I may be late to the party in taking apart the latest idiocy from David Brooks, but here goes.

Brooks writes,

Kerry did say that we are all united in the fight against bin Laden, but he just couldn't help himself. His first instinct was to get political.

On Milwaukee television, he used the video as an occasion to attack the president: "He didn't choose to use American forces to hunt down Osama bin Laden. He outsourced the job."

I'm not the first to point out the contradiction in this, but so many normally reasonable right-leaning commentators have written much the same thing recently: a plea for national unity, for not politicizing the Bin Laden tape, followed by attacks on John Kerry.

The argument is ridiculous on its face: should a Bin Laden tape mean that Kerry ought to cease criticizing the President? The President certainly hasn't ceased criticizing Kerry; he gave his regular anti-Kerry stump speech in Columbus, Ohio today.

The disingenuousness of the using a call for unity to hack away at the candidate you don't like is apalling, to say the least.

Brooks continues,

One of the crucial issues of this election is, Which candidate fundamentally gets the evil represented by this man? Which of these two guys understands it deep in his gut - not just in his brain or in his policy statements, but who feels it so deep in his soul that it consumes him?

No, no, damn it, no! This election is not about who hates terrorists more. This isn't a masculinity contest. This election is about policy. I'm glad Bush thinks terrorists are really, really super evil - but the fact remains is that his policies for fighting terrorism have been counterproductive. Kerry offers a smarter, better set of policies.

I'd be glad to be arguing terrorism policy with reasonable conservatives - but the fact is, it seems like at heart most conservatives want to vote for Bush not because he offers a better, more coherent policy but because he wins the macho man contest. And thats crazy.

Update: So I forgot to mention - Brooks also claims that Kerry flip flopped on the use of U.S. troops in Tora Bora - a lie. Laura Rozen collects the details.