David Brooks: McCain's Collapse "Unspeakably Sad"

[babylonsister]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/26/david_brooks_mccains_collapse/

David Brooks: McCain's Collapse "Unspeakably Sad"
By M.J. Rosenberg - October 26, 2008, 9:13AM



In today's agonies, David Brooks trembles over the transformation of the once great, John McCain. You know, all the usual blather about the great leader he once was and his tragic decline these last few weeks or months.

It's truly unbearable stuff especially to those among us (pretty much all serious liberals and conservatives) who always thought McCain is a big zero, a product of ridiculous hype by his buddies in the media.

But the kicker in this Brooks weeper is the last couple of sentences.

"In government, he has almost always had an instinct for the right cause. He has become an experienced legislative craftsman. He is stalwart against the country's foes and cooperative with its friends. But he never escaped the straightjacket of a party that is ailing and a conservatism that is behind the times. And that's what makes the final weeks of this campaign so unspeakably sad."

My God! "Unspeakably sad." Doesn't he read the papers or watch television? Doesn't he surf the web? Does he not know people to whom unspeakably sad things have happened. I'll give just one example. Actually 4000. And that is just in the war Brooks clamored for.

But I'm sure everyone knows people who have experienced the "unspeakably sad." Or have themselves.

Although Jimmy the Plumber, Carl the Car Repairman, Gary the Garbageman and Madge the Manicurist may not get it, its not liberals or socialists they should despise, it's guys like Brooks. Rich, white privileged suburbanites who live in a world where the decline of some two-bit politician qualifies as "unspeakably sad."

[saltpoint]

1. Brooks' public comments of late sound like a funeral euology for the GOP,

which is handy, since it is a dying Party.

At least in its present form.

Brooks is not my favorite columnist but on the other hand I'd make a distinction between him and Kristol. I think Brooks has considerable talent as a writer and observer and regret that it is in the service of the Republican cause.

Mark Shields handles Brooks awfully well on Jim Lehrer's news cast.

As for McCain, he had the demographic in 2000 but was submarined by dirty tricks in South Carolina. He still went on to win several more primaries but could not sustain the effort toward a nomination win.

For whatever virtues may have been perceived about McCain in 2000 there is the strong impression that they are gone by now. Real gone.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Not sad. Every election, someone's gotta lose. We withstood Gore losing by a few votes in Florida,

We watched Kerry get 'swift boated". Dry your tears.

[No Elephants]

3. Thank you. This is what I have been saying all along: McCain's been a prick since he was a

toddler, by his own account. Or since high school, when he got arrested for cursing out a girl to a fare thee well. Or since he finished 896/900 in Annapolis. Or since he crashed three planes in the Navy. Or since he made propaganda films for the North Vietnamese. Or since he "dated" for the last five years of his marriage, then left his wife for Cindy. Or since his horrendous voting record on vets' issues, MLK Day, etc. Or, or or.

You get the picture. An ill-tempered, selfish screw up prick all along.

[renate]

15. I'll admit that if he'd been the R candidate in 2000 and had won

I'd have been bummed that it wasn't Gore, but I'd have thought he'd be an okay President and better than many other Republicans.

I was fooled and I suspect I'm not alone. He just did a better job of hiding his nastiness until this campaign.

[skooooo]

4. If it's so unspeakably sad..

..why is he talking about it?


:shrug:

[RagAss]

8. Please don't bring brains to a discussion of the GOP.....n/m

[Cha]

5. It's a tragic joke all right.

A joke mccain played on himself 'cause he really didn't have it in him.

[bluedawg12]

6. Brooks realizes that mclame put the nails in the conservapig coffin

the coffin that dumbya built.

[liberalmuse]

7. I can't feel sorry for the guy.

He's scum, and he's made his choice. McCain being depicted as an honorable man was nothing more than a myth. He's the most vile politician (other than Cheney) I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.

[BlueIdaho]

9. We have 9 days to make this a real tragedy - for the republicans.

Ask yourself what you can do NOW - TODAY to make sure this election is an overwhelming Democratic victory.

[Terran]

10. I guess McCain lacks free will

Otherwise he'd have done some things differently, based on his "instincts".

[SOS]

11. Sad?

McCain needed to do two simple things:

1. Pick a real VP, like Snowe or Hutchison.
2. Run a respectful campaign focused on security and economy.

It's not rocket surgery.
It's hard to believe that nitwits like Davis, Salter, Schmidt and Schoeneman were paid millions to come up with a campaign centered on an Alaskan village leader and a fake plumber.

There's nothing sad about this at all.

[underpants]

12. "McCain shares the progressive conservative instinct."

:rofl:

[underpants]

13. "McCain shares the progressive conservative instinct."

:rofl:

[road2000]

14. Thanks for the summary,

so I don't have to read it. Reading Brooks is an agony.

"Unspeakably sad" applies to Obama's grandmother's situation. There's nothing sad about McNasty.

[lib2DaBone]

16. David Brooks jumped the shark long ago...

He has been a Republican water boy for the last couple of years. I expect to see him over at Faux News any day.

[Overseas]

17. It is not at all sad to me to see HATE GO UNREWARDED.

I am glad to see a major formerly respected senator lose major polling points by spewing LIES about his opponent.

I am encouraged that people were so turned off by McHate and his team's racist and alarmist smearing campaign.

That has been the bright light in this campaign season for me-- that the majority of people were turned off by the blatant racist and alarmist tactics, devolving into the "who is a real American?" level of recent days.

Hope the distaste extends to booting LOTS of Republicans right out of office. Good riddance to those ethically challenged guys for whom the Ends Justify the Means. And for whom spreading the wealth UP TO THE RICH is just fine, but down to the middle class and poor is somehow socialist.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. This is confirmation that David Brooks have been delusional for a long time..

[Orsino]

19. So why is Brooks still speaking?

More importantly, why is he still being paid to speak?

[VoodooGuru]

20. "a conservatism that is behind the times."

That's quite telling.

[tomg]

21. In government, he

has almost always had an instinct for the right cause." What is unspeakably sad is that, with some notable exception, McCain was on the wrong side. David Brooks is a twit.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. McCain is not entitled to the Presidency

He has to earn it. McCain has lived a life of luxury, power, respect, and prestige, where every door has been open to him. How can anyone feel sorry for him, just because his latest heart's desire is beyond his reach?

[pschneider]

23. McCain-Palin deserve no sympathy from anyone with half a brain

[Fly by night]

24. I appreciate Brook's voice and his self-assessment of the Republican Party.

Within the past two weeks, Brooks has also said that Sarah Palin represents a "cancer" in the Republican Party.

I hope he keeps speaking up and leveling criticisms against his own party. These days, he is far from alone in his sentiments.

GOBAMA.

[BeyondGeography]

25. Do these folks ever really spell out a "conservatism" that is with it?

Lots of hand-wringing about what the GOP has become, but no prescription for the way out. They're a total mess.