problems within the Republican Party.

In an April 3 AP article about Republican criticism of President Bush on issues ranging from "Iraq to deficits, from immigration to port security," Raum wrote that "Republicans these days are almost sounding like perennially divided Democrats." Raum went on to assert that "[t]he only solace to frustrated Republicans could be that Democrats seem to be struggling themselves to come up with unified positions on Iraq and many other major issues." As evidence, Raum cited only a joke Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) told at the Gridiron Club of Washington, D.C.'s annual roast on March 13.

From Raum's April 3 article, "Republicans Increasingly Critical of Bush":

From Iraq to deficits, from immigration to port security, some of the most pointed criticism leveled at President Bush is coming from within his own party. Republicans these days are almost sounding like perennially divided Democrats.

[...]

The only solace to frustrated Republicans could be that Democrats seem to be struggling themselves to come up with unified positions on Iraq and many other major issues.

"They say Democrats don't stand for anything. That's patently untrue. We do stand for anything," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., joked at a recent press dinner.

Similarly, in her column in the April 10 issue of U.S. News, Borger wrote: "Under normal circumstances, when the press characterizes a party that is (a) in disarray, (b) seeking an identity, or (c) without a message, it's usually the Democrats." Borger added: "After all, they have no unifying agenda, and, even if they did, they wouldn't rally around it. They're Democrats. This time, however, it's the Republicans who can't get their act together."

From Borger's April 10 U.S. News & World Report column:

Under normal circumstances, when the press characterizes a party that is (a) in disarray, (b) seeking an identity, or (c) without a message, it's usually the Democrats. After all, they have no unifying agenda, and, even if they did, they wouldn't rally around it. They're Democrats. This time, however, it's the Republicans who can't get their act together. With a president at 34 percent in the polls, an upcoming election with control of the Congress in play, and 2008 just a blink away (really), the GOP is moving into its post-Bush phase -- and it's not pretty.

—J.S.