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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOMG! NYT Commenter Rips The GOP and Their Hero Ronald Reagan Apart In Spectacular Fashion
soxared040713
Crete, IL From Boston, MA 15 hours ago
Mr. Brooks,
I don't know where to begin. It would be impolite for me to tell you that you have lost your mind. Well, I'm willing to be impolite. I sincerely wish that I wasn't limited to 1,500 characters. I've already wasted 227.
Ronald Reagan was evil; he took an axe to the foundation of the American democratic system "government is the problem", a failure, then set about dividing the country by income and race and section. And smirked when while his clueless base looked the other way while his cronies hogged the government trough they so hated. Mr. Brooks, please recall the unforgettable scene in Alien. Donald Trump, today, is the awful, bloody thing that forced itself out of the GOP's breast. It uncoils from the corpse, snarls and snaps at everyone standing around in horror and scuttles off, leaving a clattering, putrid mess behind. The image is violent. After Reagan, H. W., Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, W. and Cheney (and now McConnell, Ryan and the departed Boehner), what on earth did you expect from the wreck?
And how do you get off writing "Trump is loveless. There is no room for reciprocity and love in his worldview." ? No, there isn't nor has there been any in the GOP's since, oh, Richard Nixon (1968).
Mr. Brooks, there will be a post-Trump era because we're still in the Reagan area. The merest child could see through your references to Thomas Kuhn's "model." The GOP's a complete disaster. You were there at its creation and cheered it on. Happy today?
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/25/1506312/-OMG-NYT-Commenter-Rips-The-GOP-and-Their-Hero-Ronald-Reagan-Apart-In-Spectacular-Fashion
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/opinion/the-post-trump-era.html?hpw&rref=opinion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1
malthaussen
(17,194 posts)... reminds me a bit of one of my favorite epitaphs: "I expected this, just not so soon."
If the current model of the psychopathic, libertarian conservative is right, they hoped to die before the check came due and leave the mess in the laps of the rising generation. Now they're bewildered that their 40-year con has suddenly, dramatically, been exposed, and they're scrambling to cover their asses and secure their portfolios. While one may roll his eyes at the affectations of disbelief and dismay coming from the Right, I am equally intolerant of those on the Left who make bank out of pointing their fingers and howling with glee. But at least the latter have the excuse of finally feeling validated.
Neither, however, give much of a damn about the state of the Republic.
-- Mal
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)"Just keep posting foxes to guard the hen-house, and the chickens will never come to roost."
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, one campaign is counting chickens that are yet to hatch.
malthaussen
(17,194 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 26, 2016, 02:24 PM - Edit history (1)
In the final analysis, I don't think it much matters if they thought "never" or "never in my lifetime," they surely had no thought that it would blow up in their faces.
Fortunately for them, Plan B is working fine, and by this time in 2017, all of this will be a bad dream. Unless, of course, those prematurely-counted chickens fail of their promise.
-- Mal
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Kudis back at you.
malthaussen
(17,194 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,835 posts)JHB
(37,160 posts)Merely the latest:
Longtime readers of this blog know of my ridiculously well-documented hypothesis that Mr. David Brooks of the New York Times has never practiced what the kids call "journalism" in any sense of the word, nor does he really write whatchacall "op-ed" columns.
Instead, the New York Times has employed Mr. David Brooks at heavy expense for the sole purpose of spinning comforting and imaginative fairy tales about a wholly imaginary "Republican Party" which exists as a collective hallucination in the minds of Mr. David Brooks, a few hundred other, lesser confidence men who live off of the same grift, a handful of extremely wealthy idiots who desperately want to believe what Mr. Brooks writes, and many thousands of cultural cowards who want to feign political sagacity while hiding out in the safe confines of the seemingly-indestructible Both Siderist bunker which Mr. Brooks has built for them.
Or, as one 100% unemployable Liberal degenerate once put it several thousand posts ago:
...it is now painfully clear that Mr. Brooks is engaged in a long-term project to completely rewrite the history of American Conservatism: to flense it of all of the Conservative social, political economic and foreign policy debacles that make Mr. Brooks wince and repackage the whole era as a fairy tale of noble Whigs being led through treacherous hippie country by the humble David Brooks.
is Bookmarked and read every day by me
thanks JHB
and peace,
kp
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)It's become a favorite of mine in the past year.
mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)Just what I've been thinking, better said.
malaise
(268,981 posts)Thanks
zentrum
(9,865 posts)He's peerless about Brooks. Thanks JHB.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com
closeupready
(29,503 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,976 posts)it fit.
