“Sparring partner” isn’t the phrase I’d use here:
David Brooks, my NPR sparring partner, offered a kind mention of my new book, “Our Divided Political Heart,” in his column today — “engrossing,” he called it — and he both agreed and disagreed with me, which I suppose is a habit for us.
[…]That’s a longer argument between David and me, and I am sure we will keep having it. In the short run, I’m glad that he picked up on the Hamiltonian idea, and I appreciate his comments on the book. And I have to add, I have told David that one of the rewarding aspects of writing it was the way in which the time I spent researching and thinking about our past allowed me to figure out why he is cross-wise with American politics these days: David is the last surviving American Whig, a pure Hamilton-Henry Clay-Abe Lincoln guy. I hope that more American conservatives will join David in embracing this highly constructive side of their tradition.
I’m sure that if Abe Lincoln were alive, he’d be quoting Steve Sailer in all his columns.
Valdivia
gah. I almost gagged and I wasn’t the one doing the job. Yuck.
cathyx
I didn’t click on the link. Was that a quote from Mark Shields? They are very polite to each other. It’s a snooze fest.
Silver
@Valdivia:
Gagging during a handjob? You just might be doing it wrong, or your terms are a little…elastic.
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
@cathyx:
EJ Dionne.
urizon
Hey, someone has to replace Mark Shields on The News Hour. Dionne is simply genuflecting appropriately.
Keith
Great, a bunch more old names for Brooks to attach “-ean” to when describing himself.
Gin & Tonic
Thank God I’m not the only one who automatically thinks of Alexander Hamilton every time I see David Brooks on my teevee.
jl
I read in a biography that a racist mob threw rocks at Hamilton and some other Federalists once as they were giving free blacks rides to polling places in an early election. I suppose Hamilton would like Brooks quoting Sailer too.
From link:
” David also writes: “Does government nurture an enterprising citizenry, or a secure but less energetic one?” Here, I would take issue with what I see as a false dichotomy. Does security make a citizenry less energetic and less enterprising? I believe not. Indeed, more secure people are more inclined to take risk. ”
Gosh, I wonder who made that same argument Dionne does? Would it be Hamilton? (Edit: Ans: yes, it would)
Brooks has about as much Alexander Hamilton in him as my pet Tillandsia (which I see needs a sprits right now). I think my pet Tillandsia works harder than Brooks does.
Brooks has zip in common with Hamilton/Henry Clay/Abe Lincoln, as far as I can see.
the fugitive uterus
Zombies in FL now. What’s next?
jl
@Gin & Tonic: you been in the gin and tonic again, son.
gordon schumway
@Gin & Tonic: Brooks hasn’t had the good sense to die in a duel yet…
Violet
Oh, that’s cute. I didn’t know that’s how E.J. Dionne refers to his hit NPR show, “Between Two Houseplants with Old White Guys.”
Cato
Only one week left until victory in Wisconsin!
jl
I am looking for omens of a Walker defeat next week. Where might one be found? hmmm….
bemused
Dionne was so polite. Booman’s reaction fits my mood much better saying “David Brook offers us another steaming pile of stupid”.
Valdivia
@Silver:
hhis.
yes totally my bad. but I am taking very strong medication for a sciatica attack so maybe we can just blame it on that no? ;)
Silver
@Valdivia:
Definitely.
By the way, start on the Metamucil now. You’ll thank me later :)
Cato
@jl:
He’s going to win in a walk. All the Citizens United Super PAC cash will bury your pathetic recall effort.
trollhattan
@DougJ–may be late in the day but you didn’t sneak the Elvis lyric past me this time, buckaroo.
Keith G
Predictability – all. the. way. around.
Villago Delenda Est
@DougJ, Head of Infidelity:
Oh, you mean the collaborator with child rapists? That E.J. Dionne? Villager scum?
gbear
@Cato: You forgot the ‘BWAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAA!!i!!11!!!’
Valdivia
@Silver:
I think I am going to thank you already :)
At least this episode seems to be less horrific than the last one which laid me on my ass for weeks.
Cato
The victory of Scott Walker next week will be a turning point. If he wins, it will be a bad sign for Obambi.
dr. bloor
I didn’t click on the link, and I was initially hoping it was a Gail Collins quote, as that would have given it an entirely different spin.
Hey, E.J.–Abe Lincoln would have listened patiently to David Brooks spew during a meeting between the two, and then spent the rest of the day making jokes at his expense.
Ash
This is OT, but I live in DC and there’s at least two or three or those Crossroads GPS (aka Rove’s secret organization to turn us all into his minions) commercials EVERY. SINGLE. COMMERCIAL. BREAK. I’m about ready to throw my television out the window.
