Douthat's Dark Victory

Rubin fever. Catch it!

Douthat did.

I'm always looking for intellectual alms from the NY Times' Ross Douthat and David Brooks--some sign, some token, some little offering of conservative authenticity that at least whispers philosophical integrity, rather than screaming partisan hackdom.

My universe of hope was once larger. There was a time when George Will at the Post, for instance, would bleat a few genuinely conservative lines, and the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan would fondly resurrect something of the less-radical Gipper. Alas, now Will only hones his image as America's idiosyncratic curmudgeon; he can be Edmund Burke one day, and a tea-partying bomb-thrower the next. And Noonan? Well, poor Peggy, sad to say that along with Norma Desmond she has nostalgically slipped into a kind of stylistic exhibitionism, and little else.

That's leaves Douthat and Brooks. The latter has swelled to the nearly mythological. We watch as he regularly, even heroically rolls his breaking spirit up some steep and craggy hill of true enlightenment, and then, when he's just about there--when he's just about at the zenith, at the peak, the point of declaring, You know what, people? Real conservatism in this country is indisputably dead, dead ... dead!--he scrawls some damn fool apology for the pitiful state of contemporary conservatism, which is to say, pseudoconservatism, then back up the hill he goes.

Douthat? Diagnosis: Rubinitis, severe, inoperable for now. Prognosis: possibly incurable. Major symptoms: delirium, dissociation, political Tourette's, sick humor ... see today's column:

What Romney executed on Wednesday night was not just a simple pivot to the center....

Rather, what he did was clarify, elevate and translate.

Hmmm. I see, Mr. Douthat. Interesting. Let's ask for a second opinion. Here's that of Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson. It's short and rather brutal, but, unlike yours, Mr. Douthat, it is of this earth: "Romney ... buried clear contrasts with the president under a heaping pile of horseshit."

Let's face it. There are no conservatives left. There are pseudoconservative hacks, hobgoblins and humbuggers, but no conservatives. Unless you wish to call some contemporary liberals (e.g. Andrew Sullivan) the new conservatives (e.g. Andrew Sullivan), which they pretty much are--they're just trying to hold down the fort.

Comments

[Chad]

Your talents are wasted on political commentary. The Norma Desmond bit in particular was brilliant.

[Robinswing]

Funny how quickly the need to clearly articulate conservative principles evaporate. Could it be per chance because they are so unpopular? How pray tell could a Romney victory be a triumph of conservatism if he runs left of the President? The irrationality of these folks is mind-numbing. I personally look forward to hearing the words on network television "President Obama has been re-elected in a landslide."

[caribbeanobserver]

My man PM certainly nows how to decimate and destroy them all with his wisdom and words. Therefore, I am confused as to why his contributions are not avaible to more john public in one of 'those' accepted newspapers. To me, all these 'alpha male'? pipsqueaks have peaked over the years leaning heavily now on propaganda,distortions, garblings and exaggerated claims for effect.

[AnneJ]

After months of hearing Mitt Romney being compared to an etch-a-sketch, I am left to wonder: Is he the etch-a-sketch or does he just expect us to be? Did he honestly believe that he could go out on that debate stage and spout off total bullshit and we were all supposed to buy it? After who knows how long listening to him flip back and forth taking completely opposing sides of the same issues, often times on the same day and then denying his previous stance and we were supposed to buy into it hook, line and sinker. He wants us to simply shake our minds like the proverbial etch-a-sketch and forget what he said before and buy into whatever it is he's saying now. I am not the most intelligent reader of this site, but I find the tactics of this detestable man insulting to even my intelligence. I am not the best and the brightest person in the electorate, but even I know bullshit when I smell it and in Mitt Romney the stench is overpowering.

[caribbeanobserver]

But,but, Newt Gingrich says that lying is good politics.!
God, when will these convicts stop with the far-reaching stretching of untruths!!

[SueMe]

I read some wag that called Romney's debate the "Audacity of Mendacity". I think our POTUS is a chess player and will call out Mittens in the next debates. Let's face it, 30% of voters will vote whomever has a R next to their name so they never have to check facts...but that leaves a good portion of us who do and will vote informed!

[Robert Lipscomb]

I tend to not underestimate the intelligence and sanity of my opposition, especially in national politics. Further, I simply cannot believe that Romney could make such a move without the consent of the party elders. Therefore, I find Romney's debate switcheroo all the more perplexing and troubling.

I have no trouble understanding using the old switcheroo, lies and spin to win an election. I find the most recent example outrageous - but not fundamentally incomprehensible. In this instance, neo-Reaganomics was pured from the party platform. That's like the pope purging catholicism of christianity. Even if it works, what's the point?

The knee-jerk answer is well elections count and a win garners power. Yeah ... but ... These guys read the sames polls I do. Romney simply will not win. So, why sacrifice neo-Reaganomics in the name of a lost cause. There is no win there to be had.

[Peter G]

A neat twist on the myth of Sisyphus. The Greeks required Gods to impose an utterly pointless and relentlessly futile existence on the poor chap. Brooks is his own God. Personally I think his self selected task is cleaning out the Augean Stables, without a river.