Scott Douglas’ Terse Bloviation

David Brooks Gross Oversimplification Watch #1

11/14/08

Is this country going to slide into progressive corporatism, a merger of corporate and federal power that will inevitably stifle competition, empower corporate and federal bureaucrats and protect entrenched interests? Or is the U.S. going to stick with its historic model: Helping workers weather the storms of a dynamic economy, but preserving the dynamism that is the core of the country’s success.

11/11/08

In one camp, there are the Traditionalists, the people who believe that conservatives have lost elections because they have strayed from the true creed. George W. Bush was a big-government type who betrayed conservatism. John McCain was a Republican moderate, and his defeat discredits the moderate wing….

The other camp, the Reformers, argue that the old G.O.P. priorities were fine for the 1970s but need to be modernized for new conditions. The reformers tend to believe that American voters will not support a party whose main idea is slashing government. The Reformers propose new policies to address inequality and middle-class economic anxiety. They tend to take global warming seriously. They tend to be intrigued by the way David Cameron has modernized the British Conservative Party.

11/7/08

They’ll do this by explaining to the American people that there are two stages to their domestic policy thinking, the short-term and the long-term.

10/27/08

Roughly speaking, there are four steps to every decision.

10/21/08

For all the talk of plumbers and investment bankers, populists and elitists, Patio Man is still at the epicenter of national politics. He is the quintessential suburban American, the service economy worker, the guy who wears khakis to work each day, with the security badge on the belt clip around his waist.

9/2/08

The main axis in McCain’s worldview is not left-right. It’s public service versus narrow self-interest.

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  1. duncan November 21st, 2008 3:40 pm

    For half the day I thought you were writing these things. But this sentence threw me and eventually I clicked the date itself: “They tend to be intrigued by the way David Cameron has modernized the British Conservative Party.” I know you like to drink tea, but didn’t think you watched Parliament and followed the rebuilding of the British Conservative Party; that’s definitely a David Brooks thing.

  2. duncan November 21st, 2008 3:45 pm

    Oh and another David Brooks dead giveaway: the whole security-badge-on the-belt-clip thing. Patio men like myself wear their badges around their necks–anchors of sorts, you could say. I even have a New Balance lanyard!