Brooks And Undone

I didn't think it would take very long, but just a month after ripping into the Tea Party over holding the country hostage on the debt ceiling, it looks like David Brooks has returned to form, chasing the shiny object known as Rick Perry's Inconsequential America.

The events of 2009 and 2010 also concentrated the Republican mind. It used to be that there were many themes in the Republican hymnal. Now there is only one: Government is too big, and it needs to be brought under control. It used to be there were many threats on the horizon. Now there is only one: the interlocking oligarchy of politicians, academics, journalists, consultants and financiers who live along the Acela corridor want to rip America from its traditional moorings.

Perry is benefiting from these shifts. He does best among the most conservative voters. He has a simple and fashionable message: I will bring government under control. His persona is perfectly tuned to offend people along the Acela corridor and to rally those who oppose those people. He does very well with the alternative-reality right — those who don’t believe in global warming, evolution or that Obama was born in the U.S.

So, yes, it is time to take Perry seriously as a Republican nominee and even as a potential president. Until a few weeks ago, Perry trailed Obama in general election matchups. But as Perry’s name recognition has increased, that has changed. He and Obama are neck and neck in a recent Gallup poll.

The question is, what are his rivals going to do about him? Right now, the Romney camp is passively hoping he implodes. That seems unlikely. The gaffes that create media frenzies are unlikely to bother Republican primary voters. Perry’s campaign message is so simple it doesn’t take Einstein to keep repeating it from now until Election Day. 

Boy, where to begin...really, the entire column boils down to David Brooks admitting that Rick Perry may very well end up our next President, and then completely ignoring the role of Villagers like himself in creating the Republican "alternative reality right" monster in the first place.  Even worse is that he freely admits the issue and then chooses to do nothing to correct it, he just accepts the fact that Rick Perry could get elected because he pisses liberals off and is from Texas, which is all that matters in the end.  It's simply a given in Bobo's world.

If there's such a thing as criminal lack of self-awareness, Brooks wins the title.