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You are here: Home / You First

You First

by John Cole|  February 22, 20112:35 pm| 55 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Our Failed Media Experiment

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The most annoying part of Bobo’s piece this morning, apart from all the things Mistermix pointed out, is that it is titled “Make Everybody Hurt.”

David Brooks and those in his income bracket just received a gigantic break in the form of an extension of the Bush tax cuts. Clearly, everybody means “everybody else.”

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Reader Interactions

55Comments

  1. 1.

    Mattminus

    February 22, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    C’mon, now you’re just engaging in class warfare.

  2. 2.

    Phoebe

    February 22, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    I think you mean Bobo, not Bob. Yes? I only mention this because I got all confused until I actually clicked on the link.

    And yeah, good point. He really isn’t in a position to talk about sharing the pain equally. At least not unless he ponies up some pain. Then he’d be in the best position, but that’s not going to happen.

  3. 3.

    jl

    February 22, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    1939 forever!

  4. 4.

    Napoleon

    February 22, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    Hey, Bobo ate at an Applebees with the rabble. That counts for something in the “hurt” category, right?

  5. 5.

    Comrade Mary

    February 22, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    He’s volunteering for some hurt? Awesome! I have some fresh new copy paper guaranteed to deliver savage paper cuts if you don’t handle it just right. In fact, I have a whole ream of it.

  6. 6.

    Reks

    February 22, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    That’s not true, John. David Brooks is willing to support painful cuts to the social security benefits he’ll need for retirement.

  7. 7.

    kdaug

    February 22, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    @Napoleon: Indeed. At the salad bar.

    The horror.

  8. 8.

    Pococurante

    February 22, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Everybody else should have known better than to sail in pirate-infested mobs of Cairo thugs be born a non-multimillionaire American.

  9. 9.

    Suffern ACE

    February 22, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    I don’t know. If PBS folds because of the elimination of its funding, does that count?

  10. 10.

    Baud

    February 22, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    That’s really not fair. You’re completely discounting the emotional trauma that Brooks is suffering from having to propose that other people need to suffer.

  11. 11.

    A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum)

    February 22, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Hey, give the guy a break. I hear Applebee’s is raising prices at it’s salad bar.

  12. 12.

    gogol's wife

    February 22, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    I had exactly the same reaction to that headline. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.

  13. 13.

    singfoom

    February 22, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Reading his pap made me hurt, does that mean I’m a deficit hawk now? Fuck, if you listen closely, you can tell he’s a fucking monarchist.

    Come on, Bobo, you can do better. The Lords of the Realm caused this financial disaster with their moral hazard, cashed in on the profits from their illegal deals, then got ANOTHER payday from us the taxpayers.

    We must destroy those evil economy destroying unions.

    I used to laugh cynically when I guessed the period that the GOP/Teatards/Deficit Hawks were nostalgiac for was the 1890s. Now I don’t laugh, I am just amazed that I’m right.

    At some point when you are watching recurring injustices, you get out in the street and say “No more.”

    I’m down for a general strike. Anybody else?

  14. 14.

    Quiddity

    February 22, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    Op-ed titles are not provided by the author. However, in Brooks’ essay you find the same three words.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    February 22, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    I’m sure he’ll suffer some serious butthurt if anyone suggests that his tax rate needs to go up. Doesn’t that count for anything anymore?

  16. 16.

    danimal

    February 22, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Spread the pain–amongst all the enemies of the glorious GOP and Tea Party knights of righteousness!

  17. 17.

    Phoebe

    February 22, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Plus he doesn’t even mention the exempted public sector unions, the gun-carrying ones. And has the nerve to say that comparisons with Mubarak are Orwellian. They may be exaggerated, but that’s not the definition of Orwellian. It’s not as though Walker is the OPPOSITE of Mubarak. And what Bobo is saying — make everybody equal — is straight out of Animal Farm, where some are obviously flat out more equal than others.

    In fact, not only is he making Orwellian statements — but to accuse other people of making Orwellian statements who aren’t — is THAT Orwellian in itself?

  18. 18.

    Violet

    February 22, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Clearly, everybody means “everybody else.”

    It does now. But when his paper goes behind the paywall it’s going to be interesting to see how that affects his bottom line. Perhaps not at all, since he’s a well established pundit, but I suspect the number of people looking at his columns will drop dramatically. At least his ego might get stung.

  19. 19.

    Ben

    February 22, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    That’s not even the most cognitive dissonant thing in the article. The premise is that “everything needs to get cut”, right? He acknowledges that the public sector unions are willing to take cuts. What does he do then? Launches into public sector union bashing, claiming “There is little relationship between excellence and reward, which leads to resentment among taxpayers who don’t have that luxury.”

    Getting a little close to home, aren’t we, Bobo?

  20. 20.

    Joel

    February 22, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    Ryan Gosling on “The Giving Tree” (a personal favorite story of mine):

    I mean, at the end the tree is a stump and the old guy just sitting on him; he’s just used him to death, and you’re supposed to want to be the tree? Fuck you. You be the tree. I don’t want to be the tree.

    Might as well be a memo to Brooks.

