David Durenberger: “I rise today to congratulate one of the most valuable journalists we have in America--William Raspberry of the…”

“I rise today to congratulate one of the most valuable journalists we have in America--William Raspberry of the Washington Post--on the occasion of his Pulitzer Prize. I think this recognition is not only richly deserved--it is in fact long overdue. I have been a Raspberry fan for many years, and I would like to share with my colleagues the chief reasons why. Anyone who believes in a reasoned, thoughtful approach to our national problems can only have watched in dismay the trend in our political discourse in recent years. Never in America's history have public issues been talked about so much--with so little intelligence and illumination. I like to refer to it as the ``Crossfirization'' of politics. On any issue, there are two and only two sides. We determine which side is right by judging the slogans on their bumper stickers. Because pretty much everybody today has clever media consultants, the slogans tend to be of a uniform quality--so we need a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker is, who can shout the slogans loudest on TV. It is against this background that the eminence of William Raspberry takes on its true dimensions. Diogenes--the Greek philosopher of the 4th century B.C.--walked around in the daylight with a lantern ``in search of an honest man.'' Today, he would have to look no further than William Raspberry. The truth is an iceberg, and Raspberry recognizes this. A poor columnist lacks insight entirely. A good columnist provides some insight.…”