Shorter David Brooks

Ceding the Center, 10/26/2008:

• Here are 800 words about an ideology I just made up called "progressive conservatism," which encompasses both everything and nothing, and is not an oxymoron at all.

Above: "Any questions? No? Well good then!"

Seriously. Go read it if you don't believe me. It is complete, total, utter, unadulterated nonsense from beginning to end. Basically this "progressive conservatism" amounts to supporting state intervention in the economy without actually being a scary state-intervention-supporting liberal; Brooks cites land-grant colleges and Teddy Roosevelt's trust-busting -- not generally considered a case of prudent centrism -- as examples, but my favorite is when he appropriates Alexander Hamilton for supporting "a vibrant national economy so people can grow and thrive." As opposed to, you know, everybody who opposes a growing and thriving economy. OBAMA '08: POVERTY AND SQUALOR FOR AMERICA!

I've always thought David Brooks is basically a bullshit artist, but it's been especially bad lately; did you see last week's column, which is about "Patio Man"? Patio Man. It really seems like the impending Obama landslide has scrambled his brain.

I understand that Brooks, and his crazed musings, still have a lot of fans at Harvard and in the Times' elite readership -- but why?

Everything that is wrong with David Brooks

Brooks on Wednesday, writing about the shallow ABC debate that everyone hated:

We may not like it, but issues like Jeremiah Wright, flag lapels and the Tuzla airport will be important in the fall. Remember how George H.W. Bush toured flag factories to expose Michael Dukakis. It’s legitimate to see how the candidates will respond to these sorts of symbolic issues.

Okay, but, see, no it's not. Only in the twisted mind of a mainstream political reporter is anything related to these issues "legitimate". The other day I had an argument with a commenter in which I suggested that our media (elite and wannabe-elite) is cognitively incapable of distinguishing the symbolic from the real; well, here you have Exhibit A. This man needs help.

...Perhaps the greatest contribution of political blogging since its inception around 2002-2003 has been its thesis that mainstream political journalism, as an institution, is intellectually bankrupt. Digby has been the most prominent and eloquent articulator of this thesis, and Atrios probably the most reliable, but it informs almost all the discussion everywhere from activist-type blogs to snark blogs to the wonkosphere and outward. It's a commonplace at this point. So maybe that's why so many bloggers were in such googly-eyed outrage on Wednesday night; ABC unabashedly and unreservedly endorsed all the transparently stupid bullshit that we've spent years trying to beat back. Moments like these, and Brooks' astonishing column, ought to remind us how far away we really are from having a media with a brain...