Having already expressed his legitimate and honorable disdain for the anti-ideas trend in the Republican party, most visibly illustrated by Sarah Palin's statements and responses to them, David Brooks explores a very real issue more deeply in today's NY Times. Picking up the anti-ideas theme, he laments the Republicans' turn to a form of what he calls 'class warfare' that contrasts the wholesome Joe Sixpacks of the heartland to the point-headed overeducated effete nattering nabobs on the coasts.

Whoops, no that was Spiro Agnew, but even if the anti-intellectual card is a tried and true part of Republican strategy, Brooks is right that McCain and Palin, (probably at the direction of the Rovian machine) are taking this idea to new lows.

But Brooks simply can't be bothered to be accurate, even when he's pointing to something real: like the Republican's he criticizes, a good story always outweighs actual reality-based analysis in his work.

Most commentors on the NYT comment thread are picking up on Brooks' comment that "Palin is smart, politically skilled, courageous and likable. Her convention and debate performances were impressive." But while many would disagree with his characterization, one can write this off as a little spin and rhetorical flair, and his statements represent an opinion, which is something that does belong in an op-ed column.

But there's a much bigger blooper at the heart of his argument. He repeates a Fred Barnes line that George W. Bush “reflects the political views and cultural tastes of the vast
majority of Americans who don’t live along the East or West Coast."

Fact check, fact check, David. The Northeast Corridor alone has some 55 million inhabitants, or 18% of the US population (Wikipedia). The rest of the East Coast may not be Ivy territority, but it is not unpopulated. Meanwhile, most of the population of California, Oregon and Washington live along the coast, making up another 30 million or so.

Turns out that while the East and West coast don't form the majority, it is not true that the 'vast majority' of American's live elsewhere. This may help explain why the Republican party's strategy is not working very well.