Overseas
(12,121 posts)Brooks does so often seem to be promoting fairy tales.
Massive, spot-on take down. I am so happy to see it. The night Reagan got elected was one of the worst nights EVER in my life. I could never understand the media calling him "beloved" and "wildly popular." I couldn't stand him, and the excessive worship of the RW since he left office only made it worse.
klook
(12,154 posts)I knew this country was in serious trouble when this happy warrior of obtuse narcissism was elected.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)to coerce us into supporting a very conservative Clinton. They paint her as a progressive. They think with their wealth they can paint anything and fool us. But some perspective, Obama ran as a progressive but not as progressive as Sanders a true Progressive. After being elected, Obama changed into a moderate conservative and is still to the left of Clinton.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)my painful lesson started on inauguration day. Rick Warren, anyone?
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)And I also remember what happened here.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)And I will never forget the WHAT THE FUCK feeling I had about Rick Warren.
Right then I realized either Obama had not a clue what was about to happen....OR... I had been duped.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)at the progressives early and hard. He had to reassure the conservatives that he was one of them and not the campaign Obama.
We have a long hard uphill battle against the Plutocratic Oligarchy that has an iron grip on our democracy. We can't afford the status quo for 4 more years. If we fail in 2016, we need to start working on 2020 immediately.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 26, 2016, 05:01 PM - Edit history (1)
preferably beyond repair.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)out the Conservatives. The Party has a history and huge infrastructure that we can't abandon. If we are not capable of kicking out the conservatives, we won't beat them with a new party. We need a viable two party system.
Califonz
(465 posts)Founded in 1900, it overtook the UK Liberal Party in the 1920s and has been in power off and on ever since.
A new party in the United States can be founded and built, but it may take a generation or two to gain power.
On the other hand, the US Republican Party took only six years from its founding to elect a president in a four-way race in 1860, so the breakup of the GOP due to the Trump circus might be a great opportunity for a truly progressive US national party! Now, what to name it that isn't already taken, hmmmm....
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I think the president's duplicity has made it easier for me to refuse to vote for Hillary.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)thus spake the priviledged, the ruler, and the profiteer.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)ChiciB1
(15,435 posts)yet! They think that by giving Hillary the nomination THIS COUNTRY will see any real change! Everything Brooks talked about is so much like what Hillary believes NO MATTER what she's saying now!
So, so many of us here KNOW this to be true. This election SHOULD be the time for REAL CHANGE on BOTH sides of the aisle! RIGHT now, the supposed front runners won't bring any change. On one hand TRUMP signifies some sort of weird, horrible rising of a heaping pile of crap! On the other hand so many of us KNOW Hillary only means more of the same. Maybe she's not as bombastic as Trump, but if this country was truly willing to look at itself clearly the possibility of REAL CHANGE is there.
What isn't clear about her ties to money and THE POWER BROKERS? It baffles me! Those of us who support Bernie DO REALIZE that he CAN'T turn the mess around by himself or even very quickly. We DO understand it! But we also understand that to go on like we are now we risk losing the possibility of electing a person who has presented himself before us to FIGHT for "we the people" and then we must ask... When will this opportunity come along again???
The TWO people with the HIGHEST negatives are what we are looking at to become the POTUS! What does THAT say about this country?? I have yet to figure it out.
But I do KNOW that with such HIGH NEGATIVES it doesn't say we're willing to MOVE FORWARD and GIVE CHANGE a chance!
This Democratic Party may not be seeing it yet as they laugh and point fingers at the other side, but THEY'RE even unwilling to LOOK at what THEY'VE become!
The Democratic is going to see a mass exodus should we get Hillary. I know I'm DONE! Not hollow words from me, just the plain truth. You may not think Bernie is a Democrat, but HE IS what this country needs right now to begin to heal!
We still have time!!!
mrdmk
(2,943 posts)Never have it seen so many people jump through themselves branding this women as a progressive. She just does not fit the definition...
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mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)I can say nothing better than soxare040713 said!
wiggs
(7,812 posts)perceived ills, and kick him to the curb. He will be the scapegoat...the unwilling sacrificial lamb....they will attempt to use him to show how compassionate, intolerant of racism, and modern they are when they reject him as a candidate. They will rebrand as the 'new' GOP. But they'll be the same as ever, of course.
The GOP will try this...may work, may not.
AxionExcel
(755 posts)k and r
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Reagan, in the aftermath of Nixon, pretty much planted the Republican Party on the path of becoming the failed institution that it is today, by single-handedly purging the party of both liberals and moderates. Yes, there used to be liberal Republicans. Im old enough to remember them.
