A very good piece by Elias Isquith points this out.
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/27/david_brooks_wont_admit_it_but_donald_trump_is_partially_his_fault/
I've noticed that Brooks has been in a sort of nostalgic mood lately.
1. In a recent post he was looking all the way back to 1995 and thought that maybe the GOP should have worked with Bill Clinton on his deficit reduction plan.
True-from their own point of view this would have been smarter-but what was Brooks saying then? Was he urging the GOP to work with Clinton then?
The GOP has consistently been its own worse enemy. In 2011 Obama was willing to make all kind of compromises that was outraging many in his own base. Chained CPI, raising the retirement age for Medicare. Nancy Pelosi asked only that the Bush tax cuts expire on those making more than $1 million per year.
As usual, the GOP just said no.
In 2013 the Bush tax cuts were eliminated for all those who make more than $450,000 per year. Well played.
As for chained CPI or Medicare, forget about it. Happily from my standpoint this will never happen now.
This has been the trouble of Brooks and his party. Looking back now and wishing you had behaved better misses the point. The barn door is already open and the cows are all gone.
2. He even said he missed President Obama now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection
Great that you miss him now, but how did you treat him while he was here? Again, Brooks should have appreciated Obama during the Obama years and not only now that he sees the rise of Trump.
Again, after the barn door opens.
"David Brooks won’t admit it, but Donald Trump is partially his fault."
"The star pundit is tired of so-called antipolitics. But before he makes accusations, he should look at himself."
"It’s impossible to deny, after all, that part of the reason Republican voters have flocked to Trump is in order to send the party establishment a signal. (And that that signal is basically a middle finger, upturned.) Elevating Trump — which goes against the urgings of nearly every party leader, apparatchik and pundit — is a form of mass insolence. It’s the kind of behavior that’s usually accompanied with declarations, like “enough is enough!”
"Brooks' problem is he's always too late. 25 years later he thinks maybe the GOP could have worked with Bill Clinton. As Obama is in his last year, he suddenly realizes his virtues. Both Brooks and his party are always too late."
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/27/david_brooks_wont_admit_it_but_donald_trump_is_partially_his_fault/
I've noticed that Brooks has been in a sort of nostalgic mood lately.
1. In a recent post he was looking all the way back to 1995 and thought that maybe the GOP should have worked with Bill Clinton on his deficit reduction plan.
True-from their own point of view this would have been smarter-but what was Brooks saying then? Was he urging the GOP to work with Clinton then?
The GOP has consistently been its own worse enemy. In 2011 Obama was willing to make all kind of compromises that was outraging many in his own base. Chained CPI, raising the retirement age for Medicare. Nancy Pelosi asked only that the Bush tax cuts expire on those making more than $1 million per year.
As usual, the GOP just said no.
In 2013 the Bush tax cuts were eliminated for all those who make more than $450,000 per year. Well played.
As for chained CPI or Medicare, forget about it. Happily from my standpoint this will never happen now.
This has been the trouble of Brooks and his party. Looking back now and wishing you had behaved better misses the point. The barn door is already open and the cows are all gone.
2. He even said he missed President Obama now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection
Great that you miss him now, but how did you treat him while he was here? Again, Brooks should have appreciated Obama during the Obama years and not only now that he sees the rise of Trump.
Again, after the barn door opens.
"David Brooks won’t admit it, but Donald Trump is partially his fault."
"The star pundit is tired of so-called antipolitics. But before he makes accusations, he should look at himself."
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/27/david_brooks_wont_admit_it_but_donald_trump_is_partially_his_fault/
For years, Brooks and the rest of the serious pundits played 'Both sides do it' ignoring the dysfunction of his own party:
"I’ve written about some of the likely causes already. But there’s at least one likely contributing factor that I haven’t previously touched on, in part because it’s not really in my wheelhouse. It has to do with how Trump’s Republican supporters feel they’ve been treated by the party apparatus; by its bureaucrats and donors, and by its leading media figures — such as best-selling author and center-right columnist David Brooks."
"It’s impossible to deny, after all, that part of the reason Republican voters have flocked to Trump is in order to send the party establishment a signal. (And that that signal is basically a middle finger, upturned.) Elevating Trump — which goes against the urgings of nearly every party leader, apparatchik and pundit — is a form of mass insolence. It’s the kind of behavior that’s usually accompanied with declarations, like “enough is enough!”
"Brooks' problem is he's always too late. 25 years later he thinks maybe the GOP could have worked with Bill Clinton. As Obama is in his last year, he suddenly realizes his virtues. Both Brooks and his party are always too late."
Here's another article, which I actually liked, but perhaps it's similar to Brooks, I don't know (I've exceeded my NY times free views)
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