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Two weeks ago, David Brooks raised quite a few eyebrows with a column questioning whether contemporary congressional Republicans are even “fit to govern.” In something of a bookend, Brooks, apparently still angry at GOP madness, today condemns the party for deliberately ignoring an opportunity to do something meaningful on debt reduction.
The column breaks down the Republicans into factions — the “Beltway Bandits,” the “Big Government Blowhards,” the “Show Horses,” and the “Permanent Campaigners” — all of which Brooks holds responsible for failing to “usher in the largest cut in the size of government in American history.”
The categories strike me as pretty compelling, and in their own way, each of the GOP factions make governing difficult, if not impossible. But the categories alone don’t offer a complete enough explanation — the Republican Party, after all, has always had its share of Beltway Bandits, Big Government Blowhards, Show Horses, and Permanent Campaigners.
What’s different now is the takeover. So long as reckless children represented a reasonably small contingent within the Republican caucus, the problem was manageable, and grown-ups kept their hands on the steering wheel.
Brooks thinks the GOP adults still exist and are managing to hold on. I’m not so sure.
All of these groups share the same mentality. They do not see politics as the art of the possible. They do not believe in seizing opportunities to make steady, messy progress toward conservative goals. They believe that politics is a cataclysmic struggle. They believe that if they can remain pure in their faith then someday their party will win a total and permanent victory over its foes. They believe they are Gods of the New Dawn.
Fortunately, there are still practical conservatives in the G.O.P., who believe in results, who believe in intelligent compromise. If people someday decide the events of the past weeks have been a debacle, then practical conservatives may regain control.
Brooks’ assessment of the “Gods of the New Dawn” rings true — they really are genuinely mad — but I’m far less sure the “practical conservatives” exist in the numbers Brooks would like to believe. Indeed, the reason we’re two weeks from a catastrophe is that the Republican Party’s adults are nowhere to be found.
As for the pragmatists “regaining control,” the GOP has decided that every recent electoral setback should be seen as excuse to move even further to the right. When Republicans win, they become more radical, assuming they’re being rewarded for their right-wing ideology. When they lose, they become still become more radical, assuming they’re being punished for not being right-wing enough.
I look forward to this shift in control, but it doesn’t appear to be anywhere on the horizon.
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howard on July 19, 2011 10:51 AM:
brooks is still in denial: there are no adult conservatives in the congressional gop - not a one.
Tony Greco on July 19, 2011 10:54 AM:
There may well be a significant number of practical conservatives left among Republican politicians, but they are not in control, because all of them have to worry about being challenged from the right in the next primary election they face. Primary voters are normally more radical than party identifiers in general, and Republican party identifiers in general are already a pretty nutty radical bunch. So even solid conservatives like Lugar and Hatch have to look over their right shoulder and pander.
Kathryn on July 19, 2011 10:56 AM:
To Howard, I say ditto.
c u n d gulag on July 19, 2011 10:58 AM:
Whatever adults remain in the Repbulican/Conservative Party are afraid of being primaried by Kindergartener's in the next election, and so behave more and more like children.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
Also, too - I see a strong streak of Calvinism in their ranks.
And no, I'm not talking about the one with the cute stuffed tiger, either.
MattF on July 19, 2011 11:02 AM:
Brooks somehow didn't notice when the 'practical conservatives' gave control of the party over to the thugs. This is Politics 101-- 'looking elsewhere' at the time is not a convincing excuse.
Grumpy on July 19, 2011 11:03 AM:
...the Republican Party, after all, has always had its share of Beltway Bandits, Big Government Blowhards, Show Horses, and Permanent Campaigners.
The Democratic Party is not immune to infection by Beltway Bandits, Show Horses, or Permanent Campaigners, either.
Although... what would be the Dem counterpart to "Big Government Blowhards"? Entitlement demagogues, maybe?
beep52 on July 19, 2011 11:08 AM:
The GOP isn't a political party so much as a cult on a holy mission. You're either with them or against them. And if you're against them, there'll be no quarter.
james on July 19, 2011 11:15 AM:
Gods of the New Dawn -- great phrase.
"People, listen up," said the Tea Partiers, "WE are the Second Coming of Christ! Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess! And we mean now! Or you shall be cast into everlasting torment!"
Gregory on July 19, 2011 11:16 AM:
Fortunately, there are still practical conservatives in the G.O.P., who believe in results, who believe in intelligent compromise.
