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David Brooks and Applebees

David Brooks is an interesting right wing pundit. There are times when he actually makes sense. There are times when I agree with him. He isn’t like William Krystal who is wrong almost all of the time. So, you and I need to read his stuff carefully.

Yesterday, on MSNBC, David Brooks was channeling his right wing talking points from 2000. Remember when everyone was talking about what a great guy George W. Bush was. He was so great you just felt like you could sit down and have a beer with him? Remember those? Of course, the inference was that Al Gore wasn’t a great guy. Al Gore was too upper crust to have a beer or the beer would be one that you couldn’t pronounce. David Brooks pulled that one out of his back pocket. Barack Obama was an okay candidate but he was too stiff. He was too upper crust. (and here’s the twist) Brooks stated, “Obama’s problem is he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee’s salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there.”

Look I like a $75 steak that melts in your mouth with a $100 bottle of a dry favorful Carbernet Sauvignon like Robert Mondavi Reserve. Now, that’s good eating. I also like going with my grandson to Applebees. The Double Crunch Shrimp is great. There is also a steak and parmesan combination that is fantastic. It is possible to be able to eat at a nice restaurant every once in a while and still enjoy a chain like Applebees.

Of course, David Brooks hasn’t been to Applebees. Their restaurants are made all about the same. There is a centrally located bar. Not a salad bar but a real bar. The tables are arranged in a large horseshoe shape around the bar. There is no salad bar. None. David Brooks has revealed more about himself than about Applebees or Barack Obama. Hasn’t he. C&L has this story. So does Media Matters.

By ecthompsonmd|2008-06-04T14:12:44-04:00June 4th, 2008|Countdown, Election 2008, Party Politics|2 Comments

David Brooks is right

It is not often that I’ve agreed with David Brooks of the New York Times. He has been an unrelenting apologist for conservatives in general and the neocons in specific but his analysis of Thursday night’s elections is surprisingly lucid. He recognizes the amazing feat that Barack Obama pulled off on Thursday night. One needs to sit back in think about those events of last Thursday night. A Black man from Illinois wins the Iowa caucuses.

Surprisingly, David Brooks recognizes the victory that Mike Huckabee had in Iowa. This was equally shocking. Mike Huckabee got very little press. His announcement of his candidacy received a yawn from the Washington talking heads and politicos. Mitt Romney was assumed to be the clear victor long before the votes were cast. He had enormous sums of money and spent them freely in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. According to some reports, Mike Huckabee was outspent 15 to one in Iowa by Mitt Romney. There was no way that that Romney could lose.

This is something I believe it is very important for Democrats to understand – Mike Huckabee is not going to disappear. He has the ability to connect with people. Notice I didn’t say Christians or evangelical Republicans. Mike Huckabee is a likable character. He has a good preacher’s ability to connect with his audience. He clearly has problems with details and answering reporters one on one but standing in front of a crowd, this is his strong suit. In my opinion, he does this better than any other Republican running for president.

I would like to publicly congratulate David Brooks for getting it right. I would like to congratulate him for noticing how two men really beat the odds. Both men have outstanding powers of persuasion. I would also like to congratulate him for not overreaching, a significant problem that the mainstream media seems to have. He recognizes that this is only one step in a long process to the nomination. Congratulations, David Brooks. (I suspect he’ll probably be another three to four years before I agree with him on anything else but this time he gets it right. What is that old saying, even a blind hog can find an acorn. 🙂 )

By ecthompsonmd|2008-01-06T02:02:06-04:00January 6th, 2008|Election 2008|Comments Off

Bill Moyers – David Halberstam

My sister gave me a book by David Halberstam and told me to read it. (It wasn’t a suggestion, I was an order. Sisters do that.) It was called Playing for Keeps. It maybe the best book written on Michael Jordan. I started to get interested in this sports writer. Well, it didn’t take me long before I figured out that David Halberstam wasn’t a sports writers at all. Halberstam won a Pulitzer prize for his reporting on the Vietnam war. His book, The Best and the Brightest, was on the Kennedy administration and the War in Vietnam. Mr. Halberstam was a very gifted nonfiction writer. He made the subject come alive right in front of your eyes. I’ll miss him.

By ecthompsonmd|2007-05-03T19:41:19-04:00May 3rd, 2007|Bill Moyers, Books, Media|Comments Off