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David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party"
E-mailed to me | October 8, 2008 | Danny Shea

Posted on 10/08/2008 3:16:45 PM PDT by publius1

David Brooks spoke frankly about the presidential and vice presidential candidates Monday afternoon, calling Sarah Palin a "fatal cancer to the Republican party" but describing John McCain and Barack Obama as "the two best candidates we've had in a long time."

In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg at New York's Le Cirque restaurant to unveil that magazine's redesign, Brooks decried Palin's anti-intellectualism and compared her to President Bush in that regard:

[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices.

Brooks praised Palin's natural political talent, but said she is "absolutely not" ready to be president or vice president. He explained, "The more I follow politicians, the more I think experience matters, the ability to have a template of things in your mind that you can refer to on the spot, because believe me, once in office there's no time to think or make decisions."

The New York Times columnist also said that the "great virtue" of Palin's counterpart, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, is that he is anything but a "yes man."

"[Biden] can't not say what he thinks," Brooks remarked. "There's no internal monitor, and for Barack Obama, that's tremendously important to have a vice president who will be that way. Our current president doesn't have anybody like that."

Brooks also spent time praising Obama's intellect and skills in social perception, telling two stories of his interactions with Obama that left him "dazzled":

Obama has the great intellect. I was interviewing Obama a couple years ago, and I'm getting nowhere with the interview, it's late in the night, he's on the phone, walking off the Senate floor, he's cranky. Out of the blue I say, 'Ever read a guy named Reinhold Niebuhr?' And he says, 'Yeah.' So i say, 'What did Niebuhr mean to you?' For the next 20 minutes, he gave me a perfect description of Reinhold Niebuhr's thought, which is a very subtle thought process based on the idea that you have to use power while it corrupts you. And I was dazzled, I felt the tingle up my knee as Chris Matthews would say.

And the other thing that does separate Obama from just a pure intellectual: he has tremendous powers of social perception. And this is why he's a politician, not an academic. A couple of years ago, I was writing columns attacking the Republican congress for spending too much money. And I throw in a few sentences attacking the Democrats to make myself feel better. And one morning I get an email from Obama saying, 'David, if you wanna attack us, fine, but you're only throwing in those sentences to make yourself feel better.' And it was a perfect description of what was going through my mind. And everybody who knows Obama all have these stories to tell about his capacity for social perception.

Brooks predicted an Obama victory by nine points, and said that although he found Obama to be "a very mediocre senator," he was is surrounded by what Brooks called "by far the most impressive people in the Democratic party."

"He's phenomenally good at surrounding himself with a team," Brooks said. "I disagree with them on most issues, but I am given a lot of comfort by the fact that the people he's chosen are exactly the people I think most of us would want to choose if we were in his shoes. So again, I have doubts about him just because he was such a mediocre senator, but his capacity to pick staff is impressive."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chat; davidbrooks; gay; gopcoup; homosexual; ickygirl; itellectualloid; misogynist; pseudointellectual; rinorevolution; unsourcedemail
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To: publius1
...describing John McCain and Barack Obama as "the two best candidates we've had in a long time.

The two very worst candidates I've ever seen. Brookes is certifiably mad.

61 posted on 10/08/2008 3:35:30 PM PDT by E. Cartman (Will Bush, Bernanke or Paulson let Uncle Sam handle their personal wealth?)
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To: Crim

Sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do.

I don’t say that lightly as I’m usually hard headed in my way.This is different and in a way I think with Gov. Palin at Sen. McCains side he might not be to much of a RINO as I believe she’d put her 2 cents in without being asked.

Gettin’ our McCain/Palin yardsign tomorrow,don’t know whether to put it out front or hang it on the computer room wall.

McCain/Palin Let’s Do It.


62 posted on 10/08/2008 3:36:11 PM PDT by silentreignofheroes (Should have seen it in color.)
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To: publius1

McCain is the best Republican candidate in a long time?

As selected by staffers working for Howard Dean at the DNC (they joined the McCain Campaign in 2006, google Democrats for McCain 2006 sometime).


63 posted on 10/08/2008 3:36:12 PM PDT by weegee (Obama's a uniter?"I want you to argue with them (friends,neighbors,Republicans) & get in their face")
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To: dynachrome

He is a liberal in Republican clothing. Ignore the hype.


64 posted on 10/08/2008 3:36:36 PM PDT by jcmfreedom
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To: publius1

“The more I follow politicians, the more I think experience matters”

“Barack Obama as “the two best candidates we’ve had in a long time.”

Quite a contradiction there, David.


65 posted on 10/08/2008 3:36:43 PM PDT by yazoo
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To: publius1
David Brooks spoke frankly about the presidential and vice presidential candidates Monday afternoon, calling Sarah Palin a "fatal cancer to the Republican party" but describing John McCain and Barack Obama as "the two best candidates we've had in a long time."

Dear Mr. Brooks,

The Founding Fathers wanted citizen politicians to run this country. Sarah is perfect in that respect. And she is much more qualified for office than Obama.

66 posted on 10/08/2008 3:37:18 PM PDT by avacado
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To: E. Cartman

Without a doubt the worst choice in any presidential election since World War II.


