Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, man.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / You talkin’ to me?

You talkin’ to me?

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Bobo goes Travis Bickle:

So it’s hard to see how we get out of this, unless some third force emerges, which wedges itself into one of the two parties, or unless we have a devastating fiscal crisis — a brutal cleansing flood, after which the sun will shine again.

It’s weird what counts as civil and polite and what doesn’t these days.

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  2. 2.

    Hill Dweller

    Let the Bush tax cuts expire, get out Afghanistan/trim the defense budget, and go to single payer health care. Problem solved.

  3. 3.

    The Dangerman

    …a brutal cleansing flood, after which the sun will shine again.

    Anybody have a spare Ark they’ll part with on the cheap?

  5. 5.

    AA+ Bonds

    It’s funny because if a “brutal cleansing flood” followed the impoverishment of America, David Brooks would most certainly be drowned and then his body hung to dry on a fence somewhere

  6. 6.

    Suffern ACE

    Apparently the hope for disaster springs eternal at the Times. I’m interested in figuring out what inspirational speaker they went to hear over the weekend.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/opinion/cohen-decline-and-fall.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp

    Richard Cohen

    Still, folks, there’s hope out there. Japan, whose economy went dead for a decade, is enjoying a spurt. All it took was a tsunami to notch up a quarter of growth. Perhaps what Europe and the United States need is a major natural disaster — it would make a change from the man-made ones — or a good little war.

  7. 7.

    AA+ Bonds

    It’s always the lip-licking reptiles, the inhuman and soulless, who determine that the 99% must suffer, belly-crawling snakes like Bowles and Bloomberg and Brooks

  8. 8.

    AA+ Bonds

    I honestly think these people are irredeemably evil and would serve society best on a work gang somewhere

  9. 9.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Dude’s got issues. I’d say his post was typed one-handed, but I don’t want to really contemplate that, at all.

    To sate Bobo’s bloodlust, what say we all pitch in to make a revenge flick about Michael Bloomberg gunning down Congress and putting himself in charge? Nicolas Cage to star, and Tarantino to direct.

  10. 10.

    Jenny

    a brutal cleansing flood, after which the sun will shine again.

    Sounds like one of Hitler’s beer hall rants.

  11. 11.

    AA+ Bonds

    You heard it here first: the Village 1%-ers will go all in behind Paul Ryan for President as soon as he runs, whether 2016, 2020, or whenever – he’s the only vacuum-cleaner salesman on the Hill to satisfy their dual desire for smarmy facial expressions and “brutal cleansing floods”

  14. 14.

    AA+ Bonds

    Like all coffee-house revolutionaries, Brooks has no idea what a tumultuous reorganization of society looks like, what actually happens when the bottom falls out of a bankrupt state, who lives and who dies

  17. 17.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    … a brutal cleansing flood, after which the sun will shine again.

    Wha?

    What’s he talking about… sounds like mebbe an enema administered w/ a garden hose…?

  19. 19.

    Jenny

    How quickly things turn.

    Less than four months ago the wingers were celebrating the debt ceiling deal, with Boehner saying he got 98% of what he wanted. Progressives were freaking out and calling for the President’s impeachment.

    Tonight, a progressive authority no less than Robert Reich hailed Obama for his “tactical brilliance” and Bobo is left to dusting off his Einsatzgruppen uniform.

  20. 20.

    AA+ Bonds

    David Brooks is definitely talking about a lot of people suffering and dying so that the government can run itself “like a household” (not his)

  22. 22.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Jenny:

    Progressives were freaking out and calling for the President’s impeachment.

    Those aren’t “progressives”, they’re Republican plants

  26. 26.

    RalfW

    Alternately, we could have a devastating crisis wherein the peasants actually revolt. It has happened in history, just either too long ago or too far away to be noticed by Bobo.

  27. 27.

    Linnaeus

    I don’t want to read too much into Brooks’s “brutal cleansing flood” statement, but it’s hard not to see the similarities between that and certain kinds of fascist rhetoric.

  28. 28.

    AA+ Bonds

    Note that David Brooks says we have one chance to avoid all our well-deserved deaths (not his): we just have to elect Michael Bloomberg president and accept a cabinet full of Wall Street crooks who will fix all this “government” nonsense.

