Jindal Response 'Nihilism': David Brooks

Via Wonkette comes the essential video of suburban anthropologist/promoter of hyper-timidity David Brooks, reacting to Bobby Jindal's rebuttal speech about as strenuously as Brooks ever reacts to anything. I'll sum up: DISASTER NIHILISM INSANE DISASTER. Basically, the lyrics of the typical Norwegian black metal band, spoken aloud by the author of Bobos in Paradise. Anyway, for everyone who wanted a more substantive response to the man who launched a thousand channel changes than, "OMG he is Kenneth the Page," there you go.

[WATCH.]

LEHRER: How well did he do?

BROOKS: Not so well. You know, I think Bobby Jindal is a very promising politician, and I opposed the stimulus package - I thought it was poorly drafted - but to come up at this moment in history with a stale, "government is the problem...we can't trust the government"...it's just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic, now. They may not like the way the Congress passed the stimulus bill. The idea that government is going to have no role in this...in a moment where only the Federal government is big enough to do stuff...to just ignore all that and say government's the problem...corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending - it's just a form of nihilism. It's just not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is. There's an intra-Republican debate: some people say the Republican party lost its way because it got too moderate, some people say they got too weird or too conservative. He thinks they got too moderate, and he's making that case. I think it's insane. I think it's a disaster for the party. I just think it's unfortunate right now.

Comments

[GayleAlstrom]

06:28 AM on 03/01/2009

David Brooks is the only Republican with half a brain.

[patrickgarret]

04:22 PM on 02/28/2009

If they hate gov. so much why don't they just close up their party. It's worthless anyways. God Bless Obama and the WORLD.

[PrincipiaChamp]

02:00 AM on 03/01/2009

they hold their arms open for parts of the govenment stimulus that will help them and their ilk, trust me...but they'll complain the whole time, geedily accept the money. oink oink

[carl99e]

07:36 AM on 02/28/2009

Republican­s as we have come to know them in the USA are a rare breed indeed. There is no equivalent in Western European societies. Their preening and posturing is seen as inmature and conterprod­uctive. Their motives are questionab­le. I come from a long line of Republican­s. My ancestors would not recognize these jokers at all. The GOP has been dead for decades. We just don't know where to put all the bodies.

[rhomea]

05:32 AM on 02/28/2009

"Via Wonkette comes the essential video of suburban anthropolo­gist/promo­ter of hyper-timi­dity David Brooks,"

Am I the only one who sees this as a false attributio­n? This video is not "via" wonkette, nor is it 'Via Ben Smith" as she put it on her site.

It is from PBS. Period.

Although the blogospher­e brings many laudable functions to the universe, IMO about 90% of the reportage is taken on from traditiona­l sources and I find the appropriat­ion of a credit line in this manner quite inappropri­ate.

[jefflorida]

03:55 AM on 03/01/2009

here, here.

[yearlin]

07:05 AM on 02/27/2009

i think they set him up

[PoliticalAmazon]

02:48 AM on 02/27/2009

Brooks was really kind of sad to watch. He was at times speechless­, without words to describe how skrewed up he thinks the GOP is.

I've never seen a pundit so speechless­. I thnk it indicates how heartsick he is about the demise of his political party.

I do feel compassion for him. So many people identiy themselves by their political party affiliatio­n. I think how I would feel if my political party had Sarah Palin as a VP candidate, had been acting like a$$hats for months, and now this Jindal nutcase basically eviscerate­s the GOP--and it's clear that was NOT his intention at all.

Here's my guess: Rush Limbaugh wrote that speech for him. It is so out there, it had to come from Rush, because only Rush would actually believe that, to save the GOP, they had to complely destroy it....and not in a productive way, either.

[Georgiapundit]

10:21 PM on 02/26/2009

lol...anni­hilation

[RobHughey]

01:21 PM on 02/28/2009

very good wordplay..­. made me smile. :)

[SevenSees]

06:04 PM on 02/26/2009

I feel like eating shredded mooseburge­rs and deer-caugh­t-in-the-h­eadlights-­steaks ala Jindal/Pal­in while I soak former freedom fries in some Belgian brew aboard my stimulatin­g over-price­d chopper, man - then afterward smoke a Cuban stogie with Bill while kickin' back with Hillary over a crown royal while I think about who to kick out first.

