Bye Bye, Mr. Frum

The American Enterprise Institute "fired" David Frum because, he claims, he posted a column on his website that "called healthcare reform a disaster for Republicans and blamed it squarely on their own refusal to compromise with the Obama Administration."

The Times (U.K.) headline was overblown: "Republican elite in disarray after David Frum is sacked by think-tank"

On Tuesday The Wall Street Journal dismissed Mr Frum as “the media’s go-to basher of fellow Republicans” and attacked him for “peddling bad revisionist history that would have been even worse politics”. On Thursday he was offered the chance to stay on at the think-tank on a non-salaried basis. He declined.

Over at NRO, Mark Steyn weighed in.

But there's a strong sense of diminishing returns about these Frum flaps. David is becoming famous only for attacking fellow conservatives - Novak and Buchanan back in his end-to-evil days; then, Rush, Glenn, Sean and Sarah Palin; last weekend, it was Michelle Malkin for not mentioning his website by its name; and now AEI. At this rate, he'll be picking fights with Barbara Bush by late spring.

My personal opinion here at Morning Brief is that David Frum is very bright but he's the kind of squishy moderate "compassionate conservative" -- as if the "compassionate" was necessary so people wouldn't think you were the usual evil bastard conservative -- that's doomed the Republican Party to also-ran status for decades. I've read very little of his work that I agree with. I do find it disagreeable that he has more interest in his own status than principles. The public spectacle he has made about his departure is sadly illustrative of just that point.