    Really, what he’s saying is that the election part is optional.

  29. 29.

    Linnaeus

    @Jenny:

    I didn’t freak out over the debt ceiling deal, but I’m not ready to celebrate yet. There’s still a lot to be played out here.

  31. 31.

    Vixen Strangely

    That column started off kind of trippy: when the moon is ruling in the House, and centrism aligns with Mars, will there be peace across The Village while cash controls the stars?

    This is the dawning of the age of the serious–austerious! (He’s serious!)

  33. 33.

    Comrade Luke

    Serious question.

    There are SO MANY people that rant about David Brooks being an idiot. Is there any chance at all that if enough people complain, he’ll lose his NYT job?

    I’m assuming no.

  35. 35.

    Anne Laurie

    DougJ, ca. 10:01pm:

    I’m going to mostly do fun posts on stuff other than politics the next week…

    If “reading David Brooks” qualifies as “fun“…

  36. 36.

    AA+ Bonds

    The real SMH part is that David Brooks, without any depth of knowledge of any discipline, trade, or really anything under the sun, believes that this conclusion comes from Incredibly Serious Objective Thinkin’

  40. 40.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Linnaeus:

    The narrative of this column is that American democracy has failed and must be replaced with a new order made up of Brooks’s ultra-wealthy friends.

    If this does not happen, Brooks promises a “brutal cleansing flood”, which we deserve for practicing democracy.

    It takes a lot to make my stomach turn but this has done it.

  41. 41.

    AA+ Bonds

    David Brooks most certainly represents the “Third Way” promised by Mussolini and his Blackshirts

  42. 42.

    General Stuck

    @Linnaeus:

    There’s still a lot to be played out here.

    There is always something to play out in governing, but for this particular episode, the SC has declared failure, And Obama has issued a clear and profound veto threat to any attempt at undoing the trigger. The only way for this to change is the wingers suddenly getting enlightened that tax cuts for the rich are a bad idea, politickally, and as policy.

    Therefore, it is totally authorized for Obama fervent supporters to celebrate a victory, and a shoutout to a very good president. addendum – a very good president that deserves better supporters overall.

  43. 43.

    Oriscus

    Greece and Italy have just had their managements reshuffled by the head office. Can we pretend it can’t happen here?

  44. 44.

    Baron Jrod of Keeblershire

    @AA+ Bonds:

    so that the government can run itself “like a household” (not his)

    What always gets me about this canard is that the government can borrow practically unlimited amounts of money at an interest rate less than 1%. Every fucking household I know of would be borrowing money by the truckload at that rate. I know this because they’re already doing so at over 30%!

    If we’re supposed to run the gov’t like a household, then let the borrowing commence!

  45. 45.

    4jkb4ia

    Brooks: “Republicans on the supercommittee supported progressive tax increases”.

    But they supported that with one hand and another tax decrease for the wealthy on the other hand. Even the Republicans on the supercommittee aren’t standing on that hill to justify themselves.

  46. 46.

    Linnaeus

    @General Stuck:

    Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying this is a defeat at all. It’s pretty shrewd. It’s just that my recognition of this is tempered by some anxiety about what comes next.

  49. 49.

    dead existentialist

    “. . . a brutal cleansing flood . . . .”

    Floods are cleansing much in the same way that Bobo is insightful.

  50. 50.

    General Stuck

    @Linnaeus:

    It’s just that my recognition of this is tempered by some anxiety about what comes next.

    Relax, what comes next is the wingnuts continued efforts to destroy life as we’ve known it on planet earth, or at least in the USofA. I would hope at some point, liberal worryworts would finally get the message that Obama doesn’t really go in for that sort of thing, selling the ranch, and while glad handing the wingers, it’s all done with a wink and a nod, and they end up with mostly a pig in a poke, like now, all over again.

  51. 51.

    mclaren

    @General Stuck:

    Obama has issued a clear and profound veto threat to any attempt at undoing the trigger.

    Since Obama has promised to veto any effort to bypass the trigger, this is very bad news, since it means that Obama won’t veto any such attempts.

    As we know from Obama’s record, he always does the opposite of what he promises to do, so this means we’re all in very deep shit.

  52. 52.

    slag

    a brutal cleansing flood, after which the sun will shine again.