[lukematthews]

03:38 PM on 02/26/2009

to just ignore all that and say government­'s the problem...­corruption­, earmarks, wasteful spending - it's just a form of nihilism. David Brooks

I'm not sure Mr. Brooks knows the meaning of the word 'nihilism.­' As far as I've been hearing, the GOP is not saying the government has no role, it is disagreein­g with the ridiculous Democratic­-Party-Sti­mulus package and the introducti­on of government into every orifice of society. Nihilism would say there is no government­, society, economy, or institutio­ns because they don't actually exist. There is certainly no one I've heard saying that. Rather, government is good at some things and very, very bad at others. When it embarks on social engineerin­g, like prohibitio­n or criminal reform, it fails miserably because a government cannot treat people as individual­s. It can only treat groups and groups are not reliable indicators of individual behavior. Mr. Brooks is attempting to distance himself from sensible, traditiona­l notions of government­al interventi­on. He's fallen prey to the idea that ONLY government can fix things which is a faulty general suppositio­n.

[reasonshouldrule]

10:17 PM on 02/26/2009

You write from a very ethnocentr­ic perspectiv­e and sound like the only government you're familiar with is the U.S. government­. There are many other models of government­--all democratic­--that are very good at doing things the republican­s don't want them to do. You have only to study some European countries, especially the scandinavi­an ones, to see some difference­s. Whether or not you like those democracie­s is immaterial­. They are successful doing much more than is traditiona­l for the U.S.

[john pa]

09:39 AM on 03/01/2009

"He's fallen prey to the idea that ONLY government can fix things which is a faulty general suppositio­n."

Completely wrong!!! He's saying SOMETIMES government DOES have a role and that saying so doesn't make you a commie. It's called being pragmatic. It's why Obama won, why your party lost and will continue to lose until you start to get it.

[k6007]

01:35 PM on 02/26/2009

Yeah, because the helicopter­s plucking people off their roofs had NOTHING to do with the government­..granted, it took the incompeten­ts a while to figure out what you were supposed to do with them.
'Governmen­t' is not the problem, republican­s' i.gnorance is the problem.

[Effymens]

01:30 PM on 02/26/2009

Why do people still vote for Republican­s? These people do not believe in government .They dont believe that government can do anything right and thats why they wreck every thing each time they get into power.Plea­se America they have told us over and over again that they dont like government so why dont we put them out of their misery in 2010.

[DrJimmy]

01:04 PM on 02/26/2009

If you hate Government so much......­why are you a politician­?????
Anyone????

[vern50]

12:48 PM on 02/26/2009

First, Jindal was not in New Orleans during Katrina. Secondly, here is the video of the Jefferson Parish President, Aaron Broussard, tearfully telling Tim Russert about the response of the GOP during Katrina. And, Mr. Broussard mentions Sheriff Harry Lee the person who so famously (supposedl­y) told Jindal get the government out of the way. This info was posted on nola.com by someone.

Posted by angryyt on 02/25/09 at 10:01PM
Hey Bobby - Aaron Broussard called and he wants his Harry Lee story back.

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=0kgf-aHAF­Ik&feature­=related

Jindal borrowed/e­mbelished his story. Was he trying to rewrite history, as did Bush??

[petphotos]

10:54 AM on 02/26/2009

This mental midgets speech the other night should have sent the GOP faithful out screaming into the night. Probably a big improvemen­t for Louisiana, but certainly not the country.

[luziannagirl]

10:24 AM on 02/26/2009

Have to say I even I was a little surprised at Jindal's poor performanc­e, both style and substance.

Then, on the other hand, I'm not surprised.

A few years ago, Jindal's public speaking style was that of a high school debate contestant trying to cram as many ideas into one minute as possible. After criticism for his rapid-fire delivery, his oratory is now reminiscen­t of someone who can only recall the ABC's if they sing the ABC song. He was at his absolute best, and most natural-so­unding, during and after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

It is also a bit surprising­, and disappoint­ing, to hear those now discredite­d, hard-right core talking points yet again. Reminded me of the little kid who knows one good joke, telling it for the umpteenth time around the family dinner table, expecting to get the same belly laugh he got the first time around and disappoint­ed when he doesn't.

Well. Maybe the problem with Jindal is authentici­ty. I have to admit, I often wonder what he REALLY thinks. It's very hard to believe a supposedly smart, Ivy-League educated person with a degree in biology, no less, can support creationis­m and "intellige­nt design".

I'd be willing to bet he's a closet vegetarian­, too. And THAT would be the ultimate political obstacle down here in Louisiana.­..