BROOKS: McCAIN'S A GREAT MAN, APART FROM THAT EXPOSING-US-TO-CANCER THING

The blogosphere is all over this already, but let me sum it up briefly: David Brooks appeared today at a gathering for The Atlantic and declared Sarah Palin a "fatal cancer to the Republican party," because she's a know-nothing who "scorn[s] ideas entirely."

Brooks also lavished praise on Barack Obama's intellect and "social perception." But here's the thing: Brooks praised John McCain as well, saying he and Obama are "the two best candidates we've had in a long time."

OK, I'm confused. Shouldn't one of the "best candidates we've had in a long time" be a candidate who didn't inflict a political "cancer" on us and offer to put that "cancer" a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Oh, sorry, I forgot -- according to Brooks, "the McCain on the campaign trail" isn't "the real McCain" -- which means, I guess, that the McCain who picked Palin is some sort of body double, not "the real McCain."

In fact, what Brooks said when he was last arguing that we're not seeing "the real McCain" on the campaign trail was that we know this McCain is fake because the campaign "has no central argument."

Er, David? Maybe "scorn[ing] ideas entirely" is the McCain/Palin campaign's "central argument."