“House conservative??” It reminds me of the old Soviet Union, which kept an “independent” press critic who spoke good English, “Joe”, that it marched out to shows like ABC’s Nightline to show that yes, dissent and disagreement were fully tolerated in the old USSR. I remember Ted Koppel pressing this guy to state any Kremlin position that he disagreed with; sweating, “Joe” mumbled something about the Soviet government could have been a bit more publicly condemnatory of the Iranian hostage taking. He was more critical of his own government with this bon mot than the “house conservative” David Brooks has been.