  21. 21.

    Short Bus Bully

    February 22, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    EAT THE RICH.

    That is all.

  22. 22.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    February 22, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Listen. Bobo no longer pampers himself by spending a lovely evening at the Applebees salad bar. Isn’t that sacrifice enough?

  23. 23.

    Mike in NC

    February 22, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    “Make Everybody Hurt”

    I hope the next time Bobo goes to the salad bar at Applebee’s some angry little old lady will stomp on his foot.

  24. 24.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    February 22, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    What you fail to realize is that our Galtian overlords sacrifice daily by sharing their brilliance with us for our own benefit. They don’t have to. And they’d rather not if we’re going to be so ungrateful as to suggest they help bail out this sinking ship.

  25. 25.

    jl

    February 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    The Bush II tax give away to the rich was intended to spur productivity.

    I suggest that Balloon-Juicers fact check the columns of Brooks, Will, Lane, McArdle, etc. and keep a score card in a little box at the top of the blog’s front page.

    Balloon-Juice can helpfully point out that these hacks should refund the feds for every obvious mistake of fact in their columns and posts, since the U.S. is not getting its money’s worth from the tax cuts.

    Somehow the tax cut incentive is misfiring on a regular basis with these people, since they cannot get their facts straight, cannot spend five minutes researching anything, and make stuff up.

    I suggest 500 dollars per mistake.

    There will be on average, one obvious mistake per column, so about 50 columns per year, that should result in annual refunds of about 25K.

    Should be a little box at the top of the blog indicating how much each of them owe.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Dread

    February 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    This whole drive back the 19th century is really pissing me off.

    At this point, it honestly wouldn’t fucking surprise me if someone proposed to repeal the 13th amendment and bring literal debt slavery to America, where you and your kids (as soon as they can walk) can work for Chase for the rest of your lives in exchange for that new flat screen.

  27. 27.

    Chyron HR

    February 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    “Make Everybody Hurt.”

    And they publish this filth in family newspapers?

  28. 28.

    Legalize

    February 22, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    Bobo has suffered PLENTY of pain (and continues to so suffer). I mean, he’s had to endure the incessant chatter of people from a lower station than him wondering if our elites should be taxed a few points more than they currently are! In fact, with the extension of the Bush tax cuts for only a few more years, Bobo is going to CONTINUE hearing such vulgarity. Why should he have to waste his beautiful ears and mind on that?

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    February 22, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    Was it Daffy Duck who said, “I’m different than other people — pain hurts me!”

    Very sad that Bobo can’t progress beyond the maturity level of a cartoon duck.

  30. 30.

    MarkJ

    February 22, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    He’s a member of the daddy party. Haven’t you ever heard the expression “This hurts me more than it does you” before? That’s as much pain as Bobo can handle.

    If we can inflict some hurt on Lloyd Blankfein and his ilk then I don’t mind a little pain for others. Until then, the regular folks should get to keep their collective bargaining agreements and their pensions.

    The crazy thing about this Walker guy is that he’s obviously a Bush 2 style corrupt crony capitalist incompetent. I thought the 2008 election was supposed to have taught Republicans the error of their ways, but apparently not.

  31. 31.

    jl

    February 22, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    @Comrade Dread: No no, my friend, that would be savage and offend every right thinking person.

    They will find economists who will provide analysis that incentives should be arranged to make society work as if there were still slavery.

    The incompetent meddling government’s burdensome regulations that prevent people from selling bonds backed by their future (and their childrens’ future) labor, and with very high penalties for default is a serious market imperfection that needs to be corrected.

    We can not sell ourselves into slavery, and we cannot use the possibility of slavery as collateral, and this hurts our FREEDOM!

  32. 32.

    Violet

    February 22, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    @Comrade Dread:
    Have any of these idiots suggested bringing back being paid in scrip that can only be spent at the company store? How about debtors prisons? Have they made it into Serious discussions yet?

    FWIW, I listened Glenn Beck’s radio program for about five minutes today and heard him tell his listeners, “Go buy a gun. Learn how to use it.” That was followed by lots of mocking of “liberals freaking out” about someone having a gun. So I guess he’s now openly telling people to arm themselves.

  33. 33.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    February 22, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    @Violet:

    being paid in scrip that can only be spent at the company store

    You mean like all the employees in the country whose 401K funds were deliberately routed into their employer’s stock? This was one better, because then Wall Street does their magic and takes the money. Nothing need be provided the worker in return.

  34. 34.

    chopper

    February 22, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    same way these guys treated iraq. “to war! i’ll hold your coat”.

  35. 35.

    cleek

    February 22, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    let’s you and him hurt!

  36. 36.

    Dennis SGMM

    February 22, 2011 at 3:17 pm

    @chopper:
    Same way that they built up to it as well; conflate real hazards with made up shit, state that there’s only one way out, ignore any possible consequences.

  37. 37.

    Ash Can

    February 22, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    @Violet: Hey, if Michele Bachmann can do it, so can he. And, of course, if some anti-government wacko snaps and starts shooting people up, it’s NOT THEIR FAULT.

