David Brooks now informs us that “the battle lines have already been drawn in the fight over the future of conservatism,” with the Traditionalists vs. the Reformers in rival camps. He quotes our own esteemed helmsman R. Emmett Tyrrell as a spokesman for the Traditionalists who (this being a David Brooks column) are portrayed as analogous to a mammoth sinking slowly into the La Brea tarpit.
Brooks overlooks the existence of a third camp — admittedly a small camp, but growing steadily — in this conservative cage match: Those who think that the problems afflicting the Republican Party are caused mainly by David Brooks.
No word from Mr. Tyrrell whether he’d be willing to join this camp.