The Brooks Riots

Matt Welch | January 6, 2008

David Brooks, after the Iowa caucuses, Jan. 4, 2008:

The old guard threw everything they had at [Huckabee], and their diminished power is now exposed.

David Brooks (with Bill Kristol), after the New Hampshire primary, Feb. 14, 2000:

John McCain is taking on the Republican establishment. In New Hampshire, he crushed it.

2008:

While Romney embodies the leadership class, Huckabee went after it. He criticized Wall Street and K Street.

2000:

McCain makes the corporate and lobbyist types nervous. The corporate elites have invested heavily in George W. Bush.

2008:

Most importantly, he sensed that conservatives do not believe their own movement is well led.

2000:

[He] attacks a Republican establishment that has already rotted from within[.]

2008:

Huckabee's victory is not a step into the past. It opens up the way for a new coalition.

2000:

[T]he McCain Independents [...] topple the old establishment by bringing in new people. They create new alliances within the party.

2008:

A conservatism that loves capitalism but distrusts capitalists is not hard to imagine either.

2000:

[C]ampaign finance reform, special interests, and shaking up Washington ... can be understood as part of a more comprehensive ambition to reinvigorate citizenship.

Tells us more about David Brooks than the direction of the Republican party, no? As do the columns' respective conclusions. 2008:

My guess is Republicans will now swing behind McCain in order to stop Mike.

2000:

[T]he McCain insurgency is not just a fundamental challenge to the Republican party but a political phenomenon with potential appeal to the country as a whole.