I could hardly believe my eyes when I read this column by David Brooks. Every word of it is true. Coming from this man, that I have always considered a conservative tool, these words resonate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/opinion/brooks-the-possum-republicans.html

"First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican. Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative. Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Pundits like Brooks, who have tried to stake out a moderate position in the Republican Party, now have nowhere to go.

Comments

[Brandon]

A conservative response to Brooks's "possum" column:

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/02/28/is-david-brooks-comparing-the-tea-party-to-nazis/

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Among the Republican base, there was never any enthusiasm for Romney, and his pandering to them brings only contempt. They're going for Newt or Santorum. Many like Ron Paul's domestic policies but consider his non-interventionist foreign policy a dealbreaker.

[Hattie]

Brandon: Melissa Harris Perry has expressed worries about an unbalanced, one party state, which the collapse of the Republican Party could create. There is an honorable conservative position, after all, informed by enlightenment values, but these loony toons characters are not interested in reason.

[Kay Dennison]

I was astounded at David Brooks' column as he said what I've been thinking for a long time. The Republican party has become a very bad and very sick joke. What galls me is that anyone buys it. It says a lot about our country and what it says isn't very nice.

[Hattie]

The traditional Republicans were white, middle to upper class, professionals or business people, elitist. People like David Brooks, in short. In order to appeal to a wider demographic, Nixon incorporated racist whites with the "Southern strategy." As Johnson said, the Civil Rights Act lost the south for the Democrats. Reagan was a great asset to Republicans, because he incorporated white elitist class attitudes with the "folksy" touch and was able to draw in the masses.
Then things started to get messed up. Dubya was the final straw. The lower orders loved him, even though he was a spoiled rich kid and born again dry drunk. Now he is just an embarrassment to the party and no one talks about him.
At this point, traditional Republicans truly have nowhere to go.