Columnist David Broder, who held top reporting positions and then an opinion slot at the Washington Post for so long that he'd been called "dean of the Washington press corps" for 50 years, died at 81 today of complications from diabetes.

A few quick facts about David Broder:

  • He was only a car or two behind President Kennedy when he was assassinated in 1963. He was proud of his ability to show no human emotion during this traumatic episode for the country. This is probably how he secured "dean" status, by preventing himself from writing with any sort of sadness or sympathy during the assassination of a golden-boy president several yards away.
  • He hated the Clintons and led the moralistic Beltway howl against President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It was the angriest he'd ever been in his life, when he heard about Bill Clinton getting a hummer from Monica Lewinsky.
  • He liked compromise and bipartisanship as ends in themselves, had no real interest in analyzing specific pieces of legislation, and was an original proponent of many other familiar Washington media traits, like "both sides do it." For more, google High Broderism.
  • He was an important figure in 1972's The Boys on the Bus, one of the earliest media-centric books showcasing the depravity of "pack journalism" on the campaign trail.

[Image via Getty]