DAVID BROOKS SEES SARAH PALIN AS A 'CANCER'

DAVID BROOKS SEES SARAH PALIN AS A 'CANCER'

The New York Times' David Brooks appeared at an event this afternoon, alongside The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, and had a few provocative things to say about the presidential race. Specifically, the columnist described Sarah Palin as a "fatal cancer to the Republican Party," and compared Palin's anti-intellectualism to the president's.

"[Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices."

Brooks added that Palin is "absolutely not" ready for national office.

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DAVID BROOKS SEES SARAH PALIN AS A 'CANCER'