David Brooks is nuts. Have you seen his NY Times column today?

[Faygo Kid]

David Brooks is a sniveling tool of Karl Rove, but this one is over the top even for him. Hey, David: Next time a Republican is savaged by the Right, and you write a column about it, it will be your first. So those who disagree with Joe's slavish support of Bush are "laced with profanity and ugliness?" Ever hear of Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage - and Coulter, David? This is yet another shot at those who dissent about the war, in an attempt to silence us. You don't have the cojones, Brooks, so give your obvious and lame attempts to intimidate the MAJORITY of the American people a rest. (I include the first few paragraphs because this is an Insider column, which I pay for but you may not be able to access).

Op-Ed Columnist
The Liberal Inquisition
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: July 9, 2006

Sometimes history comes with previews. In the 1930's, the Spanish Civil War served as a precursor to the global conflict that was World War II. And in a smaller fashion, the primary battle playing out on the smiling lawns of upscale Connecticut serves as a preview for the national conflict that will dominate American politics for the next two years.

This isn't a fight between left and right. It's a fight about how politics should be conducted. On the one hand are the true believers — the fundamentalists of both parties who believe that politics should be about party discipline, passion, purity, orthodoxy and clear choices. On the other side are the quasi-independents — the heterodox politicians who distrust ideological purity, who rebel against movement groupthink, who believe in bipartisanship both as a matter of principle and as a practical necessity.

In 2008, heterodox politicians like John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and even Hillary Clinton are going to have to face zealous assaults from within their own parties. But for the moment that war has come to Joe Lieberman.

What's happening to Lieberman can only be described as a liberal inquisition. Whether you agree with him or not, he is transparently the most kind-hearted and well-intentioned of men. But over the past few years he has been subjected to a vituperation campaign that only experts in moral manias and mob psychology are really fit to explain. I can't reproduce the typical assaults that have been directed at him over the Internet, because they are so laced with profanity and ugliness, but they are ginned up by ideological masseurs who salve their followers' psychic wounds by arousing their rage at objects of mutual hate. . .

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/opinion/09brooks.html?hp

[acmavm]

1. Yeah, it's been posted and yeah, common concensus is that

Brooks is a two-legged freak show.

[Fenris]

2. My favorite passage...

Next has come the effort to expel Lieberman from modern liberalism. In a dark parody of the old struggle between Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey, the highly educated, highly affluent, highly Caucasian wing of the Democratic Party has turned liberalism from a philosophy into a secular religion, and then sought to purge a battle-scarred warhorse on the grounds of insufficient moral purity.

As Jane Hamsher from firedoglake pointed out, one of the people who has pledged support for Lamont is Representative Maxine Waters, obviously the vanguard of the "highly affluent, highly Caucasian wing of the Democratic Party." :eyes:

[Faygo Kid]

5. I wonder who gave Brooks his marching orders.

Look for the Right wing talk show freaks to jump on board with Brooks' argument. Their discipline is amazing, but perhaps not surprising.

[undeterred]

8. From which orifice are we expelling Lieberman?

:hurts: :puke:

[Clark2008]

32. That quote sounds like Ann Coulter's "Godless" without the

snide, bitch-slapping she's famous for.

I mean - it's the exact same thing Mann-Hands says: that liberalism is a religion. :eyes:

Guess we know where Brooks got his marching orders, now, don't we?

[senseandsensibility]

39. Point taken about Maxine Waters

and my respect for the African Americans in Congress and their disdain for the * "administration" knows no bounds, but what is wrong with caucasions? How do white repukes get away with smearing white liberals as though it's a deadly insult? This guy doesn't even care if what he writes makes sense.

[Pithy Cherub]

3. Joementum is also using brooks to spread his whiny, snivelling

message that he is ordained by God to have that seat. Democrats don't vote in large enough numbers in the DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S primary to matter according to Holy Joe. Brooks is speaking for Joe. :crazy:

[undeterred]

9. Next he'll be saying that he's being persecuted for being Jewish

I heard Sam Seder say that someone already blamed the Jews in Connecticut (like 3% of the populations) for not rushing in to stand up for him- no doubt another message from Joe, whose narcisisstic sense of entitlement knows no bounds.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Faygo Kid]

19. I would not go there. Plenty of other reasons for Brooks' column.

You give the Right/Rove ammunition by such unfounded speculation. Brooks is a tool, but not of his religion: He is a tool of the powerful messaging machine that is the GOP. "Jews sticking together" is an ugly and unworthy argument, and my Sen. Carl Levin would reject it in a heartbeat. We all make mistakes. I hope you consider this one of yours, and retract.

