David Brooks (of all people) eviscerates Beck, Limbaugh et al.

[WilliamPitt]

*smoosh*

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/opinion/02brooks.html?_r=1&em

The Wizard of Beck
By DAVID BROOKS

Published: October 2, 2009

Let us take a trip back into history. Not ancient history. Recent history. It is the winter of 2007. The presidential primaries are approaching. The talk jocks like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the rest are over the moon about Fred Thompson. They’re weak at the knees at the thought of Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, they are hurling torrents of abuse at the unreliable deviationists: John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Yet somehow, despite the fervor of the great microphone giants, the Thompson campaign flops like a fish. Despite the schoolgirl delight from the radio studios, the Romney campaign underperforms. Meanwhile, Huckabee surges. Limbaugh attacks him, but social conservatives flock.

Along comes New Hampshire and McCain wins! Republican voters have not heeded their masters in the media. Before long, South Carolina looms as the crucial point of the race. The contest is effectively between Romney and McCain. The talk jocks are now in spittle-flecked furor. Day after day, whole programs are dedicated to hurling abuse at McCain and everybody ever associated with him. The jocks are threatening to unleash their angry millions. Yet the imaginary armies do not materialize. McCain wins the South Carolina primary and goes on to win the nomination. The talk jocks can’t even deliver the conservative voters who show up at Republican primaries. They can’t even deliver South Carolina!

So what is the theme of our history lesson? It is a story of remarkable volume and utter weakness. It is the story of media mavens who claim to represent a hidden majority but who in fact represent a mere niche — even in the Republican Party. It is a story as old as “The Wizard of Oz,” of grand illusions and small men behind the curtain.

(snip)

The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest has correlated almost perfectly with the decline of the G.O.P. But it’s not because the talk jocks have real power. It’s because they have illusory power, because Republicans hear the media mythology and fall for it every time.

:)

[Ineeda]

1. love this....

"...spittle-flecked furor..." -- The ultimate description of (R) discourse.

[madokie]

2. I'm just amazed that otherwise sensible people can listen to their tripe

How do they do that? Just the sound of either pigboy or the beckster's voice curdles my blood

[indepat]

14. My late mother swore my beautiful, highly intelligent younger 1st cousin quit her job so she could

listen to pigboy. No use trying to figure out such insanity because its inexplicable. ;)

[MajorChode]

23. As Lindsey Graham says, cynicism sells

When you tell people exactly what they want to hear, the truth doesn't matter much. It's the modern day equivalent of the snake oil salesman.

[kentuck]

3. Illlusory power?

"The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest has correlated almost perfectly with the decline of the G.O.P."

And Custer said, "Keep fighting boys! We are winning!"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

Brook is an old-school, country-club Republican

who does not like spittle-flecking and ranting. He doesn't want to get drool on his tassel loafers. Although he is a snobby little weasel, he's also smart enough to recognize that the GOP is well and truly fucked if the loonies take over.

[cali]

4. I don't understand your surprise at Brooks authoring this.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Meh.

I lump him in with George Will. He writes better than most, and clearly has an intelligent mind, but when the chips are down he sides with the worst of the Right-wing almost every time. Think of the major events of the Bush administration. There were very few instances when he wasn't shoulder-to-shoulder with that lot. Iraq leaps most prominently to mind; he's still trying to justify his unrestrained cheerleading for that debacle.

I am not a fan of Brooks.

[struggle4progress]

9. Translation: Brooks thinks Republican politicians should pretend to be centrists.

Since Brooks very seldom has an original idea, and often just spouts some version of the "Official Thought for Today," that probably means he's heard Republican strategists urging Republican politicians to drape "Love Me! I'm a Centrist" shawls over their shoulders as November 2010 approaches

[54anickel]

15. Heh-heh, worked for the "Big Dog". IMHO, M$M is getting lots of $$$ to set up the promotion of a

centrist image by first amplifying the extreme....this drowns out the sane voices from both sides. Meanwhile, they'll promote those holding their "pet" views as the voice of reason, when it's really made up of bought and paid for lapdogs. It's been working for TPTB since the lead up to St Ronnie...

