The Conservative Heart

I was listening to an old New York Times Book Review podcast today and this book was featured along with an interview with the author.

Full disclosure: I have not read this book and frankly, won't. One of his main points is that conservatives' treatment of the poor is misunderstood. In other words, conservatives want to help the poor, but they just don't use the right words. Interesting. I guess Mr. Brooks just ignores vote after vote at all levels of government by Republicans against policies supporting the poor. He also states in this interview

Also, he claims that 70% of the Federal budget on Medicare. How is that possible when 2015 spending on Medicare and health was .02% of the total budget? This is the typical lie that conservatives promote that so-called “entitlements” are bleeding the country dry, while completely ignoring bloated military spending. Most “entitlements” are supported by contributions from employees and employers (or single proprietors).

So, no interest in reading a bunch of lies I've heard elsewhere.

One interesting fact: the author was previously a professional French horn player. He should stick to music.