David Koch
@DougJ, Head of Infidelity:
I think you’ll love this photo
SectarianSofa
Oy. Don’t know whether to cry or laugh.
gbear
@trollhattan: Is that really an Elvis lyric?
slag
Maybe EJ is just confused about which kind of boxers he’s actually thinking about. That said, there’s no shortage of homo eroticism in boxing–as with any other sport.
Villago Delenda Est
@jl:
Brooks has obviously never read The Wealth of Nations either, like nearly every last member of the chattering classes.
Cato
@Ash:
That’s right–it’s for the Senate and Presidential races in Virginia. And it’s juuuuust beginning ;)
Villago Delenda Est
@David Koch:
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
Wag
Hey Everyone, read EJ’s post before you knee jerk criticize it. EJ very politlely tells Brooks that Brooks is wrong about everything ans that Brooks is living in a fantasy world.
There is plenty of snark in EJ’s piece if you open your eyes and turn down your snark filter from eleven, where most of us have our filters set, to five or six, where most of the world lives.
El Cid
The Times’ public editor notes one of the occasions in which the ‘paper of record’ gets its story by copying from the other publications which have been already publishing the story, without acknowledgment:
Well, you’ve got to do something with your billions of dollars in resources, and so it’s best to pretend like only you could possibly handle such a story, and most of the time nobody will ever hear from the people you got your ‘news fit to print’ from anyway.
RossinDetroit
@gbear:
Costello.
Valdivia
@Ash:
I am happy I haven’t been watching tv so I am missing that. I am assuming it’s targeted at the ‘elites’ that live in the district and at Virginians no?
trollhattan
@gbear:
Yup, of the Costello variety–“Strict Time”
gbear
@RossinDetroit: Ahh. I am so old…
jl
@Wag: I read it. Good snark should be recognizable snark to those who do not know all the details.
Dionne wrote:
” David is the last surviving American Whig, a pure Hamilton-Henry Clay-Abe Lincoln guy. ”
That is just wrong, or silly, or nonsense.
So, I disagree. Dionne is either as ignorant as Brooks, or a meritricious hack like Brooks (in schmoozing mode), or he cannot do snark. IMHO.
Opinions may differ I suppose. If you can point out some effective snark in Dionne’s insipid flow of misleading bland, maybe I will reconsider.
Does Dionne know he is making exaclty Hamilton’s argument for why some kind of social safety net increases private enterprise and national productivity, from the bottom up? Or not? How would the reader know, unless the reader knew already?
Micheline
This is OT but I can’t help thinking how desperate Mitt Romney is that he has to campaign with the Donald.
Cato
@Micheline:
He’s tied with Obambi. Doesn’t sound very desperate to me!
MikeBoyScout
EJ has got his eye on acquiring some vast spaces for entertaining and is genuflecting to the master.
h/t Charles makes me LOL Pierce
trollhattan
@Micheline:
It’s part of Willard’s master plan to get down with the young voters. Rumor has it there will be a campaign event with the Frito Bandito to haul in the Hispanic vote.
Violet
@Micheline:
The Donald brings lots of attention and a bit of celebrity flair to Mitt’s campaign. No such thing as bad publicity and all.
Narcissus
Abe Lincoln is a Whig now? I guess you don’t have to take American history to be a member in good standing of the commentariat.
patroclus
@slag: I think sumo wrestling, bowling and curling are pretty much entirely free of homoeroticism.
Micheline
@Cato: In the 21 polls that have been taken the past month, Romney only leads in 3 of them. Moreover, the state polling has shown Obama to be doing much better than the national polling. So suck on it.
patroclus
@Narcissus: Well, at least Lincoln was a Whig while in Congress. But I recently saw a preview of the new Abraham Lincoln, the Vampire Hunter movie, so I’m not exactly sure what party he’s in now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Micheline:
Facts and Cato are strangers.
jl
@patroclus: I took ‘Whig’ to mean anti populist (Jacksonian) Democrat, which I guess fits all three. Lincoln was (Edit: as you say) a Whig in Congress, and I think Clay switched party IDs (such as they existed then).
Omnes Omnibus
@gbear: Strict Time.
jl
@Villago Delenda Est: Is that a maxim in Latin? Maybe something some old commie like Julius Caeser said? If so, what is the Latin? The Latin version will come in handy, something tells me.
slag
@patroclus: I would probably give you curling if it weren’t for all those sticks and stones involved. Maybe women’s curling.
The Other Chuck
I knew those two categories were going to find each other in no time flat. Or … meh, looks like I missed their convergence by a couple days.
What’s the over-under on Oakeshott being seen with “Pink Himalayan Salt” before the summer’s over?