  38. 38.

    jenn

    February 22, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    Not sure if you’ve seen this, or not, but it’s an interesting look at social spending by Republicans vs. Democrats

    http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/02/chart-day-republican-vs-democratic-spending

  39. 39.

    cyntax

    February 22, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    @Barb (formerly Gex):

    Bobo no longer pampers himself by spending a lovely evening at the Applebees salad bar. Isn’t that sacrifice enough?

    I hear he’s forcing himself to eat at Per Se once a week. Oh the humanity.

  40. 40.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 22, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Brooks will be utterly dumbfounded as he rides on the tumbrel to his just reward.

    Fuck him, and the rest of the vermin of the Village.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    February 22, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    I rarely read Bobo anymore.

    Whassapoint?

  42. 42.

    freelancer

    February 22, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Was it Daffy Duck who said, “I’m different than other people—pain hurts me!”
    __
    Very sad that Bobo can’t progress beyond the maturity level of a cartoon duck.

    I think he’s their new mascot.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    February 22, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    @Violet:

    I’m glad to hear Beck promoting gun ownership to his listeners.

    We don’t have enough guns in the hands of the feeble-minded in America.

    What a patriot.

  44. 44.

    Dan

    February 22, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    If Beck is telling listeners to buy guns, you can bet that he has an advertiser selling guns. Better yet, buy gold guns!

  45. 45.

    Martin

    February 22, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    @Violet: Wait until South Carolina gets their state currency up and running and proposes paying state employees only in Palmetto Dollars.

  46. 46.

    NonyNony

    February 22, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    I hope the next time Bobo goes to the salad bar at Applebee’s some angry little old lady will stomp on his foot.

    I hope that everyone realizes that Bobo’s little “eating at the salad bar at Applebee’s” is an example of him being a lying fraud. For those who are fortunate enough to have never eaten at an Applebee’s, it doesn’t have a salad bar. It has never had a salad bar. Brooks made that story up.

    The man is worse than a hack – he’s a fraud. I wish he’d just go Galt and leave the rest of us alone.

  47. 47.

    jl

    February 22, 2011 at 3:52 pm

    @freelancer:

    Why yes it was Daffy Duck, according to the IMDb Internet Movie Database, in Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters (1988)

    Here are some more Daffy quotes on that page that might apply to our corrupt, nincompoop, vicious, moneybag corporate pundits:

    I may be a craven little coward, but I’m a *greedy* craven little coward.

    Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to think.

  48. 48.

    curious

    February 22, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    check out opinion page tough guy david brooks.

  49. 49.

    PIGL

    February 22, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    @jl: I have read libertarians say exactly what you say, and mean every word in deadly seriousness. They can’t wait to kill to make it happen.

    I don’t want to eat the rich. I want to feed them to gigantic snails, whose razor-sharp radula, continually renewed, will devour them one layer of cells at a time.

  50. 50.

    jayackroyd

    February 22, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    “Everyone” ~= “Everyone beneath the 98th percentile”

  51. 51.

    PIGL

    February 22, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    @Martin:

    Wait until South Carolina gets their state currency up and running and proposes paying state employees only in Palmetto Dollars Bugs.

    FIFY.

  52. 52.

    Citizen_X

    February 22, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    Where does the “Make Bobo hurt” line start? I don’t care how long it is at this point; I’ll camp out in line if that’s what it takes.

  53. 53.

    El Cid

    February 22, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    No.

    The most insulting part of the article is when Brooks said it was “Orwellian” to suggest that the protests were about people defending their rights.

    Since the majority of voters elected Republicans, then these people should shut up and let those possessing a majority to do what it said it would.

    Does anyone fucking remember this asshole Brooks arguing that Democrats had a majority in the House & Senate & the Presidency so Republicans and TeaTards need to shut up and let Obama do the things he said he’d do?

    No, because he’s a miserable hack shit-bag and no one gives a fuck about pointing out his idiot hypocrisy.

    Yeah, like he said that what was wrong with the TeaTards was that they were the minority.

    Fuck him.

  54. 54.

    El Cid

    February 22, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    @NonyNony: I think the most absurd thing about the Applebee’s salad bar wasn’t the nonexistence of such a thing.

    It was the argument that Obama wouldn’t be comfortable at such a salad bar.

    The suggestion is that there is a group of people who would be looked upon as comfortable, perhaps even cool and smooth, for their style at a chain restaurant salad bar.

    I’ve never seen that.

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen a salad bar at a restaurant and said to myself, ‘Hey, that woman doesn’t look like she really fits in at that salad bar,’ or ‘Man, that dude is sure one hep cat the way he works that salad bar’.

    There’s no way anyone mildly sane could even think such a weird thing, much less write it down, much less publish it nationwide.

  55. 55.

    James E Powell

    February 22, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    @MarkJ:

    I thought the 2008 election was supposed to have taught Republicans the error of their ways, but apparently not.

    The first rule of the Republican Way is that there can never be any error in the Republican Way.

    More to the point, with their spectacular results in the 2010 midterms, the Republicans do not believe that there was any error. 2008 was an anomaly.

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