On Friday’s “NewsHour” on PBS, New York Times columnist David Brooks took aim at the conservative wing of the Republican Party for its influence on the language of latest round of legislation dealing with the southern border crisis.

According to Brooks, these policy gestures were less about governing and more about winning over a certain constituency.

“This is about Palin-ization of parts of the GOP,” Brooks said. “This is not about passing legislation, not about, well, we’re in a party. We should pay attention to our leaders. We should craft some compromise. We should compromise with the other side. This is about making a statement that will sound good on Fox [News]. And so they want to make a statement that will sound good on TV or will sound good at a town meeting, but it’s not actually about governing.

Brooks went on to call for an “anti-Cruz” that be answer to Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) influence on Republican policy.

“And there are a lot of — and my question is, OK, Ted Cruz, senator, it should be said, met with a bunch of House members, which doesn’t happen that often, and sort of helped organize this. So, which senator is going to stand up and be the anti-Cruz? Who is going to stand up for Republican values, but I believe in governing? And so far, that person has not emerged.

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