It’s not the Russian Revolution.
Я думаю, вы протестовали слишком много.

Jim Treacher on March 6, 2009 at 12:54 PM

Jim, I hope you didn’t get that spelling from the State Department….

Nothing to see here, move along.  Everything’s back to normal.
David has sought forgiveness for his brief blasphemy and has been absolved.
Mercy is indeed twice blest.
……

Allahpundit noted with some amazement that even David Brooks had experienced a Road to Damascus moment this week, with the scales falling from his eyes and discovering that the man he’d backed in the election turned out to be a statist liberal.

As I said before.

AP got it wrong.

Brooks’ Road to Damascus moment was a journey of self-discovery.

Brooks had a relapse the other day and saw his face in the mirror without his “mask-of-moderate-self-delusion” on, and was shocked that, he himself, is a statist liberal.

The column that he wrote the other day was simply a denial to himself, and a feeble attempt to separate himself from it.

This latest column is his “coming out” party (in his mind, anyway). Now, he’s choosing his future…he owns it, so he might as well be it.

Brooks, you seem to be the last one to realize that self-deception is your most prominent trait. The rest of us have to grudgingly witness the ease at which the present administration uses your sycophantic, useful idiocy.

Shame on you.

{^_^}

or

There is a blatant tone that tells you that he has a knife at his back. Only a fool could not see it and fools don’t read his column. A cry for help?

Yes, it totally sounds like he was strongarmed and caved in. I don’t know why he can’t see that and why he can’t even imagine how it would look to most people, but there you have it.

In Brooks’ defense, however, I also have to say that there are certain reporters who depend on easy White House access. Without them, we actually wouldn’t know half of what we do know about things. We may not like it, but there is a certain chattering class which does do a job that basically no one else can: interview or discuss things with Presidents. It is entirely based on a class system, but that’s part of the way the world works.

David Brooks is part of that elite. It’s actually part of his job to keep that access. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t really have a raison d’etre.

Now, I know that his columns about Obama since the last year have been, how shall I put it? Ah yes, Tony Blankley mentioned something about needing to put on gloves before reading them. Even so, it’s good to have some (granted extremely liberal) moderate Republicans with Presidential access at times. We may not realize it directly, but it is.

Remember that David Brooks also came out many times in support for President Bush and the war in Iraq. He tried to explain it in very simple terms and reasonable ones. He also had many conversations with President Bush on a personal level.

You sorta have to take the good with the bad on this one, I’m afraid. I don’t really like it either, it absolutely was a moment of Obama’s team slapping him back into place, but again…it’s the way that particular system works.

And, let’s be honest, David Brooks isn’t under the illusion that the base of the GOP respects him on any level. That’s not the audience he’s trying to impress. I’m pretty sure he knows that most Republican and Conservative voters don’t really agree with him on much. That never was his stance, and I’m pretty sure he understands that quite well. =)

I guess I was wrong. I thought he had substance.

Sheesh. What a worthless waste of valuable column space.

In the first place, they do not see themselves as a group of liberal crusaders. They see themselves as pragmatists who inherited a government and an economy that have been thrown out of whack.

Well…..duh. No bigot sees themselves as a bigot, no extremist sees himself as extreme and no liberal crusader sees himself as a crusader. They’re all just doing what needs to be done.

Nonetheless, the White House made a case that was sophisticated and fact-based.

Has the White House elaborated on any plans since Obama was campaigning? The SOTU was low on specifics, and the market tanked the next day. Just like it did every time Obama spoke. Even if he wants to whine about inheriting a mess, Obama was elected to fix it, even by restoring confidence. He has not.

Furthermore, there were no facts in the conversation Brooks related. Excuses and propaganda aplenty, but not one fact. I am literally terrified now that Obama would even deny this isn’t the Russian Revolution. If it isn’t, it’s only because no one’s been beheaded yet.

Trying to determine if I should feel sorry for this guy or just laugh at him.

ammon_of_cs on March 6, 2009 at 4:50 PM

Laugh at him. I honestly don’t think Brooks was threatened with the thumbscrews or hot irons. All it takes to turn milquetoasts like this is the threat of being on the outs with the lib media.

Does this tool even realize that he conclusively proves that he is nothing less than a tool ? even to his newly gathered liberal admirers ?

Since when did ANY COLUMNIST take dictation from the White House and dutifully spew it out on his next op-ed ? Does the NYT see any problem with this ?

There is a reason why the MSM will pretty soon go out of business. It has become a joke and a lackey of Dimmicratic power.

David Brooks – you ARE A JOKE

Within a day, I had conversations with four senior members of the administration and in the interest of fairness, I thought I’d share their arguments with you today.

Was this statement particularly peculiar to anybody else? Interest of fairness – seems like a tongue in cheek, or silent plea about being coerced to give the WH POV. Trying to determine if I should feel sorry for this guy or just laugh at him.

In the first place, they do not see themselves as a group of liberal crusaders. They see themselves as pragmatists who inherited a government and an economy that have been thrown out of whack.

And he believed every word. :D We use the term “useful idiots”, but to whom are idiots like Brooks and Frum even remotely useful (from a professional standpoint)?