Reply #5: Maybe he's trying to revive his shriveling raison d'etre

[Snellius]

Ever since joining the Times, Brooks' faked intellect has finally caught up with him. He's always been in that mold of phony conservative pundits like Buckley or George Will or Tucker Carlson, who try to make up for their lack of real insight or erudition with a prissy show of ivy-league affectations. As if, if they sounded Yaley enough, mystified readers wouldn't bother to ask whether they made any sense or not. Unfortunately, the readers of the Times are not as stupid as his old audience at the Weekly Standard.

Attacking DeLay is always a safe bet, even though he's afraid to admit the real goon in his mob is someone else.