[From the diaries by susanhu w minor edit.]
It was a Friday evening, September 23, 2005. The program was Public Broadcasting Services New Hour; Jim Lehrer was the host. The topic was Katrina. What was the cost of the storm, and what of the monies President George W. Bush promised for rebuilding?
Jim Lehrer introduced the subject by saying that reports reveal the “conservatives are upset;” they do not think the Bush proposals are wise. Lehrer posed the question, what do Republicans intend to do with their frustrations? Lehrer turned to conservative syndicated columnist David Brooks for the answer.
Brooks, in an honest moment, muttered the words, “George Bush has spent money at a faster clip than Lyndon Johnson.” Hearing this utterance from David Brooks was so shocking to newscaster Lehrer, he was visibly taken aback. Mr. Lehrer said, with a noticeable lilt in his voice, “Say that again.”
Brooks rapidly replied, “Domestic discretionary spending, non-defense spending, non-homeland security spending has increased.” He added, spending “has increased under George W. Bush twice as fast as under Bill Clinton, and faster than under Lyndon Baines Johnson.”
Brooks continued, “Conservatives didn’t expect that in 2000. I guarantee you that. A lot of it is, frankly, the Republican Congress’s fault.”
Wow! A registered right-winger is saying that the Republicans are at fault. What happened to “eleventh commandment” as voiced by super President Ronald Reagan? I thought that conservatives were never supposed to criticize members of their own party. Yet, it occurred, here on television. Anyone or everyone could be watching! What will party loyalists think, say, or do? Granted, the increasing debt and the constant spending troubles many. Yet, to speak of it aloud and publicly, this was quite a feat.
New York Times writer David Brooks persisted, “If you look back, when we look back on this period, we are going to look at a Congress that came [in] preaching limited government, but just has gone hog-wild in spending.”
`Tis true. Nonetheless, who would have expected to hear these words from this well-known conservative columnist? Brooks reflected further saying, we have “a president who never disciplined members of his own party to restrain themselves.” Mr. Brooks proclaimed, “There’s just a lot of built-up anger . . .
It was a glorious moment. Though Brooks went on to propose standard Republican policies, this moment will forever be etched in time, in my memory, and I wanted to share it with you.
You might enjoy, A Bushian Laboratory, By David Brooks.
Betsy L. Angert Be-Think
