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Brooks calls Malkin 'a loon': Why it matters

If you haven't yet heard, New York Times center-right columnist David Brooks called conservative pundit Michelle Malkin "a loon" over the weekend.

Brooks was asked by media critic Howie Kurtz how he feels about being attacked by those on the far-right. Responded Brooks, “If it’s from a loon, I don’t mind it. I get a kick out of it. If it’s from Michelle Malkin attacking, I don’t mind it.”

The remark points to the widening fissure between the far-right and moderate wings of the Republican party, which could become one of the defining stories of late 2012-early 2013 should Mitt Romney lose the election (and especially if Republicans lose seats in the Senate and the House.)

Rush Limbaugh, who falls on the far-right side of that spectrum, drew that line in the sand last month when he said Republicans (one group) would blame conservatives (another group) for a Romney loss, a move that would ultimately sound the death-knell of the party in its current form.

"If Obama wins, let me tell you what it's the end of: The Republican Party," Limbaugh said. "There's gonna be a third party that's gonna be oriented toward conservatism.... I know if Obama wins, the Republican Party is gonna try to maneuver things so conservatives get blamed."

Following an Obama victory, the Brooks and the Noonans might argue that the conservative base dragged the party too-far to the right ("Reagan wouldn't recognize these Republicans!") while the Limbaughs and the Malkins might argue that the so-called establishmentarians were too cautious -- too mainstream, even ("It's time to take the party back!").

In the event that battle lines are drawn, it will be interesting to see where leading conservative voices of all stripes land and stand. Brooks told Kurtz that when “people who are thoughtful" criticize him, “then it bothers you." In that group he included former colleagues from The Weekly Standard. But Brooks and the Standard's editors, including Bill Kristol, certainly aren't of one mind either.

So... factions within factions, perhaps.