[nealmhughes]

25. "Jews stick together" -- yeah, when antisemitism is afoot.

Jews represent every single strand of the socio-economic-political spectrum! The only thing they have in common is a religious/ethnic heritage. For every Chomsky there is a Horowitz! My uncle Carl was a union teamster truck driver, hardly a well-educated "rich New York Jew!" The only Yiddish he knew would have been what his grandparents had used in Brooklyn in order for the kinder not to understand the adults talking. He had first cousins who were not welcoming to him and his gentile wife and children (my aunt and cousins) socially or in many family settings, but in retrospect, I feel it was one largely one of class rather than religion, as the cousins were Westcheste Jews, instead of Brooklyn ones. But when there were deaths in the family, he sat shiva with them, and they gave my cousins Hannukah presents, even though they were Episcopalians. They had this in common: they were members of the same tribe that had suffered under the Hitlerzeit and the Czar and were bound by that -- not by what they did for a living or their politics.

[Faygo Kid]

28. Well, I'm glad I responded. A nerve was obviously hit.

And justifiably so. Thank you for sharing family memories. Good heavens, though, I hope that you are wrong about "for every Chomsky there is a Horowitz". We need lots of Chomskys, and we need no Horowitzes! At least that one. We all need to recognize anti-Semitism when we see it, and this American of Scandinavian heritage will call it as he sees it when he sees it.

http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/Story+Image_thumb_051006_story1.jpg

[leveymg]

27. No, he's just a Putz

[kurth]

31. Yes, David Brooks is Jewish

http://www.nndb.com/people/456/000030366/

[leveymg]

37. He's still a Putz

who can't write worth a damn.

[Democrats_win]

4. Americans stopped being True Believers on December 12, 2000.

That's when the cronies, crooks and perverts on the Supreme Court appointed the loser of the 2000 election the POTUS. Since then, our nation tortures people and lies in order to start wars.

[undeterred]

6. transparently the most kind-hearted and well-intentioned of men

Poor lil Joey, he's such a nice boy and those bad blogerals are beating him up.
Poor poor lil Joey.

[aquart]

11. "Blogerals"? Oooh, I like that portmanteau word.

Never seen anything like the internet for coining new words. How old is this one? A day? A week?

[undeterred]

20. Less than an hour, cuz I just made it up.

:shrug:

[Faygo Kid]

21. Let me add my voice to applauding "Blogerals," as well.

I are proud to be one. Thanks for the New Word.

[undeterred]

23. When I hear these television pundits

acknowleding that we exist, (we = the grassroots, the people being brought together by common values on the internet) it almost sounds like they're talking about the mice or cockroaches that you can't get out of an old building. No matter how hard you spray, or how much de-con you leave out, we keep crawling back through the cracks. No wonder they want to cripple our primary means of communication.

[annabanana]

44. Hey Ma! ...Looka Me! ... I'm a Blogeral!

it's a fun one!

[leveymg]

7. Brooks - the Left is run by people who drink gin in massage parlours

Or, that's what you might think if you took him literally. That guy's prose is so over the top, it's funny!!

:rofl:

[Cha]

16. And the right is powered by

dirty ol' men who swing from chandeliers.

Edit~ I thought the Left was engined by caffe latte drinkers in Birkenstocks who drove Volvos and hiked on the weekends? :)

[leveymg]

26. Hey, I resemble that remark . . .

Boxy shoes, like boxy cars, are very comfortable.


;) ;) ;) ;)LIBERALS;) ;) ;) ;)

[Faygo Kid]

29. Not sure about that boxy cars thing. . .

You might want to rethink.

[leveymg]

36. That's not a car. And, it's not comfortable

At least the original military vehicles weren't. Claustrophic yes. Great off road, but not a practical vehicle unless your commute regularly includes urban assault operations.

That's another nice thing about the older Volvos. Lots of glass area for the yellow dogs' noses to smudge up.

[Faygo Kid]

38. Well, so long as it involves pooper dogs. . .

When they throw the dirt over me, they will have to say that I loved and adored my dogs, the best people I ever knew.

