David Brooks in Krugman-Land

This is Mr. David Brooks on subject of Dr. Paul Krugman in 2002.  At that time, Dubya was in high cotton and nobody was a more loyal Bush Administration codpiece than Mr. David Brooks, managing editor of Bill Kristol's neocon rag, The Weekly Standard. 

The Pelosi Democrats

Are they going to become the stupid party?

ARE THE DEMOCRATS about to go insane? Are they about to decide that the reason they lost the 2002 election is that they didn't say what they really believe? Are they about to go into Paul Krugman-land, lambasting tax cuts, savaging Bush as a tool of the corporate bosses? Are they about to go off on a jag that will ensure them permanent minority status in every state from North Carolina to Arizona?

...

It is helpful to remember that at the time Mr. Brooks wrote this, the Republican Party was already 10-15 years into its long, ruinous collapse into a hellscape of raging idiots, bigots and politically incompetent demagogues.  At least according to Mr. David Brooks.  Writing in the New York Times.  Yesterday.

And this is Dr. Paul Krugman on subject of Mr. David Brooks in 2015:

Everett Dirksen Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

I see that David Brooks is lamenting the decline of conservatism as he defines it:

By traditional definitions, conservatism stands for intellectual humility, a belief in steady, incremental change, a preference for reform rather than revolution, a respect for hierarchy, precedence, balance and order, and a tone of voice that is prudent, measured and responsible. Conservatives of this disposition can be dull, but they know how to nurture and run institutions.

...that kind of conservatism left the Republican Party a very long time ago. Remember, Ronald Reagan embraced supply-side economics, which was not only a radical doctrine but one rejected by virtually the entire economics profession; was that “intellectual humility”? And remember that Newt Gingrich tried to undermine the constitutional separation of powers with a government shutdown more than 20 years ago.

And on the other hand, by David’s definition Barack Obama is pretty conservative: the Affordable Care Act is a classic example of incremental change, building on the existing system rather than trying a complete overhaul.

My point is that if what you want is traditional conservatism, the only people with real influence with anything like that mindset are Democrats. Actually existing conservatism is a radical doctrine.

Mr. Brooks has raised the avoidance of venues where anyone will ask him any substantive questions about anything to an art form.  And you can understand why.

At the same time, his Beltway colleagues have made groveling deference to Mr. Brooks banal maunderings their Gold Standard of Journalistic Seriousness.

So now that the Both Siderism' very own Master Chief has gone momentarily off-mission --

-- it will be mighty entertaining to see just how the Beltway Both Siderist threat neutralization team handles their old commander.