The GOP is now a fully-owned subsidiary of the corporate oligarchy, which is now fully in control of both the economy and the state. Without anyone with any common sense in the Republican Party, no one is left to inform the delusional right wing supply side cult that their fantasies are not only ineffective, but theyre downright destructive.
Frankly, I wish that the GOP would collapse on itself, otherwise theyd have no incentive to reinvent the party, purging itself of its fanatical contingent. If one, the GOP is continue to exist as a braindead entity without a living will, kept alive by the support of its billionaire oligarchy masters.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)Supreme Court.
Looks to me like the Democratic party is the failed institution.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)But when they try to govern, they're proven incompetent at that task. They're victims of their own success at conning the white working class and the oligarchs into falling for their bullshit. Their failure is manifested in the fact that no one really trusts them at doing their job. An approval rating for Congress just above 14 percent is not really a sign of success.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html
Boomerproud
(7,952 posts)The failure is with the American electorate. WE ARE the victims of their success. Love the OP though. Brilliant.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)ananda
(28,859 posts)I especially liked the leadup to
Drumpf in a Nazi uniform!
Uncle Joe
(58,356 posts)Thanks for the thread, kpete.
kpete
(71,990 posts)Good Morning to you
We are up with the family in the mountains
-----still a little snow on the ground.
Going to fill our painted eggs with bird seed and crack them on each others heads tomorrow morning.
Peace to us all,
kp
Uncle Joe
(58,356 posts)That sounds like fun, Happy Easter.
UJ
malaise
(268,981 posts)Hug that up ReTHUGs and you are thugs in suits.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)every right leaning organization (media) and politician. Enough is enough.
HenryWallace
(332 posts)The fiscal Conservatives are on the move!
Michael Gerson basically endorses Hillary :
http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/guest/gerson-the-empty-promises-of-trump-and-sanders/article_c7a3fe14-38b3-50be-a4fa-a4a20b847002.html
Now Brook's disavows Trickle-down (for the time being)........
The battle lines are being drawn and it is for the Heart & Soul of the only remaining viable party!
FighttheFuture
(1,313 posts)the Social Democrats!! Can't come soon enough!
SHRED
(28,136 posts)...The corporatists that are freaked by what's happening in the GOP are infiltrating our party now.
liberalfromaustin21
(61 posts)His policies screwed over countless Americans during his tenure. He's easily one of our worst presidents.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)zentrum
(9,865 posts)Actually Repub heartlessness goes back to McCarthy and the witch hunts on American artists, actors, and directors.
Do you know about Driftglass? He's posts brilliantly about the Brooks disaster. Highly recommended. Great graphics too.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Sanders is the 1st politician since 1980 from any party to run for president that doesn't sound like he is in some stage of "reagan disease".
FighttheFuture
(1,313 posts)LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)Neutral Observer NYC 1 day ago
I'm sorry Mr. Brooks, but you don't get to travel, in the space of 5 or 6 columns, from hair-on-fire warnings as to how the Republican Party simply must stop Trump, to gushing about what a wonderful and exciting time it is to be a Republican as a result of the fact that, er, Trump is taking a jackhammer to your party. (Or maybe this column is just one long, winking joke and I'm simply too dumb to get it.) I want to read the column where you debunk the notion that the GOP is a helpless victim of the catastrophe it's bringing upon itself and maybe the nation, and clearly explain that Republicans visited this disaster upon themselves through their cynical, deceitful, slick and centrally-planned, decades-long strategy of directly appealing to the basest instincts in our national character in order to round up enough votes to place their retrograde policies at the center of the country's agenda. You could start with an honest acknowledgment of your own efforts in this regard. Denial is not a river in Egypt.
I wish the NYT had the guts to hire someone, like your OP example, not afraid to call out the Republican establishment's shameful facilitation of the barbarians from the bottom of their barrel rise to the top.
japple
(9,824 posts)for future enjoyment.
Overseas
(12,121 posts)libodem
(19,288 posts)felix_numinous
(5,198 posts)is not recognizing blowback or taking responsibility for well, anything. The piles of shit these people leave in their wake is stinking up the planet now. It's time to clean house.
SylviaD
(721 posts)...they created the monster, but it ran out of control. Now they scramble to put it back in the cage. Too late!
pbmus
(12,422 posts)he was showing signs of Alzheimer's disease
pampango
(24,692 posts)'Reciprocity' both from one American to another in our country and from one country to another in our world. "Love?" No. Power and money matter much more in the Trump worldview.