There was a DKos diary up yesterday about how dumb the recent Bobby Jindal National Review speech was, castigating Republicans for sounding dumb and for supporting unpopular ideas, but then failing to following the reasoning when he then supported dull, unpopular ideas. Which NYT's columnist nails Jindal for this? Jump over the squiggly to find out ...
If you guessed David Brooks, you must have ESP. Because, you have no reason to guess David Brooks. But, the analysis in his
http://www.nytimes.com/...
article is really good, except at the very end ... .
Check out this third graph:
But, so far, there have been more calls for change than actual evidence of change. In his speech, for example, Jindal spanked his party for its stale clichés but then repeated the same Republican themes that have earned his party its 33 percent approval ratings: Government bad. Entrepreneurs good.
Then he comments on some analysis at a current National Review soul-searching event at which Republicans don't really get that their anti-government rhetoric is collapsing because of the fallacies of its premise.
The next problem with this mentality is that it makes it hard for Republicans to analyze social and economic problems that don’t flow directly from big government. For example, we are now at the end of the era in which a rising tide lifts all boats. Republicans like Mitt Romney can talk about improving the overall business climate with lower taxes and lighter regulation, but regular voters sense that that won’t necessarily help them because wages no longer keep pace with productivity gains.
Brooks goes on to say that he doesn't think today's Republicans can change:
Can current Republicans change their underlying mentality to adapt to these realities? Intellectual history says no. People almost never change their underlying narratives or unconscious frameworks. Moreover, in the South and rural West, where most Republicans are from, the Encroachment Story has deep historic and psychological roots. Anti-Washington, anti-urban sentiment has characterized those cultures for decades.
Brooks calls for a new Republican party that can win in the West and Northeast. Here's where the analysis fails .. because such a Republican party would look a lot like the Democratic party that is already winning in the West and Northeast.
Hmm ...