ImperialPoet Commented on A Pundit's Day of Reckoning -- and Ours by Jim Sleeper

2008-10-14T02:29:08Z

As a liberal military officer who has often put Mr. Brooks’s words to good use before conservative (military) audiences, I find it mildly appalling that those of us who read TPM (or write for it) would want to engage in a conversation to tarnish David Brooks on his ambivalent positions this election season. I admit Mr. Brooks fulfills my need for a “favorite conservative”, but I do so willingly because I believe he’s 1) genuinely—if somewhat ambivalently—conservative, 2) because he’s an intellectual, and 3) because he’s a natural teacher who has the ability to illuminate even the unenlightened minds of our fellow citizens of certain rightward leanings. Yes, he writes the occasional absurd column, but I’m more than willing to chalk up these political panderings to rhetorical flourish. Given the unfortunate dogmas of the Republicans in 2008, I think Brooks has no choice but to pander, at least occasionally, to this unenlightened right. If he were to move unambiguously toward Obama, wouldn’t Brooks lose his credibility as one of our most prominent conservatives? Wouldn’t he give up his ability to influence and persuade our doctrinaire conservative citizens in the direction of thoughtful positions closer to our own? When I served in Iraq for sixteen months, I found Mr. Brooks’s inconsistencies strangely useful in shifting the unthinking positions of a few of my right-wing superiors to positions I think most TPM readers would more appealing. I see little advantage but political one-upmanship in pressuring Brooks to embrace Obama. Fortunately, I don’t think Mr. Sleeper’s arguments would sway Brooks. If he were moved, he’d lose much of his utility, at least for me.

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ImperialPoet Commented on A Pundit's Day of Reckoning -- and Ours by Jim Sleeper