ROGER SIMON: David Brooks’ Odd Blindness. “Hello, where were you, David? On Thursday evening, one after the other private citizen came forth to testify to Mitt Romney’s extraordinary personal charity and deep community spirit. I have never seen anything like it at a convention, Republican or Democrat. I don’t know if you would call it Burkean, but you would certainly call it eminently decent and highly laudable. The culmination was Ted and Pat Oparowsky of New Hampshire who recounted how much time and attention the young Mitt Romney gave their son, a child he did not know, when the boy was dying of cancer. Party of strivers? Well, maybe David was on the phone to his editors while these folks were speaking or just got bored because they were mostly anonymous and not glamorous Upper West Side Paradise Bobos of any sort. . . . So why is Brooks writing this swill? I met him briefly and, as far as I can tell, he’s a nice guy and certainly a good writer. The answer is that he’s not so very different than the waitress he describes. He’s got a job and he wants to keep it. As the resident conservative at the NYT he can only go so far in telling the truth. If he went further, he’d risk unemployment (not to mention diminution of status).”