x-post--great piece.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 21 August 2012 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
his defense is that his writing is a joke. impenetrable.
― bnw, Tuesday, 21 August 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
today's brooks' op-ed begins with "Let’s say you’re generally a moderate voter." and peaks with "The priority in this election is to get a leader who can get Medicare costs under control. Then we can argue about everything else."
― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Tuesday, 21 August 2012 23:00 (twelve years ago) link
The purpose of the Republican convention is to introduce America to the real Mitt Romney. Fortunately, I have spent hours researching this subject. I can provide you with the definitive biography and a unique look into the Byronic soul of the Republican nominee:
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 11:15 (twelve years ago) link
I actually found this column moderately funny (ducks):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/opinion/brooks-the-real-romney.html?_r=1&hp
― look at this quarterstaff (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link
It is (ducks also). But is Brooks mocking us as well as Romney?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:34 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know what to make of that tbh
― The Radioheads are massive in the Man community (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah that's the problem with Brooks. It should have a name, Brooksism or something -- that gutless, hide-the-ball kind of writing that makes you feel a little like you're talking to a narc.
― look at this quarterstaff (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:41 (twelve years ago) link
seriously today's column is weird. i thought it was a media put-down - "see this is how the liberal media portrays poor mitt" - until the last line.
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:47 (twelve years ago) link
there are funny jokes in there - which is alarming enough - but yeah his motives for writing them is sort of inscrutable
― The Radioheads are massive in the Man community (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:49 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bobo-tongues-the-world-surreal-247x300.jpg
"heh heh heh"
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 15:50 (twelve years ago) link
motives = are
stupid verbs
― The Radioheads are massive in the Man community (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
I think it's all in the spirit of good-natured ribbing. These are pretty gentle zings - stuff that I'm sure Romney could chuckle over at a comedy roast. I think it fits pretty well with Brooks's attitude that Romney is a good candidate dogged by bad PR.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 28 August 2012 19:25 (twelve years ago) link
He's no Dave Barry, thank Heaven.
― ça GLIS aux pays de merveilles; châteaux de loirs (Michael White), Tuesday, 28 August 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html
― s.clover, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
what a tool...he didn't know this before the secret video? and he says at the end that he really thinks Willard is a good guy deep down? FU, Brooks
― Iago Galdston, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
He was doing ok until this:
"Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate patterns of dependency in some people. I’d put federal disability payments and unemployment insurance in this category."
The vast, vast majority of people on unemployment do not want to be. They want a job.
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
It's interesting to see Brooks reach the point where he stops trying to bend over backwards to be the compassionate, moderate, open-minded conservative while still playing for team Republican and when he finally decides he has to cut Mitt loose.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
those damn disabled people, always wanting a handout
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
Disability insurance is a source of moral hazard, dissuading the lame from healing thyselves.
― look at this quarterstaff (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:37 (twelve years ago) link
― o. nate, Tuesday, September 18, 2012 4:32 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
hes allowed one of these heterodox columns every so often but really compassionate, moderate, open-minded conservative while still playing for team Republican or the more succinct republican apologist is his job he knows this and will carry on starting next column
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:39 (twelve years ago) link
I can't tell him and E.J. Dionne apart anymore :(
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:41 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/opinion/brooks-the-conservative-mind.html?hp
Where do these fantasies come from?
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 12:05 (eleven years ago) link
x-post--In print E.J. is much more liberal while on NPR he and Brooks try to make nice.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 25 September 2012 13:29 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/david-brooks-on-drugs-and-medicare
Dean Baker vs Brooks with a link to Brooks' piece yesterday on how the Romney Medicare proposal is better than the Dems because the Romney plan relies on the free market
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 15:46 (eleven years ago) link
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/11/todays-war-on-nate-silver-quiet-flows-the-don-edition.html
delong quoting someone else:
Brooks’ journalistic way of knowing
― j., Thursday, 1 November 2012 17:44 (eleven years ago) link
Ha.