[leveymg]

40. Our dear departed Blanche was a person

We couldn't figure out what kind of dog she was -- some kind of cross between a Pointer and a Lab -- so we gave up, and just accepted her as a person.

Her pal, John Barley Corn, is a big yellow dog, and he still misses her.

(Not the actual dog, but close enough. Not the actual white Volvo 740 wagon, either, but you get the idea.)

[Faygo Kid]

41. A Sweetie Pie. You are a fortunate dude, my friend. You know that.

To have a dog like that love you makes you very fortunate. But you already know that. Will you give John Barley Corn (yeah, I know, Traffic) a tweat from her good friend in Michigan?

[leveymg]

45. He gets plenty of treats, but I'll pass on your greetings from you and .

your friends.

Everyone in the family thought Barley was a good name for a yellow dog. John Barley Corn has more than one meaning. As noted on the Traffic album, "there are many other interpretations."

John Barleycorn is the traditional name given to whiskey, and there is an old folklore behind the drink and the grain. It also refers to royal persecution of populist egalitarian movements such as the Levellers as well as Christian repression of pagan spiritual practices. Rebel sympathizers can at least take solace in the grain beverage which is indisputedly refererred to in the last verse of the song. See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barleycorn

We miss seeing two dogs back there. Blanche was someone really special. A woman from India stopped next to me at a traffic light some time ago, rolled down her window, and said, "That dog really loves you." Yes, that was apparent for all to see when we rode to the store in my little convertible. Yes, I am a lucky man.

This is as close as I can find to an image that resembles Blanche.

[nealmhughes]

30. Hey, I resemble that remark!

"You'll get my Birks off my cold bead feet." "Old Volvos never die: they retire to campus."

[Faygo Kid]

22. Drinking gin in massage parlors - sounds good to me.

Man, that beats work all to hell. Where can I find these people?

[undeterred]

24. Wow, I'm really missing out.

I drink ice water in the back yard.

[Marr]

10. What a ridiculous position.

Brooks, a conservative idealogue, likes Lieberman and thinks liberals should, too. Uh... Dave? If you like him, why does it surprise you that liberals do not?

[acmejack]

12. I was thrilled to learn I was highly affluent.

He probably meant "Highly Effluent"...

[Faygo Kid]

13. Effluent is too big a word for me, I am just an Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer

[applegrove]

14. Yup. Lieberman is a wedge and perhaps he now sees that. Part of

Rove's 30 year empire. If they flip Lieberman..and how could he not vote is conscience on this war.. his conscience being tied to Israel...it was written in the stars the momment * did what he was told and went for a long, slow war... that Israeli hawks would have a different experience of the war and nutcases like Iran's reaction to US presence there... it was all there written out..that Lieberman would vote with his soul one way.. and Dems... other ways..voting their souls.

But somehow..it didn't turn into anything approaching anti-semitism.

David Brooks is a patsy. Here he is today.. trying to build the narrative the GOP wants: LIBERALS HATE JEWS.

***hole!

[Cha]

17. Too bad Lamont isn't

Jewish that would really frost their race card butts.

[applegrove]

33. People aren't stupid. At least people in the Blue States.

[TahitiNut]

18. "Inquisition"??

What fucking insane projection! Nonsense! An 'inquisition' is when you select the defendant (scapegoat) and manufacture charges - as the right did to Clinton in the 90s. It's NOT based on fact-based disagreements with positions espoused and principles violated. Lieberman's behavior is at issue!

[Ms. Clio]

34. and this is supposed to HELP Lieberman???

This is damn near another kiss from the Chimperor, as far as I'm concerned. Anybody the wingnuts like so much cannot be good for anyone else.

[Faygo Kid]

35. Great point, I had not thought of it.

No question, that when the voters see this cheap and smarmy attempt at insulting their intelligence, they will reject it and support Lamont. As they should. The people of this nation have had it with this war and W's attempts to destroy the New Deal, but the pundits still don't get it. Surprise, David: You lose.

[Ms. Clio]

43. So far Lieberman has the support of wingnuts like Coulter and Hannity

and Brooks. Wonder when Cheney will endorse him? Oh, pretty please?

[rodeodance]

42. "The Liberal Inquisition"---umm..