First of all, I agree with howard -- I used to admire Lugar (and still shook hands with him at a recent event), but he's been voting lockstep with the radical Republicans since W's administration. And he's facing a primary challenge because he doesn't talk like a no-nothing blowhard. Politicians aside, the GOP base most fervently does not believe in compromise, period, full stop. And I don't recall Brooks concern trolling about making common cause with Democrats during W's presidency. Krugman's right -- Brooks bears some responsibility for the very situation he complains about.
But note that though Brooks claims there are "still practical conservatives" who can step in and save the Republican Party from the dead-enders, he doesn't dare name them. Even if they aren't figments of his imagination, Brooks knows full well that fingering them as believers in pragmatism and compromise could jeopardize their careers.
T2 on July 19, 2011 11:18 AM:
"someday" Brooks opines. Note to Brooks - there is no time to waste. Just look at the House-wasting a day voting on a hard line motion that has no chance to become law- just for the self-pleasure of doing it. They are jerking off.
The so-called adults of the GOP go along with the "TeaParty crazies" for one reason, they want to keep their cushy job. They want to go on TV every Sunday and intone their serious thoughts on how the other Party is ruining the country.
The "someday" Brooks apparently now hopes for will come after 1) the GOP ruins the nation fundamentally or 2) enough of the 75% of us who aren't crazy just VOTE THEM OUT.
majun on July 19, 2011 11:24 AM:
I suppose that the “Beltway Bandits,” “Big Government Blowhards,” “Show Horses,” and “Permanent Campaigners” have always been around, and are probably part of both parties, but the Republicans used to have anothe category, the "Work Horses", the members who sought out members from the other party and worked with them to pass legislation that was in the interest of the country as a whole and did not see the world as a zero sum game of partisan struggle. The "Work Horses" have all died off and without them there are no real adults in elective office on the GOP side, who can manage the reins of power and run the country in the interests of the all the people and not just their shrill base.
Even if the GOP loses big in 2012, as they should, Brooks will have a long wait for sanity to prevail. There is nobody there to step forward and even if someone arrives, the rabid base will kill them off quickly enough. If Jesus came back to take over the GOP today, the Tea Party would nail back on the cross.
Josef K on July 19, 2011 11:28 AM:
This would be amusing if not for the likelihood that these idiots Brooks is just now noticing will take us all over a cliff in two weeks.
Dredd on July 19, 2011 11:44 AM:
It isn't just size that matters, it is where the size should be and where it should not in order to have proportion.
Comanche Voter on July 19, 2011 11:45 AM:
Brooks steps off the reality train before the gets into the meat of his argument. He says Obama is a President "eager to move to the center". If Brooks buys that premise, I've got some ocean front property in Tucson Arizona that he really wants to purchase.
bob h on July 19, 2011 11:53 AM:
In his original column, Brooks raised the possibility that the Republicans "may not be a normal political party". However, on the Newshour a few nights ago, he said that they were a "normal" party. So the kneecappers are getting to him, and are probably headed his way right now.
I'm thinking there might be some obscure, long-forgotten authority, possibly given to Woodrow Wilson or FDR in the world wars, that would allow Obama to declare a national financial emergency and just take the whole matter out of Congress' hands. I'm with Clinton; just blow thru the debt ceiling and let them take you to court.
bluestatedon on July 19, 2011 11:57 AM:
"Even if the GOP loses big in 2012, as they should, Brooks will have a long wait for sanity to prevail."
What you recognize, and what Brooks appears to dimly perceive, is that religious beliefs and attitudes are now the main determinant of political stands in the Republican Party. The GOP base is ideologically identical to the teabaggers, and what is most important to those people is not the rule of law, or the Constitution, or the nation-it's their apocalyptic jingoistic Christianism, with their Bible as the reference guide. If they could, they would institute an overt theocracy publicly guided by councils of religious pastors and privately directed by corporate CEOs. Because of their religious views-they believe that Adam and Eve had dinosaurs for neighbors in the Garden of Eden 5,000 years ago-they are impervious to logic and reason, and are entirely hostile to scientific inquiry. They live in a world of Magical Thinking.
TCinLA on July 19, 2011 12:09 PM:
They believe that politics is a cataclysmic struggle. They believe that if they can remain pure in their faith then someday their party will win a total and permanent victory over its foes. They believe they are Gods of the New Dawn.
