My Dearest, Darling, David Brooks ... - Democratic Underground

NanceGreggs

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Wed Mar-04-09 02:49 AM
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My Dearest, Darling, David Brooks ...

Edited on Wed Mar-04-09 03:00 AM by NanceGreggs

I am prompted to respond to your most recent column – because I can’t help but wonder where the fuck you’ve been for the past eight years.

“You wouldn’t know it some days, but there are moderates in this country — moderate conservatives, moderate liberals, just plain moderates.”

Yeah, please forgive we liberals for forgetting you were out there – a situation undoubtedly triggered by the fact that you so-called “moderates” were busy plastering “Support the Troops” bumper-stickers on your cars, and affixing flag-pins to your lapels while the Bush administration was being – oh, yeah, what’s the word? – IMMODERATE in every policy and action. Where were you then?

“But the Obama budget is more than just the sum of its parts. There is, entailed in it, a promiscuous unwillingness to set priorities and accept trade-offs. There is evidence of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor — caught up in the self-flattering belief that history has called upon it to solve all problems at once.”

Right off the top, forgive me, but the use of the word “promiscuous” coming from anyone on the other side of the aisle (even you moderates) is laughter-inducing. Vitter, Foley, Craig – ring a bell? Oh, that’s right – you were too busy being moderate to have noticed that “promiscuous” thingy going on. And Jeff Gannon – remember him? – funny how you and your ilk didn’t notice him.

As for being “…caught up in the self-flattering belief that history has called upon it to solve all problems at once,” let me set you straight. President Obama hasn’t been called upon by history – he’s been called upon by the American citizenry to, as best he can, undo the absolute fuckin’ mess YOUR pResident created – yes, YOUR president – the one you couldn’t be bothered to criticize or admonish in any way.

“So programs are piled on top of each other and we wind up with a gargantuan $3.6 trillion budget. We end up with deficits that, when considered realistically, are $1 trillion a year and stretch as far as the eye can see.”

Well, David, I can’t help but ask: Where the fuck was your worry about the budget when your Lord and Saviour, G.W. Bush, was plunging the nation into unprecedented debt in order to wage an unnecessary war that lined the pockets of war-profiteers (a lot of whom coincidently turned out to be family members and big-time supporters)? Oh, yeah, that’s right – you were busy being a “moderate” at the time – a.k.a. “silent asshole”.

“The U.S. has never been a society driven by class resentment. Yet the Obama budget is predicated on a class divide. The president issued a read-my-lips pledge that no new burdens will fall on 95 percent of the American people. All the costs will be borne by the rich and all benefits redistributed downward.”

Wow! Imagine that! The people pulling in the mega-bucks are now being called upon to cough a few of them by way of tax dollars that will serve to help their fellow citizens – the whole concept is just so unfair, isn’t it?

“The U.S. has always been a decentralized nation, skeptical of top-down planning. Yet, the current administration concentrates enormous power in Washington, while plan after plan emanates from a small group of understaffed experts.” I feel your pain, David – if only we could go back to the good ol’ days when we were over-staffing “experts” like Heck-of-a-Job-Brownie.

“The U.S. has traditionally had a relatively limited central government. But federal spending as a share of G.D.P. is zooming from its modern norm of 20 percent to an unacknowledged level somewhere far beyond.” No shit, Sherlock. Just ]when did that start happening?

“Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice. As Clive Crook, an Obama admirer, wrote in The Financial Times, the Obama budget “contains no trace of compromise. It makes no gesture, however small, however costless to its larger agenda, of a bipartisan approach to the great questions it addresses. It is a liberal’s dream of a new New Deal.”

Well, I hate to be the one to break it you, David (I actually delight in doing so, but that’s a whole ‘nother story) – thing is that I, along with the vast majority of Americans, couldn’t care less about whether Obama turned out to be who YOU thought he was. No, really – couldn’t. care. less.

“Moderates now find themselves betwixt and between.”

Why are you uncomfortable with that position? Isn’t that where you “moderates” have been sitting all along – you know, that place on the fence where there’s a picket shoved so obviously up your ass?

“The only thing more scary than Obama’s experiment is the thought that it might fail and the political power will swing over to a Republican Party that is currently unfit to wield it.” Don’t lose any sleep over this concept, David – the chance of political power swinging over the to the Republican party is a dead issue at this point – ain’t gonna happen any time soon. Uh, like not for nuthin’ but the voters have finally noticed who got them into their jobless/homeless/devoid-of-medical-coverage state to begin with – and Obama had nothing to do with it.

“We moderates are going to have to assert ourselves.”

Oh, by all means, you DO that, why don’t you? After eight long fuckin’ years of sitting on the sidelines - with your new-found big mouths apparently wired shut for the duration – it will be a thrill to hear from you now.

“We’re going to have to take a centrist tendency that has been politically feckless and intellectually vapid and turn it into an influential force.” Honestly, I think you nailed it with “politically feckless and intellectually vapid” – I’d call it a day right there now, if I was you.

“But beyond that, moderates will have to sketch out an alternative vision. This is a vision of a nation in which we’re all in it together — in which burdens are shared broadly, rather than simply inflicted upon a small minority. This is a vision of a nation that does not try to build prosperity on a foundation of debt.”

David, I love ya – an alternate vision of “burdens inflicted on a small minority” – that is priceless. We all know who that “small minority” was, now don’t we? Hard-working Americans whose jobs are now being performed in India, right? If only your job – whatever the fuck your job IS – was outsourced, we could all at least say that something good came of the BushCo presidency.

“Moderates are going to have to try to tamp down the polarizing warfare that is sure to flow from Obama’s über-partisan budget. They will have to face fiscal realities honestly and not base revenue projections on rosy scenarios of a shallow recession and robust growth next year.”

I just LOVE it when you “moderates” use satire to make a point – and that WAS satire, wasn’t it? I’m gonna pretend it was.

“They’re going to have to offer an agenda that inspires confidence by its steadiness rather than shaking confidence with its hyperactivity. If they can do that, maybe they can lure this White House back to its best self — and someday offer respite from the endless war of the extremes.”

Endless war of extremes? Try “endless war against people who were never a threat in the first place” – like WMD-less Iraqi citizens.

Jesus Hussein Christ, David – you.are.an.idiot. (Well, we kind of all knew that, but it’s always nice when you open your mouth and confirm the bleedin’ obvious.)

I know what you’re thinking as you read this – all that use of the word “fuck”, it’s just so obscene. Well, here’s the thing – there was nothing more obscene during the BushCo administration than spying on American citizens, torturing “enemy combatants” while talking about Good Christian Values ™, running the Constitution through the shredder along with “secret” WH emails, and turning the Department of Justice into yet another way to “get” those who dissented and needed to be “gotten”.

Fuck you, David Brooks, and everything you didn’t have the balls to stand for – until now.
“Moderate” – a.k.a. pussy-whipped Republican with a yen for excusing their behavior after the fact.