Is David Brooks Really That Dumb?

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune reports:

The New York Times declared that in Chicago, there is no political machine.

"A Daley is still mayor," wrote David Brooks, whose writing I usually enjoy, "but the machine is gone."

The machine is gone?

I guess the federal jury sure was fooled.

So were the thousands of men and women who took days off and waited in auditoriums. They waited to take tests that didn't matter, and sat for interviews that didn't count, for a secure city job they had no chance to win because their names weren't scribbled on one of the mayoral "blessed" lists.

Also fooled were the candidates who've been steamrolled, regardless of their politics, by Daley's troops in the precincts, in order to elect the mayor's favorites, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel and former Republican Will County State's Atty. Jeff Tomczak.

49 out of 50 Chicago Aldermen are Democrats.Virtually the entire City of Chicago workforce are registered Democrats.Democrats have controlled Chicago since the New Deal.But,David Brooks thinks the "machine" is dead.David Brooks is the go along kind of Republican that only the New York Times could love.TimesSelect is pretty amazing.