    Why do people say shit like this? It brings to mind all the so-called liberals who long for just one more Republican presidency so that America will “finally wake up”. What is with all these people? Is Real America just a bunch of S&M addicts or what?

  55. 55.

    General Stuck

    @mclaren:

    This is some weak ass troll shit, mclaren. If you can’t up your game, then we will just have to call The Institute on you, again.

  56. 56.

    Baron Jrod of Keeblershire

    @AA+ Bonds: This won’t work. Nothing stymies an orgasm like the sight of an open-mouthed BoBo Brooks.

    A nice, cleansing flood of piss might do the trick, though. And when I say nice I don’t mean nice. I mean asparagus is on the menu.

  57. 57.

    Linnaeus

    @General Stuck:

    Relax, what comes next is the wingnuts continued efforts to destroy life as we’ve known it on planet earth, or at least in the USofA. I would hope at some point, liberal worryworts would finally get the message that Obama doesn’t really go in for that sort of thing, selling the ranch, and while glad handing the wingers, it’s all done with a wink and a nod, and they end up with mostly a pig in a poke, like now, all over again.

    Fair ’nuff, though I’m not especially worried about what the president will or won’t do. The problems in this country go much deeper than that; I hold the Republicans largely responsible for that, but the Democrats aren’t blameless either.

  58. 58.

    mclaren

    @General Stuck:

    Relax, what comes next is the wingnuts continued efforts to destroy life as we’ve known it on planet earth, or at least in the USofA.

    No, the wingnuts aren’t doing that, it’s technology + exponential population growth that’s destroying life as we’ve known it on planet earth.

    Don’t believe me?

    Scientists predict all seafood will run out by 2050 at current rates of overfishing, The Daily Telegraph, November 2006.

    New research says Peak Oil may hit by 2014

    Also see: “The End of Oil is Closer Than You Think,” The Guardian, John Vidal, April 2005.

    “The first half of the oil age now closes. (..) It lasted 150 years and saw the rapid expansion of industry, transport, trade, agriculture and financial capital, allowing the population to expand six-fold. The second half now dawns, and will be marked by the decline of oil and all that depends on it, including financial capital.”

    So did the Swiss bankers comprehend the seriousness of the situation when he talked to them? “There is no company on the stock exchange that doesn’t make a tacit assumption about the availability of energy,” says Campbell. “It is almost impossible for bankers to accept it. It is so out of their mindset.”

    [The Guardian, op. cit.]

    Also see: “A Jobless Recovery…and a Jobless Future?” Martin Ford, The HUffington Post, 2 February 2010.

    Now, as it becomes clear that automation is going to ultimately consume the entire base of the job skills pyramid, the conventional wisdom is that we are going to somehow cram everyone into the very top. And even if we somehow manage to do that, the jobs will be highly susceptible to offshoring, so we also have to require that the jobs be somehow anchored locally. I think this is somewhat analogous to having the agricultural sector mechanize and then expecting that everyone will get a job driving a tractor. The numbers don’t work. The problem with the conventional wisdom is that it underestimates the long-term impact of automation, and it expects too much in the way of occupational acrobatics from the average worker.

    Yet another problem is that even if all these creative jobs materialize, the result would likely be far from optimal. Jobs that rely heavily on creativity, talent or unique personality traits (think authors, actors, musicians, commission sales people) very often have a “power law” income distribution. In other words, a few people do phenomenally well, while nearly everyone else struggles to survive. Even if vast numbers of workers could successfully migrate into these more creative areas (and I doubt that), it would probably do very little to slow down our drive toward ever-increasing income inequality.

    The bottom line is that, at some point, we are all going to have to wake up to reality. It will be a long, arduous trek across the wasteland of denial, but someday all of us will have to start thinking the unthinkable and saying the unsayable: The jobs of the future… are not going to be there. Jobs are disappearing, and we will have to somehow adapt to that. In the long run, the solution will likely have to involve some type of job sharing, and it will also have to incorporate income supplementation for most people.

    Also see: “World Headed for Irreversible Climate Change In Five Years, IEA Warns – If fossil fuel infrastructure is not rapidly changed, the world will ‘lose for ever’ the chance to avoid dangerous climate change,” The Guardian, Fiona Harvey, 9 November 2011.

