It's rather remarkable how deep and swift the post-election depression of the losing part is. Over in The New York Times, David Brooks is claiming to be a new "swing voter" and calling the argument over the size of the state a "stale, abstract debate [that] will never lead anywhere and only inhibits creative thinking." Elsewhere, the Hudson Institution, in an event I'm bummed I can't make, is hosting a "How Vast The Left Wing Conspiracy" panel, where Byron York will chat with representatives of the Democracy Alliance and the Open Source Institute to ask if it's "time for conservatives to reexamine their own intellectual infrastructure in light of the progressive network's success?" Yikes. Meanwhile, neither Brooks's column nor the Hudson event mention that magic little word -- Iraq -- without which none of this makes any sense. Trust me on that guys, I've been here before. I'm a Democrat.
