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Friday, October 5, 2012

And the Oscar Goes To

 ("Moderate Mitt Returns") "Either out of conviction or political desperation, he broke with the Tea Party orthodoxy and began to redefine the Republican identity".

Let's analyze the statement of Mr. Brooks in its component parts. One possibility is that the Mr. Romney who has been before the American public the last 18 months has been a charlatan, lying to himself and to the public. Pandering to the far right, making statements wholly inconsistent not only with what he uttered on the stage at the debate but from day to day during the campaign, the former governor has been hiding in plain sight since he first announced his candidacy. What does this say about his value as a man, and the values that he will govern by if handed the highest office in the land?

Alternatively, Mr. Brooks suggests Mr. Romney read the reports of his imminent demise and decided that he had made a monumental miscalculation. Rather than apologizing for past errors, he ignored them and created a new person, redefining in 90 minutes not merely the Republican identity but his own.

This was a man on the witness stand, demonstrating that he had either repeatedly and contemptuously lied to the American people for an extended period of time,  or that he was lying to them now, or both. And somehow, Mr. Brooks found in this a true and admirable candidate. I am disappointed in Mr. Brooks for giving Mr. Romney credit for what David Axelrod described as an Oscar winning performance in Denver. My fear is that the American public may well, like Mr. Brooks, have been taken in by this charade.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know you have often liked Brooks. He does however have a serious personal inner conflict which more often than not he demonstrates in his writing. He has a blinding need to be taken seriously by those he considers powerful. Brooks has drawn himself a world view that will not be altered, he colors within the lines and will make almost anything or anyone work inside those boundaries. Romney, if elected, will usher America into the world of Fahrenheit 451. Those of us who care should memorize two books to pass on to future generations, at least to those individuals who flee corporate brainwashing. The middle ages plunged Europe into a long dark time that did birth the Renaissance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
I don't see that happening in the age of the internet, relentless media bombardment,brainwashing..and the big lie repetition..I do see dark times for most and sunshine for very very very very very few..Interesting times..I have been telling my children to think of a move to Europe.

Robert said...

If I gave the impression that I ever liked Mr.Brooks then I have a done a worse job than Mr. Romney at explaining myself. The worst aspect of his writing is that he appears far too intelligent to believe much of what he professes to support. There had been recent glimmers that even he had stopped trying to put a round plug into a square hole and was distancing himself from the Republican unfolding disaster, but all it took for him to re-attach to them was 90 minutes of facile lying.

Anonymous said...

ALL politicians lie. It's what they do best. They'll say anything they think will get them elected. So grow up and get real. The gullible public believes what they want to believe. Obama has left a trail of lies and broken promises that's catching up with him. A sure case of the Emperor sans clothes. Romney is following in Obama's footsteps but has the advantage of new lies rather than the stale ones. November 6th will decide which set of lies the public is willing to swallow.

Move to Europe? Great advice for anyone who wants to go back to the Dark Ages, which is exactly where they're headed when the Euro breaks up.



Robert said...

Promises that have not been met and lies that have been made are not one and the same. Certainly, there are matters in the agenda of the President that have not met his expectation or ours. Some of the blame for this rests with him, but much lays directly at the feet of the obstructionists, who vowed to make Obama a "one termer".

As for Romney, his lies are shifts in position are daily and massive. He has shown himself, in the few glimpses of reality, to be wholly aligned with a philosophy that deems those who are in need not as ones worthy of assistance but as drains on the society. It is an ugly harsh vision and smacks of Darwinism.

Don't equate continued disappointment with the lack of a solid recovery, with continued mendacity. It is a false and flawed equivalency.

Anonymous said...

In any political system throughout the history of mankind, without exception, the stated goal of the party out of power is to replace the party in power, ASAP.

Robert said...

But not to the detriment of those they are sworn to protect. The tactics of the Republicans from spreading lies to obstructing passage of any bills authored by the Democrats has not been intended to do anything but bring down the presidency. If the recession and continued unemployment resulted, these were events that brought satisfaction rather than sadness to the party. That is NOT consistent with how every party out of power has acted. Rather the best of them, have tried to show that they can assist, even when not holding the upper hand, in making a better world for those in their care.

You will NEVER convince me that their was a noble purpose in the actions of the Republicans

Anonymous said...

as a professor of history i strongly recommend a thorough reading of the prince and the letters of niccolo machiavelli, still the foremost illuminating treatise on political theory. along with any world history books detailing the centuries of brutality of man against man, even in america.