    Yeah, kiddies…the world as we know it is in the process of being destroyed. But it ain’t gettin’ destroyed by wingnuts. It’s getting destroyed by runaway population growth, global warming, peak oil, stripmining, overfishing, hyperpollution, and the exponential growth of automation + the internet turning everyone’s job into a robotic chore or a database + internet scan.

  61. 61.

    gocart mozart

    My comment at the NYT. Let’s see if it posts.

    Mr Brooks, instead of “a devastating fiscal crisis”, I propose we try something more modest first. Let us put the heads of several “moderate” austerity columnists on pikes. This seems to me a trifle less severe than a “cleansing flood” and also more likely to be a success in the the whole “after which the sun will shine again.” endeavor.

  63. 63.

    EconWatcher

    My wife is Russian. She and her family lived through a “brutal, cleansing flood” after the Soviet Union collapsed and the rouble became worthless. She’d like a word with Mr. Brooks. He’d best make himself scarce.

  64. 64.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @General Stuck:

    The Republicans never intended to bargain in good faith and the President knew it. As LO said tonight, the committee was designed to fail and the President wasn’t surprised a bit. Now those cuts are hanging over their heads and what do the Repubs want to do to rectify it? They want to renege on the deal, as usual. I’m sure that the Repubs all thought that they could weasel out of this deal when push came to shove. Well, they shoved and the President shoved right back with the veto threat.

    It’s going to be interesting to see what discordant tune that the Mighty Wingnut Wurlitzer is going to spin to cover their asses this time.

    I’m sure they will be quick to blame Obama for everything and the M$M will be right there, breathlessly reporting it as fact.

    @Baron Jrod of Keeblershire:

    Followed by a healthy dump consisting of processed egg salad & garlic sandwiches and chili.

    I would advise Bobo to chew slowly.

  65. 65.

    Calouste

    @Suffern ACE:

    Still, folks, there’s hope out there. Japan, whose economy went dead for a decade, is enjoying a spurt. All it took was a tsunami to notch up a quarter of growth. Perhaps what Europe and the United States need is a major natural disaster — it would make a change from the man-made ones — or a good little war.

    Double fail by whatever idiot is writing in the NYT:

    a) How much did the economy shrink in the quarter when the tsunami hit? I’m pretty sure the economy is still smaller than it was before the tsunami.
    b) You know who spends money that gets the economy growing after a disaster? Right, the government. Why not spend that money now on infrastructure upgrade? Why does Richard Cohen first want 20,000 people killed before the government can spend any money? Calling the man a sociopath is insulting to sociopaths.

  66. 66.

    TenguPhule

    a brutal cleansing flood, after which the sun will shine again.

    Brooks is clearly in favor of the French approach to this problem.

    I say oblige him.

  67. 67.

    Tehanu

    unless some third force emerges, which wedges itself into one of the two parties

    I’d like to see it wedge itself right up Bobo’s backside — as far as possible, though there probably wouldn’t be enough room for it to get past his head.

  69. 69.

    Geysergazers

    Bobo&Third Way need to be Occupied. Both are sociopathic in advocating the destruction of [actual] Civilization.

  70. 70.

    Judas Escargot

    @Oriscus:

    Greece and Italy have just had their managements reshuffled by the head office. Can we pretend it can’t happen here?

    I’m way late to this party, but IMO this is one of the BIG glaring flaws with a pure Parliamentary system– you can have radical leadership changes without an actual election.

    Our Republican system may be slow as molasses in winter, but its slowness is a feature, not a bug.

    One of my long-long-term (though unlikely) fears is that things get so bad that we end up having to hold another Constitutional Convention, and get stuck with a European-style Parliament w/o a strong independent Executive. No, please, no.

  71. 71.

    divF

    @Librarian: Andrew Mellon advising Herbert Hoover:”liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate… it will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up from less competent people.”

    Bobo knows this piece of history, yet he *still* talks about a cleansing flood. Disgusting.

  72. 72.

    Lurking Canadian

    @divF: Well, sure. He thinks Mellon was really on to something there, and it’s a shame his plan wasn’t fully implemented.

  73. 73.

    Kathy in St. Louis

    So, Bobo failed to note that we HAVE had a wedge group within one of the major parties AND a devastating fiscal crisis, both within the last four years. Where’s he living, in his mother’s basement?

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