And if you were to list the guys for whom this description is accurate, and then to check the religion they practice, you would find that 99.9% of them are practicing religious fundamentalists who believe in the apocalyptic end times and in Dominionism. It's all of a part to them.
dr. bloor on July 19, 2011 12:14 PM:
John Cole put it best at Balloon Juice: if Brooks wants to go about figuring out how this happened, he needs to look in the mirror. He and his ilk strapped the suicide vest on the lunatics running the Congressional asylum right now.
burro on July 19, 2011 12:21 PM:
D.B is thousands of words too little, and years and years too late. This is nothing new, it's been very evident, for at least a decade, that r's have decided to go with their psychosis and shove their way to authoritarian rule. And D.B. has dutifully rationalized the descent as being less deep, and less demented, than it has obviously come to be.
Brooks, meet Frankenbagger, your old friend.
Jjm on July 19, 2011 12:23 PM:
Poor, short-sighted David.
He didn't see the creeping fascism, the flirtation with violence, apocalyptic thinking, absolutist ideology coming at him like a fast freight over the past few years?
One wonders how he could be so obtuse. Maybe he just isn't too bright?
latim on July 19, 2011 12:29 PM:
'Norquist is the Zelig of Republican catastrophe' - what a classic line! I am still geeking out over it....nothing like the ability to turn a phrase....I defy anyone to provide a shorter more concise, and accurate description of Norquist.
bdop4 on July 19, 2011 12:30 PM:
"Brooks steps off the reality train before the gets into the meat of his argument. He says Obama is a President "eager to move to the center". If Brooks buys that premise, I've got some ocean front property in Tucson Arizona that he really wants to purchase." - Comanche Voter
There's a reason why you hold a deed to ocean front property in Tucson. Using real world metrics, Obama started right of center and is willing to move beyond Reagan.
The worse thing that could happen is if repubs come to their senses and take Obama's "grand bargain." Better that they hold out until the bitter end are forced to take a clean bill.
Obama's problem: He makes pre-concessions, then offers a compromise and works so hard to sell it that it ends up becoming his starting point. That's why repubs are able to say that "he's not willing to compromise." A lot of people now think the "grand bargain is his starting point.
He needs to start every economic discussion with a statement to the effect that "If I could have my way, I would put every dollar I could find into creating jobs, repairing the infrastructure and developing technologies with global demand. THAT is the fastest solution to our current problem. But I can't have my way, so I am willing to make these HUGE concessions to avert catastrophe."
Of course, I don't think he agrees with my position as stated above, but he needs to repeatedly declare whatever his starting position was so people will understand the magnitude of the concessions offered.
pbasch on July 19, 2011 12:41 PM:
Seems that many Americans (mainly, but not only, on the right) hate America, and long for a mythical golden-age America of the imagination. They have not seen their lives improve much in 30 years (internet access notwithstanding), because of the success of Republicans, over the feeble impotent resistance of Democrats, in guiding all the nation's growth into the pockets of the Top 1%. The America of the Imagination is more and more attractive every day.
Snrub on July 19, 2011 1:37 PM:
Brooks forgot one category: "Pseudo-intellectual Enablers." Of course, Bobo the Burkian is not one to take responsibilities for his own actions, natch.
Sean Scallon on July 19, 2011 2:05 PM:
When the adults let the kids down or were prove diametrically wrong, that's usually the time when the kids stop listening. Brooks and his ilk screwed up on Iraq and he still doesn't get it. So again, why does he expect them to listen to a loser? They won their seats!
bigtuna on July 19, 2011 3:08 PM:
I did a quick google search last night - looking for some of the "voting score cards" for congresspeople of this session, to find " moderate" republicans in various votes ...
I found like - 2 - Cao, from La, for exa. Another list I found suggested there are 10-15. Nate Silver suggest there are maybe 20-25, including some from swing districts, who might look ok to their electorate by voting FOR a debt bill; but they would piss off the yahoos.
so, maybe 20-25, max. ...
karen marie on July 19, 2011 3:21 PM:
I'm glad David Brooks enlightened me on one point anyway. Democrats are not fellow Americans with the same interest in a better tomorrow as Republicans, they are foes.
Perhaps next week he could outline what he recommends as the final solution to rid America of the enemies of all that is good and righteous.
Patrick DeBurgh on July 19, 2011 4:26 PM:
I posed exactly the same question regarding "adult" republicans in 20002. My framing was in terms of moderate Republicans who put policy over politics vs the (then) lunatic fringe who would do whatever to get (re)elected.
The bush/CHENY tax cuts and our headlong rush to war in Iraq answered my question. Ten years later the inmates now run the asylum. They practice domestic terrorism through an insane fiscal policy goal. Bin Laden would have been proud of the TEA Party'ers.