It always surprises me when I’m having a perfectly pleasant conversation with someone, and then they start praising David Brooks. Which tells me a lot of things about the person speaking, none of them especially flattering. I understand that to civilians (i.e. superficial followers of politics), he seems like a reasonable man, but that proves to me you really haven’t been paying attention.
BoBo
It also means you haven’t been following the ruminations of Moral Hazard, his much afflicted pooch.
Ever notice in any story about a struggle between good and evil there’s always this one character who’s a supposed member of the good side, but really in league with evil. That’s how I envision Brooks. One of modern America’s many Wormtongues whispering in our collective ear, excusing evil, confusing issues, weakening us all into a sense of complacency and inaction while evil sneaks up and cuts all our throats.
branding is everything, and Bobo has always been branded as a reasonable conservative. He talks in a reasonable tone of voice, he has appeared for years on the NewsHour and now appears on the NY Times editorial page. That must mean that he is reasonable.