I thought you were going to be mentioning Brooks' absurd reasoning behind his endorsement of Romney.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/opinion/brooks-the-upside-of-opportunism.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
if Romney wins, we’re more likely to get bipartisan reform. Romney is more of a flexible flip-flopper than Obama. He has more influence over the most intransigent element in the Washington equation House Republicans. He’s more likely to get big stuff done.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 1 November 2012 18:30 (eleven years ago) link
get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done get big stuff done
― Aimless, Thursday, 1 November 2012 18:31 (eleven years ago) link
if anything needs getting done, it's big stuff
― Spectrum, Thursday, 1 November 2012 18:32 (eleven years ago) link
America: who do you think u r?Romney: mr. big stuff B-)
― i've grown accustomed to her face tat (m bison), Thursday, 1 November 2012 22:42 (eleven years ago) link
'I certainly wasn't wrong about it provoking smart ass jibes.'
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2013 18:08 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/02/your-use-of-data-for-any-purpose-but-validating-david-brookss-lazy-intuitions-infuriates-david-brooks
On Brooks' attempt to argue with Nate Silver over baseball stats
― The New Jack Mormons! (kingfish), Thursday, 21 February 2013 22:12 (eleven years ago) link
Spectacular column.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 01:06 (eleven years ago) link
its incomprehensible.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 01:20 (eleven years ago) link
why isn't this guy recognized as the Murray Kempton of his generation
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 01:28 (eleven years ago) link
i think the nyt is just keeping him around now because it's rumored his head is filled with nougat and they're just waiting for the right moment to crack him open.
― Spectrum, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 01:33 (eleven years ago) link
beautiful!
― s.clover, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 04:03 (eleven years ago) link
Was waiting for this to be posted. I don't remember if Taibbi made the point that marriage necessarily implies few of the constraints Brooks presumes it does.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 04:44 (eleven years ago) link
incomprehensible yes and prematurely senile like kempton you bet and yet recognizable in the fog is a married-too-long middle age guy wondering about the "freedom" he was undoubtedly (in brooks case) too uptight to exercise/enjoy when he was single
― screen scraper (m coleman), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 10:20 (eleven years ago) link
haha m@rk: I was being sarcastic (I love Kempton).
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 10:51 (eleven years ago) link
me too and i shouldnt have been disrespectful but those last few years in the ny post he was the oracular rambler
― screen scraper (m coleman), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 11:41 (eleven years ago) link
and yet recognizable in the fog is a married-too-long middle age guy wondering about the "freedom" he was undoubtedly (in brooks case) too uptight to exercise/enjoy when he was single
This. If I was Mrs Brooks I would be making a bed for David on the sofa after reading his column.
― media conglomerates are pedaling the same product (stevie), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 11:42 (eleven years ago) link
I'd be strapping one on.
― alternately mean and handsy (Eric H.), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 12:24 (eleven years ago) link
A decaying social fabric, especially among the less fortunate.
Taibbi rightly picked up on the stupidity and uselessness of this statement
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
"lack even the basic mental ingredients"
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/05/david_brooks_bigoted_rant/
― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 6 July 2013 07:02 (eleven years ago) link
Another blog re "mental equipment" phrase used twice by Brooks
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/david-brooks-is-racist-creep-by.html
Islamists might be determined enough to run effective opposition movements and committed enough to provide street-level social services. But they lack the mental equipment to govern.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 8 July 2013 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
A review of Charles Taylor's A Secular Age:
As someone who tries to report on the world of ideas, I’m going to try to summarize Taylor’s description of what it feels like to live in an age like ours, without, I hope, totally butchering it.
it gets better from there
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 17:57 (eleven years ago) link
i'll admit it, i look forward to David Brooks columns more than Krugman these days. i'm pretty sure he's some kind-of conceptual comedian like neil hamburger, and it just takes a while to get the joke.
― Spectrum, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 18:06 (eleven years ago) link
I don't want to give David Brooks any credit, but when I read "seems to lack even the basic mental ingredients," I thought he was criticizing the Egyptian people's mentality, not their brainpower. Which is obviously still ignorant as hell but it's not on the level of saying Egyptians are cognitively inferior to Americans.
― crüt, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 18:25 (eleven years ago) link
i initially thought that was up for intepretation, but you never know with him. he's sung the praises of Charles Murray so he's thrown his hat in with pop-sociology racists, but considering it's Brooks it could've been some ditzy, superficial make-u-think kinda shit.
― Spectrum, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 18:36 (eleven years ago) link