David Brooks looks at a divided Republican Party and sees two factions: the Traditionalists and the Reformers. The Traditionalists include Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), and Leonard Leo (Federalist Society). The Reformers are people like Peggy Noonan and David Frum and (at the moderate end, he says) David Brooks. The Traditionalists “insult the sensibilities of the educated class and the entire East and West Coasts.” The Reformers take global warming seriously and don’t hate Hispanics.

Perhaps that classification is useful for Brooks’ purpose (which is apparently to announce Brooks’ alignment with an elite class of Republican Reformers), but the current Republican rift isn’t simply between the conservative intelligentsia and the Palin-powered base in real America. To hold power, or at least remain competitive, Republicans since the Age of Reagan relied on a sometimes overlapping, sometimes conflicting alliance of (1) Wall Street/K Street interests; (2) neocons and Federalist Society zealots; (3) the religious right; and (4) traditional conservatives. Groups with money funded attacks on the Democratic opposition while the religious right, if properly motivated, could be counted on to get out the vote and win close elections.

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The latest -- "[Obama] is [not] beyond criticism." Good to know.

Now a consideration of Obama's selection of John Brennan to head his transition team on intelligence matters is in order. As I wrote, this is a matter of concern. As Glenn Greenwald wrote via Balloon Juice:

It simply is noteworthy of comment and cause for concern -- though far from conclusive about what Obama will do -- that Obama's transition chief for intelligence policy, John Brennan, was an ardent supporter of torture and one of the most emphatic advocates of FISA expansions and telecom immunity. It would be foolish in the extreme to ignore that and to just adopt the attitude that we should all wait quietly with our hands politely folded for the new President to unveil his decisions before deciding that we should speak up or do anything.

Time to comment and show some concern about this I think.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis had his day in court. Traffic court. In Cook County.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Martin Coghlan said he dismissed the case because the alleged violation didn't make sense. Police have said they pulled Davis over on Nov. 19 of last year because he swerved over the center line. But Coghlan said crossing the center line was necessary to make the left turn described by a police officer in court.

Davis was ticketed while driving home from his Sunday night radio talk show with three black passengers. Before the trial, Davis accused the police of racial profiling. After Judge Coghlan acquitted him, Davis was more conciliatory, as befits a politician.

The Rev. Edward Pinkney was the Green Party candidate for Congress in Michigan's 6th District. He earned a respectable 3,500 votes despite his inability to leave his prison cell to attend campaign events.

According to an AP story, Pinkney was convicted in 2007 of "paying people to vote in a Benton Harbor election." He was placed on probation.

Months later, he wrote an article in a Chicago newspaper, People's Tribune, saying the judge who handled his case, Alfred Butzbaugh, could be punished by God with curses, fever and "extreme burning" unless he changed his ways.

For that exercise of free speech, Pinkney's probation was revoked. A different judge imposed a 3 to 10 year prison sentence. The ACLU is helping Pinkney appeal. Today it asked the appellate court to release Pinkney on bond while his appeal is pending. [more ...]

The Republican Party's latest gripe involves legislation drafted by, of all people, John McCain.

Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan said Wednesday that he wants the courts to eliminate restrictions on coordinated spending by national parties and federal candidates and to permit the national organizations to raise money for state parties.

Duncan said he planned to file suits Thursday in federal courts in Washington D.C. and in Louisiana. His goal, he said was to "strengthen the Republican Party and bring a more level playing field to campaign finance."

Duncan complains that the RNC's inability to coordinate with its candidates causes "results where candidates are often upset with the message that is going out." When the Party has to guess at the candidate's message (or when, as in McCain's case, the candidate doesn't speak for the campaign), it's easy to see how a conflict could arise. The remedy: nominate candidates who have a clear message.

Top Chef has its season premiere tonight on Bravo.

I'll be watching the Country Music Awards which will have performances by the Eagles, Kid Rock and Keith Urban, among others. Full list of nominees is here.

What are you watching tonight?

I posted it in the Open Thread but I think it is worthy of its own post - Greenwald on John Brennan:

It simply is noteworthy of comment and cause for concern -- though far from conclusive about what Obama will do -- that Obama's transition chief for intelligence policy, John Brennan, was an ardent supporter of torture and one of the most emphatic advocates of FISA expansions and telecom immunity. It would be foolish in the extreme to ignore that and to just adopt the attitude that we should all wait quietly with our hands politely folded for the new President to unveil his decisions before deciding that we should speak up or do anything.

Speaking for me only

More bad news on the economic front. The Dow Jones dropped more than 410 points today.

The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 410 points, and all the major indexes lost more than 4 percent. The stock market has lost about $1 trillion over the past three days, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects the value of nearly all U.S. stocks.

Among the reasons:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was backing away from buying troubled mortgage assets and would focus on the capital needs of both banks and non-bank financial institutions.

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I am out for the rest of the day. So this will be an Open Thread.

Just for kicks, a trip down memory lane when the new Obama Bots attacked me in years past - on the New McCarthyism in 2005 and on Alito later that year. Ancient history of course. Maybe John Brennan can be discussed sometime soon.

One last thing, Greenwald on John Brennan: [More...]

Don't they know they are supposed to leave Barack alone? Labor did not get the memo:

At a private meeting tomorrow in Washington, D.C., the most powerful and prominent leaders of the labor movement are planning to finalize the details of a major public campaign to push for what labor is hoping to get from the incoming Obama administration and the new Congress.

How dare they plan to pressure the President-elect? It is just plain wrong to ask for action on issues you care about from the people you helped elect. Ridicule is in order.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The Washington Post has more on President-Elect Barack Obama's Guantanamo plans. Shorter version: We'll study the matter and get back to you. [Warning, this is a very long post.]

The Obama administration will launch a review of the classified files of the approximately 250 detainees at Guantanamo Bay immediately after taking office, as part of an intensive effort to close the U.S. prison in Cuba, according to people who advised the campaign on detainee issues.

....Although as a candidate Obama publicly expressed his desire to close the detention facility, his transition team stressed this week that the president-elect has not assembled his national security and legal team and that no decisions have been made "about where and how to try the detainees," Denis McDonough, an Obama foreign policy adviser, said in a statement issued Monday.

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Remember Mark Foley? He'd like to make a comeback.

"I'm trying to find my way back," Foley said in an interview with The Associated Press, his first public comments on the scandal since resigning from Congress on Sept. 29, 2006.

Foley had "lurid, sexually explicit" electronic chats with teenage interns when he was a Congressman. If Foley wants to "find [his] way back" to a political or public career, or even a job as a previously owned car salesman, he needs to show a bit more understanding of his conduct than this: [more ...]