The education of David Frum

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

It took a while, but David Frum, the former Bush speechwriter seems to have noticed a problem with the conservative movement’s approach to competence.

It also has to be admitted: Many of us on the conservative side have fed this monster. (Rightly) aghast at the abuse of expertise by liberal judges, liberal bureaucrats and liberal academics, we have sometimes over-reacted by denying the importance of expertise altogether.

“‘Heart’ is crucial,” one of George W. Bush’s early evangelical supporters argued in a 2005 newspaper column. This same writer accused those conservatives who questioned Bush’s “faith-based initiative” of having “holes in their souls.”

So now instead of holes in our souls, we conservatives are getting candidates with holes in their heads.

As Kevin Drum put it, “Welcome back to the reality-based community, Mr. Frum. Good luck reining in the beast you and your colleagues have spent the past three decades unchaining.”

Latest Editors' Blog
  • |
    November 20, 2024 12:27 p.m.

    I want to add a quick addendum to today’s Backchannel about Democrats saying “no” to interest groups. This comes out…

  • |
    November 20, 2024 9:57 a.m.

    Let me return to something I wrote about yesterday and said I’d return to: Adam Jentleson’s piece in the Times…

  • |
    November 20, 2024 9:08 a.m.

    Here’s a morsel of news that shows you how far we’ve come over the last eight years. Donald Trump made…

  • |
    November 20, 2024 9:07 a.m.

    Due to scheduling conflicts, the newest episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast will be released Thursday. We’ll be back to…

Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: