The New York Times’ affirmative action-hire and self-described “moderate conservative,” David Brooks, authored a stunning piece of journalistic ignorance yesterday.  In it, he posits that President Obama is (gasp!) a liberal!

“Those of us who consider ourselves moderates,” wrote Brooks, “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.”

My question to Brooks is, Where have you been the past two years?  Now, several weeks into Obama’s Presidency, you’re asking whether Obama is a bold leftist?  Did you not pay one ounce of attention to his background, associations, and rhetoric during the campaign?

Brooks then goes on to whine and whimper about how moderates like him find themselves “facing a void” because “[o]n the right, there are the Rush Limbaugh brigades,” and “[t]he 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.”  He ultimately condemns “the endless war of the extremes.”

I’ve never liked Brooks because he doesn’t seem to have any principles.  One day, he’s a conservative; the next day, a liberal. 

He argued forcefully for military intervention in Iraq and then, once the war started, tempered his support.  He has argued that there exists a third, moderate party in America, calling it the “McCain-Lieberman Party.”  (Not really: America is far more conservative than you think.) 

He obviously was a McCain supporter, but he also denounced Sarah Palin as a “cancer to the Republican Party.”  (David, if not for Palin, McCain would have lost by more than 6 or 7 million votes; she saved his ass.) 

He supports gay marriage and is somewhat of a feminist.

Finally, he has argued that the Republican Party must distance itself from the limited government principles of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.  (Amazingly, he pushed this idea in early 2007 despite an array of defeats for Republicans in the 2006 mid-term elections–a punishment of sorts for having abandoned such conservative principles for big-government spending programs.) 

I don’t think Brooks has any idea where he stands on anything.  He clearly has no clue why Republicans keep losing elections.  He’s supposed to be this heady intellectual, but he can’t even recognize the facts right under his nose. 

Obama is a socialist, and that was as clear as day from the beginning of the campaign.  People like Brooks floated the idea that Obama was going to be a “centrist.”  Now, after having seen the socialist takeover of our country, Brooks and these blue-blood pseudo-conservatives are aghast at the degree of “change” that’s really taking place.

My advice to Brooks: Open your eyes.  The extreme liberalism in the northeast is clouding your judgment.

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