67 posted on 10/08/2008 3:37:23 PM PDT by clintonh8r
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To: devere

You have a point — let me try and explain. I was shocked at Brooks’ statements, I mean, actually shocked. I’ve read him on and off over the years, and usually found him temperate, often smart and accurate. He had a column awhile ago on Palin that was not bad, especially given where it was published. But this — this is beyond the pale. He discredits himself with these kind of comments, in my opinion, and demonstrates a lack of judgment, candor, intellect, and integrity. In fact, his intemperateness is so extreme that it amounts to the kind of anti-intellectualism that he seems to want to deplore — in the sense that over the op lack of balance is always anti-intellectual (”fatal cancer” my ass!).

Anyway, I posted for two reasons: first, to share my shock, and second, to warn others who might have thought — as I did — that Brooks pedigree (National Review etc) should qualify him as trustworthy.

Honestly, I guess I’m still shocked — discussion has not eased my mind.


68 posted on 10/08/2008 3:37:35 PM PDT by publius1 (Just to be clear: my position is no.)
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To: Arkinsaw

Wilson was the first one I thought of. What is with all these so-called “conservatives” this election? They are all so afraid of the people actually participating in their own governance. It’s like this is some game of Trivial Pursuit to them. If it makes Barry so intelligent that he is able to surround himself with intelligent advisors, how does he know that Governor Palin couldn’t do the same as Vice-President? Where is his respect for common sense? Sarah Palin isn’t anti-education, she’s pro-common sense, something which is sorely lacking in the Washington “elite”. George Washington and Patrick Henry would be ashamed and aghast at these people’s idea of good governance and democracy.

And there are all kinds of intelligence, and Sarah Palin’s kind, that of living a successful and principled life, is of the rarest in Washington. Put this fool, and the others like him, in charge of governing Alaska as well as she has done, while raising a family and knowing how to survive without a supermarket. I’m not anti-intellectual at all, I admire intellectual people tremendously, but not when they let it blind them to any other form of intelligence.


69 posted on 10/08/2008 3:37:42 PM PDT by mrsmel
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To: publius1

The democrat party and its candidate for POTUS represent a fatal cancer to the welfare of this nation.


70 posted on 10/08/2008 3:38:30 PM PDT by 353FMG (What marxism and fascism could not destroy, liberalism did.)
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To: mrsmel

Hmmmm. Who is David Brooks and why do i care?


71 posted on 10/08/2008 3:38:51 PM PDT by sitkaspruce
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To: publius1

fatal cancer to the Republican party...

Hell, don’t hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel. Dupe.


72 posted on 10/08/2008 3:39:00 PM PDT by graywaiter (Gotta love those gun tote'n mommas.......)
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To: publius1

It’s one thing to be interested in ideas, another to be interested in the kind of ideas espoused by the likes Ayers and Dohrn. Sorry, Brooksie baby, you can’t dodge that!


73 posted on 10/08/2008 3:39:53 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Don't let me interrupt your prayers for a suffering celebrity!)
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To: publius1

Mr. Brooks, no matter what pretenses he offers to the contrary, obviously knows absolutely nothing about the Republican Party...


74 posted on 10/08/2008 3:39:59 PM PDT by Who is John Galt? ("Sometimes I have to break the law in order to meet my management objectives." - Bill Calkins, BLM)
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To: Friendofgeorge

Whatever happens, it will be good to go to CPAC next year, to ensure that these scumbuckets get an appropriate welcome should they show up!


75 posted on 10/08/2008 3:40:39 PM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (White Trash for Sarah!)
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To: Parley Baer

David Brooks has been stricken with fatal “Times Syndrome” resulting in irrational babbling.

He’s not the David Brooks Iknew.


76 posted on 10/08/2008 3:41:00 PM PDT by cookcounty (Dismissing Ayers as a 1960's radical is like saying Barbara Walters was a 1960's TV dogfood salesman)
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To: clintonh8r
"Without a doubt the worst choice in any presidential election since World War II."

I do not care for the candidates myself. However, the thread I thought was about Sarah Palin being a "cancer on the Republican Party."

She is hardly that.

77 posted on 10/08/2008 3:41:33 PM PDT by Radix (If Alaska were to secede from the Union it would probably become a power player in OPEC)
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To: publius1
but describing John McCain and Barack Obama as "the two best candidates we've had in a long time."

He loses all credibility with this statement. This election has produced the four weakest candidates that we've had in years. Of the four, Governor Palin is the best. She has less experience than I'd like in a candidate for our nation's highest offices, but she may be capable of learning and may be "playing down" to the level of the rest of the field. The other three are pathetic. When our nation has reached the point that we can't do better, we've fallen a long way.

Bill

78 posted on 10/08/2008 3:41:43 PM PDT by WFTR (Liberty isn't for cowards)
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To: publius1

I don’t know what this guy is smoking, but I WANT SOME!

I had to look two or three times to see if there was a “parody” category ticked off here, but I guess the initial poster forgot to note it.


79 posted on 10/08/2008 3:43:27 PM PDT by ssaftler (Obama in Berlin: Ich Bin Ein Empty Suit)
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To: pogo101
David Brooks is Obama! Both intellectuals, who know how to play with words. But that is all they are! Player of the words with nothing concrete to show their achievements.

Palin is saying things that are on everybody's lips and I am glad she is.

80 posted on 10/08/2008 3:43:55 PM PDT by indianyogi
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