[Overseas]

16. +1 . Well said. Thank you. //nt

[blm]

19. Anyone with access to Brooks' work over the years and a sense of integrity would be surprised.

.

[BeyondGeography]

6. First David Brooks column I have read in its entirety in an awfully long time

That last line is actually pretty damned perceptive.

K&R

[Burma Jones]

7. He's with David Frum and the other cultured Republicans

A dying breed......

Suburbia is increasingly Democrat and Brooks et al speak to the Professional Class workers turned off by the Media Whack jobs and Palin and Huckabee and Joe Wilson.

[hwmnbn]

8. Shhh... quiet... don't let the wingnuts know...

these media shills are taking them for a ride.

The internecine war within the repub party IS OFFICIALLY ON!!

:popcorn:

[Cant trust em]

10. Brooks is conservative, but he's not stupid.

These radio blowhards defy intellect.

[Wetzelbill]

11. Brooks can be very good sometimes

Even awesome, he'll write a column that is interesting, thoughtful and makes some great points. And then a few days later he'll write another one that is inane like about Paul Wolfowitz being redeemed or something goofy like that, and you're like "Oh yeah, that's more like it." He's got a Jeckyl-Hyde thing going on.

[kentuck]

12. The Jekyll-Hyde analogy fits Brooks to a tee.

Excellent!

[Wetzelbill]

22. yeah I get lucky sometimes.

:)

[Arkansas Granny]

13. I don't read his column, but I see him regularly on PBS NewsHour

and over the last few years I've noticed a shift in his position. His views seem to be moving more to the center, recently, and I've heard him defend Democrats on several occasions. Sometimes he sounds like he is just on the edge of an epiphany. Maybe there's still hope for him.

[zonkers]

17. "It is the story of media mavens who claim to represent a hidden majority but who in fact represent

a mere niche — even in the Republican Party"

BINGO.

[The_Commonist]

18. Brooks is a weenie!

But even a weenie can be right occasionally.

[bridgit]

21. hahaha, they can be cooked and eaten too

:kick::

[Mz Pip]

20. Brooks is right on this

but the danger from the likes of Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh is not that they have any great control over the Republican electorate, it is that they validate the hatred of the extreme but vocal fringe of the party. It doesn't seem like it would take much more to push some of these wackos over the edge to the point of pulling a few triggers.

[MajorChode]

24. It's not surprising really. Brooks has always been at odds with the corpulent junkie.

Just don't forget that Brooks is still a neocon and predicted US troops invading Iraq would be welcomed with roses.

[bridgit]

25. The GOP has been the direct recipient of Atwater Politics for decades...

Smearing shit all over the walls, normal people either start cleaning ala HazMat or they exit holding their nose. Atwater Politics are an ultimate form of Gong Show, immediate and predictable where the some weird slanderous shit is dropped, the Benny Hill theme is queued, people laugh and boo and start lighting *their* torches the gong goes gong and it's the next victim next victim next victim. And all because the human mind is so damn pliable the GOP has been dieseling forward on thin, over-heated empty for decades now - republicans have needed no new ideas, only more & more Atwater Politics.

Though how can that sustain anything long term? I think cooler Republican heads have thought that for some time. Cause they're walking away from these ultimate effects of having violent, ignorant nut-fringes plied into their data base just cause a Frank Luntz focus group said they'd like to see them there. It is not a case of 'into the breach' stood Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Savage, O'Reilly...they've been standing there the whole time. You wanna see bottom feeders? Drain the swamp. That's where Beck & Limbaugh are

This was posted by another but generally pooh-poohed just cause Brooks' name was on it. And I do understand the frustration many have with the likes of Brooks; but you should check Medved too. These people are staunch conservatives that much is clear. I do think they feel that someone has to hold their nose, get back in there, and save the GOP from these over-represented neo-nazi propagandists railing against all others as did Hitler from his bunker before the fall

It won't be me, but someone needs to save the GOP *from* the GOP or the GOP can change their name to the APP, that's right you got it: The Atwater Politics Party

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/atwater

[WilliamPitt]

26. Evening kick