New York Times columnist David Brooks wakes up, looks around, and says, “Hey, what happened?” Op-Ed Columnist - A Moderate Manifesto - NYTimes.com.

Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice.

A quick look through the LGF archives during the 2008 campaign will turn up article after article blowing the whistle on Barack Obama’s associations, history, and ideology. But apparently, mainstream pundits like David Brooks were only hearing the siren songs of hopenchange, and couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the warning signs all around.

One unfortunate factor that exacerbated the tendency to dismiss all critics of Barack Obama as kooks: the many right wing bloggers who did act like kooks, enthusiastically and relentlessly promoting stories like the birth certificate nonsense, the “Michelle Obama ‘whitey’ tape,” the “Obama is the love child of Malcolm X” rubbish, and countless other insane and/or stupid smears. The damage they did (and are still doing, in some cases) to the center-right blogosphere was enormous; when some of the loudest voices are screaming gibberish, they drown out everyone else and tar the whole group by association.