David Brooks is a leading neoconservative writer, who pens a regular column for the NY Times' editorial page. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad he's there. But his latest column, in which he takes shots at the conservative "establishment", and which has already been panned throughout the conservative blogosphere, demands a bit of attention here as well.
His column is here. Basically, he argues that although this conservative "establishment" (such as National Review or Rush Limbaugh) want to tell conservative voters what to do (to, in his view, get them to back Mitt Romney and to despise John McCain and Mike Huckabee), Brooks argues happily that these voters aren't obeying. Quote: "The lesson is not that the conservative establishment is headed for the ash heap. The lesson is that the Republican Party, even in its shrunken state, is diverse. Regular Republican voters don’t seem to mind independent thinking. There’s room for moderates as well as orthodox conservatives. Limbaugh, Grover Norquist and James Dobson have influence, but they are not arbiters of conservative doctrine."
Gosh. No kidding. Nor have they ever claimed to be. Let's see--in how many ways is Brooks mistaken? Let's see: 1] Both Limbaugh's show and NR's "The Corner" blog are forums of DISCUSSION, and this is very much their purpose. There is no attempt to force anyone to follow a party line. Limbaugh has always laughed at the notion that his listeners are, or that he wants them to be, "mind-numbed robots" (in Rush's usual phraseology). On the other hand, the mainstream media sees Limbaugh's listeners in just that way; it's too bad Brooks echoes their thinking. 2] Has Brooks never read The Corner? Or the sites of The Weekly Standard or The American Spectator? There, over the past months, one could have read essays and posts from Fred Thompson conservatives, John McCain conservatives, Rudy Giuliani conservatives (!)--don't forget that Giuliani is pro-choice on abortion, yet he's had several defenders on The Corner--and even Ron Paul conservatives. Oh, so Brooks has discovered that conservatism is diverse, has he? If he'd actually read The Corner or listened to Limbaugh he'd have discovered that long ago. 3] Where does Brooks get the idea that conservative, Republican voters are going McCain's way? In the actual primaries and caucuses that have been held so far, McCain has yet to win a majority of the votes cast by Republicans and conservatives. He's won in New Hampshire and South Carolina only because of independents. Mike Huckabee has only won in Iowa. The guy who's gotten the most votes so far actually is Mitt Romney.
Mr. Brooks obviously likes McCain. That's fine. Who knows, maybe Mr. McCain will actually win the GOP nomination. It's possible. But I think, when he looks at Republicans, Brooks is seeing what he wants to see, not what the evidence necessarily (so far) shows.
