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Lie down with dogs, get fleas
Brilliant at Breakfast —
... David Brooks, who's the least hard-right of the bunch, has always had a bit of creeping Tom Friedmanism in his writing, so perhaps he was always going to be the easiest of this bunch to woo. Today he calls for "galvanizing the middle". The problem is that "the middle" consists of Blue Dog Democrats who are too busy fellating the wingnut crazies who now populate the Republican side of the aisle to do what's right for the country. If David Brooks thinks there's a Republican middle outside of himself, he hasn't been paying attention. ...
Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
Daily Kos —
... David Brooks: So, like, is Obama wonderful or ordinary? I mean, is he a wonderful Moderate or an ordinary Democrat Liberal? In my binary world, there are no other choices. ...
The Presider Gets Results
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... in good faith! And so we have what the Constitution hoped for: the emergence of lawmakers able and willing to hone and finesse legislation after a healthy debate. The sane center is at work here; and David Brooks shrewdly celebrates it here. My point would simply be: Obama's understanding of his constitutional role - not as party leader or omniscient messiah, but president - will allow a space for Congress to do its job. This is a messy process. But that's what American democracy is at its best: a horrible, dissonant, slow but ultimately effective mess. ...
Slash and Burn
Matthew Yglesias —
... Meanwhile, David Brooks writes that “[m]oderate economists [have] looked at the package and complained about the vast parts that don’t even pretend to stimulate,” and though I think I know basically who he’s talking about, I don’t see any evidence that those peoples’ criticisms are the basis for the work the centrists are doing. ...
Masteurbation masquerading as moderation
Newshoggers.com —
... in good faith! And so we have what the Constitution hoped for: the emergence of lawmakers able and willing to hone and finesse legislation after a healthy debate. The sane center is at work here; and David Brooks shrewdly celebrates it here. My point would simply be: Obama's understanding of his constitutional role - not as party leader or omniscient messiah, but president - will allow a space for Congress to do its job. This is a messy process. But that's what American democracy is at its best: a horrible, dissonant, slow but ultimately effective mess. ...
Bill Scher: Gang Of Fools
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... Gangs are groups of hoodlums that commit crimes and terrorize neighborhoods. In the Senate, we have a Gang of Moderates, and they're a gang alright. A gang that is trying to commit crimes of humanity to the economic recovery bill. ...
The Trouble With Centrism
Ross Douthat —
... , and not without reason. You can imagine a world in which "centrist" Senators used their awesome deal-making powers to forge compromises that incorporate ideas from the left and right alike. A world in which moderate "gangs," in David Brooks' formulation, actually put meat on the bones of Barack Obama's promise to end politics as usual. A world in which Susan Collins, Ben Nelson, Arlen Specter and Joe Lieberman emerged as ardent champions of, say, a stimulus approach divided evenly between billions in Keynesian spending and billions
for the sort of payroll tax proposal that ...
