1364 Comments
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Citizen Zero's avatar

‘Squishy’ is the nice rendition. His orientation hasn’t changed, the ground he’s standing on has. The Atlantic!? That’s disappointing. No wonder it never made a sound.

Rosemary Orlandi's avatar

now I understand why Brooks has always annoyed the hell out of me !

STruth's avatar

DAVID BROOKS IS A WHINY LITTLE NEOCON TWAT THAT NEEDS TO BE HORSEWHIPPED. HE AND THE OTHER LITTLE SHITHEAD BRET STEPHENS SHOULD TAKE A HOUSE TOGETHER IN THE HAMPTONS. I AM SURE THEY WOULD BE BERY HAPPY TOGETHER!

marxalot's avatar

david brooks is like george will without the backbone

Marcus Damicus's avatar

David Brooks is the Brian Griffin of George Wills.

86 47

Marcus Damicus's avatar

In Brooks' defense, he could have let the air out of her tires when she tried to leave DC. So, there's that.

86 47

Jen Is Journalisming's avatar

Be fair, Dok. Maybe while he is researching his moral return or whatever he will glance in the mirror. It could happen!

Matthew Billips's avatar

The caption on the picture does so many things. I'm bemused by the idea that a man incapable of leaving the intellectual wading pool believes himself destined to explore life's deeper questions. The notion is so absurd that they should have required him to wear scuba gear for the picture.

I would wish to apologize for the presumption of competence that attaches to white men with money, but I'm so embarrassed by this particular example that I have lost the courage it would require. There is so much wrong in treating this smooth brained pseudo primate as deserving of respect, when I have recently been captivated by a singing and dancing cockatoo that is obviously his intellectual superior.

What I would actually love to do is require him to spend the remainder of his life publicly exploring his own inadequacy, yet all he would do is prove the thesis in the attempt. I want him to explain how his success exemplifies racial, gender, and financial privilege, but there is no possibility that he would even understand the assignment; less that he could articulate it; and none that he would succeed.

At least I can be somewhat reassured by the contempt in which he is held by those who knew him, and yet, somehow the people for whom he performed his act were either actually impressed or believed that someone would be or were simply cruel enough to take joy in the Fremdscham.

fair_n_hite_451's avatar

"What the novelist deals with, what a historian deals with, what a moral philosopher deals with"

If you looked up "try harder guy" in the dictionary, you could not come up with a more clarifying definition.

Goonemeritus's avatar

It's not easy being David, I will light a candle for him.

Nathan Bell's avatar

Brooks is, and always has been, a knucklehead. And a hypocrite. And, yes, Ross Douthat is the new somehow more pompous Brooks.

Joe Schmoe, Troublemaker's avatar

Brooks is not only an utter piece of shit, but he's unrepentently so. His widdle iddle world view is always bruised, so willing is he to talk about how things should be, a tiny prince with a bug up his arse. He's a poster child of what's wrong with the wannabe pseudo-elites. I don't hate him, I despise everything he is and he stands for!

dental floss tycoon's avatar

there is greater than a 50/50 chance that had moses read david brooks there would be 11 commandments …

Jen Is Journalisming's avatar

Thou shalt not be an insufferable pompous hypocrite

Boojum's avatar

Or simply, "See that? Don't do that."

Rhand Holm's avatar

I'm surprised his ties to and downplay of Epstien weren't mentioned. That bit of Brooks easily moved me from annoyance to disgust.

Rosemary Orlandi's avatar

what connections to Epstein ?

Ari Chase-Ramos's avatar

“What the novelist deals with, what a historian deals with, what a moral philosopher deals with—that just strikes me as more important.”

When he is none of those highly-regarded professions, is incapable of being any of those, and he presents himself as all three of those.

Dudley Didwrong's avatar

Brooks seems headed on a path formerly trod by George Santos. When you follow in the footsteps of Santos you really and truly understand life. Keep writing, David. Someone will read your stuff.

Shallow state's avatar

Exactly. Why not a cyclist in the Tour de France also?