David Brooks, having already opined that George Bush suffers from a deficit of mendacity, now detects in the non-Dean wing of the Democratic Party a culpable lack of viciousness. According to Brooks, if you’re not willing to assert that your opponent is the father of a mixed-race bastard, you don’t really believe what you believe in, and therefore deserve to lose. What is this, the Vince Lombardi theory of politics?
I’m very nervous about Dean as the nominee, but I’m not sorry that his Democratic opponents haven’t been willing to stoop as low as George W. Bush.
However, I am sorry that the New York Times’s second-string house conservative seems to be just as much of a moral imbecile as starter William Safire.
Ogged of Unfogged recalls some details on what the Bushies did to John McCain, and summarizes Brooks’s column nicely: “In David Brooks’ world, decency is weakness.”
Update: Brad DeLong is equally dismayed.