Narcissus
@patroclus: Yeah but…that’s like saying Jefferson Davis was noteworthy for being Secretary of War for Pierce. Or George Washington represents the best tradition of British Military service.
Heliopause
Why do these types always talk about Hamilton or Madison or whomever instead of the principles they espoused? Wasn’t the whole point of the Enlightenment…oh, fuck it, never mind.
Odie Hugh Manatee
OT: Romney released his birth certificate today, Just before his fundraising dinner tonight with Donald The Rump, proving once again that he will fan any flame (better put, blow anyone) to become President.
Talk about a low class move.
Omnes Omnibus
@Heliopause:
For some (many?) of them, it is because they don’t know anything about the principles the people espoused.
ETA: For others, it is because they think that their readers won’t know anything about the principles the people espoused and that, as a result, they are free to bullshit and attribute it to a Founding Father (TM)
HyperIon
@Narcissus: well, he was a whig before the republicans existed. he was elected to the house of representatives as a whig.
jl
@Heliopause:
Wave the totems in front of the plebs.
The shuck and
jiveawe strategy.gbear
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Obama should release 20 years worth of tax returns before the week is out.
HyperIon
@Wag wrote:
when EJD wrote:
I actually took the final sentence as snark. highly constructive?
But I have so much trouble telling the difference between snark and sincerity these days. I (not surprisingly) blame DougJ.
Egg Berry
@Heliopause: Because those are their favorite passeges in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.
Narcissus
@HyperIon: Yeah I get that. But it kind of misses the point of Abe Lincoln.
Violet
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
According to Donald Trump’s views, Mitt’s father was a Mexican citizen. And if Mitt’s father wasn’t American, Mitt himself must not be an American.
patroclus
The Texas prima-caucus is tonight and if Craig James wins the Republican nomination for Senate after killing 5 hookers while at SMU, I will be shocked!
jl
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
” OT: Romney released his
birth certificatesource code today ”Also, OT, via Wonkette today: the zombie remnants who are (yes, hard to believe) disgracing Breitbart’s Big Hollywood, say that Obama ‘politicized’ Memorial Day by saying the US should fight no more wars, unless absolutely necessary.
No link, since I assume all good BJers read Wonkette whenever they can.
Raven
Doc Waston RIP
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet:
jl
@Narcissus:
What points a thing has depends on whether or not you are a highr priced opinion hooker hack.
” the point of Abe Lincoln ”
versus
” the point of ‘Abe Lincoln'(TM) “
dmsilev
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Was it the long-form vault copy, and was its authenticity vouched for by three state officials, an umpire from Major League Baseball, and the last surviving heir of Tsar Alexander II? If not, it doesn’t count.
Raven
@dmsilev: John Roberts the ump?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@gbear:
Fuck YEAH! That would really put Rmoney on the spot. I think that would be an excellent move. Rmoney’s dad set the standard that his son refuses to live up to. I guess he really wants to outdo his dad…
in dickishness.
@Violet:
Silly rabbit, logic isn’t for Republicans.
Tricks are, though.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@jl:
Refix’t.
handy
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
JSR $FFD2?
OK I went full computer geek there. Sorry everyone.
SW
If Abe Lincoln were alive he would shoot himself.
Villago Delenda Est
@jl:
It’s a play on Carthago delenda est, attributed to Cato the Elder, which is one of those actual Latin maxim type things.
Citizen_X
@Cato:
“Yes, young Skywalker, I’m afraid your friends are quite doomed.”
fasteddie9318
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
It looks like a “Certificate of Live Birth” to me, which I’ve been told is not in any way the same thing as a “Birth Certificate,” and the fact that Romney released it rather than his long-form birth certificate makes me wonder what he’s hiding.
fasteddie9318
@gbear:
And reveal 20 years’ worth of donations to the Project to Reanimate Saul Alinsky’s Corpse? Are you mad?
fasteddie9318
Also too, for the record, I’ve always found David Brooks to be more of a Bundy-Dahmer-Boston Strangler type of American, though to be fair I don’t know if all three of those guys can be categorized as narcissistic sociopaths like David.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@handy:
A33C $A235
Haven’t seen that in some time…lol!
Roy G.
I always thought Brooks was the incarnation of R. Crumb’s Whiteman:
http://dr-hermes.livejournal.com/481671.html
Pseudonym
More like a curb job than a block party… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lIMe1syhd8
AA+ Bonds
Burn it all down
Doug Woodard
Problem: Lincoln was not a Whig for the last 10 years of his life, because the Whig party died, as the Republican party rose from the ashes first to limit slavery, then, under Lincoln, to abolish it. No Whig ever would have been for that. E.j., learn you some history!