David Brooks sneers at Bernie Sanders: “He doesn’t get the working class”

[DonViejo]

Other people Sanders doesn't get, according to Brooks: suburbanites, Latinos, African-Americans

SALON STAFF

David Brooks took his lazy thinking from the New York Times op-ed page to his sweet Friday night gig on the PBS “NewsHour,” where he dismissed Bernie Sanders and the progressive movement.

According to Brooks, Sanders doesn’t get the working class, suburban voters, African-Americans or Latinos. He is, he suggests, a poster child for college-town liberalism.

Here are his comments:

Well, it is and always has been a university crowd left in this country, a progressive element at our many fine universities. And he’s playing to that element.

But that element is not big. It’s not even big within the Democratic Party. He doesn’t get the working class. He doesn’t get the suburban voter. He doesn’t, by and large, get African-American and Latino voters. So there is a huge ceiling on what he can do.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/13/david_brooks_sneers_at_bernie_sanders_he_doesnt_get_the_working_class/

[winter is coming]

1. Check. No, it's not from The Onion.

The notion that Brooks should be lecturing anyone on "the working class" is... special.

[artislife]

2. *chortle nt

[jeff47]

9. Well, when he talks to working people who's income depends on keeping him happy

they all agree with him. So clearly he "gets" working people.

He just asks his cab driver or waitress before leaving them a tip, and they always seem to agree with his opinion.

[restorefreedom]

3. again i need to quote david corn

can i have 2 minutes just to laugh?

[gordianot]

4. Well I get Republicans and phony Conservative journalist.

Just admit it David in your heart of hearts you would like to be Sean Hannity.

[sabrina 1]

5. I like it that those who are attacking Bernie are EXACTLY who have been

identified as part of the problem in this country. People like Brooks, who earned his millions not exactly as part of the 'working class' he has suddenly become a 'champion' of.

It's hilarious to watch them flailing.

They remind me of Baghdad Bob filmed with invading army right behind him denying that Iraq was under assault.

As Bernie climbs and climbs in the polls as his recognition increases, people like Brooks are becoming more and more desperate and making less and less sense.

They are so old and out of touch with real people, but then they live in a small bubble where they dress in tuxedos and attend cocktail parties and private, thousands of dollars a plate dinners, talking to themselves about their 'brilliant' ideas. I know, I've witnessed a few of them. It's all very 'nice' and 'civil' and RICH!

[gordianot]

8. I think this sort of thing shows their frustration.

No real life juicy distractions, Sanders admits he is a Socialist, Sanders focuses on the middle class. I think they are scared deep inside their colons and their anal sphincter muscles are all bunched up by a 73 year old man with a wild hair cut and no fear to speak his mind. He is unpredictable and they fear that the most.

[senz]

13. Ha! I think you're right, gordianot. It's a lovely thing, too. (n/t)

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. ROBERT REICH, David Brooks’ Utter Ignorance About Inequality

JANUARY 18, 2014


Occasionally David Brooks, who personifies the oxymoron “conservative thinker” better than anyone I know, displays such profound ignorance that a rejoinder is necessary lest his illogic permanently pollute public debate. Such is the case with his New York Times column last Friday, arguing that we should be focusing on the “interrelated social problems of the poor” rather than on inequality, and that the two are fundamentally distinct.
Baloney.


First, when almost all the gains from growth go to the top, as they have for the last thirty years, the middle class doesn’t have the purchasing power necessary for buoyant growth.
Once the middle class has exhausted all its coping mechanisms – wives and mothers surging into paid work (as they did in the 1970s and 1980s), longer working hours (which characterized the 1990s), and deep indebtedness (2002 to 2008) – the inevitable result is fewer jobs and slow growth, as we continue to experience.
Few jobs and slow growth hit the poor especially hard because they’re the first to be fired, last to be hired, and most likely to bear the brunt of declining wages and benefits.

Second, when the middle class is stressed, it has a harder time being generous to those in need. The “interrelated social problems” of the poor presumably will require some money, but the fiscal cupboard is bare. And because the middle class is so financially insecure, it doesn’t want to, nor does it feel it can afford to, pay more in taxes.

Third, America’s shrinking middle class also hobbles upward mobility. Not only is there less money for good schools, job training, and social services, but the poor face a more difficult challenge moving upward because the income ladder is far longer than it used to be, and its middle rungs have disappeared.

Brooks also argues that we should not be talking about unequal political power, because such utterances cause divisiveness and make it harder to reach political consensus over what to do for the poor.


http://robertreich.org/post/73764746576


David Brooks Sells House for More than Your Entire Lousy Life Is Worth


http://www.mediaite.com/online/david-brooks-sells-house-for-more-than-your-entire-lousy-life-is-worth/


Same-Sex Marriage Makes David Brooks Crazy

The 'New York Times' columnist goes on a weird, bitter rant against gay rights



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/same-sex-marriage-makes-david-brooks-crazy-20130402#ixzz3fnCz2cVy
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

[KoKo]

7. Recommend

[oasis]

18. Whenever Reich speaks I listen.

He knows his stuff. Reich was generous in implying only that Brooks is an ignoramus. Brooks is a lying son of a bitch. Period/exclamation point.

[NCjack]

10. How would Brooks know anything about the working poor? Has he ever been worked

in freezing or blistering hot conditions? Has he ever been so tired that he believed he could not last until quitting time, and then been told "the boss needs another 2 hours"? Has this jerk ever had his wages stolen by his employer, complained, and got fired? He is total jerk.

[Avalux]

11. I was craving my daily dose of irony - thank you for helping me out!

[senz]

12. David Brooks is a rhetorician, a propagandist, a shyster.

He tries to appear the neutral observer, but everything he says, he says "for effect." His purpose is to persuade his listeners/readers toward the free market anti-government viewpoint while appearing to be "just talking." He has been doing this for years. He does it in his NYTimes columns and in his appearances as a TV commentator. Quite frequently, Brooks tells outright lies. His lies are usually small and tucked into the broader discourse so that they are less likely to be noticed and analyzed. He wants people to accept these little disparaging falsehoods as simple "facts," knowing that over time such "facts" can slant a person's worldview.

Recently, he has been saying -- quite off-handedly -- that Bernie Sanders gets his big crowds by playing to "college towns." The term "college town" is dog-whistle for "liberal elite, ex-hippie, out-of-touch intellectuals." The term is intended to minimize and marginalize Sen. Sanders. (Clearly, Brooks considers Sanders a threat.)

Not too long ago, in a PBS Newshour discussion of the ACA, Brooks casually mentioned that the initial Internet-based rollout of the ACA failed due to the ineptitude of "government IT workers." That, of course is a lie: the ACA online system was developed by private contractors, not government employees.

Listen to Brooks carefully, knowing that he is always spinning, always calculating. He's like the duck who moves so smoothly across the water, all the while paddling like mad just out of sight. Sometimes he gives himself away by glancing around nervously as he talks.

[Fawke Em]

14. David Brooks doesn't get his ass from a hole in the ground. eom

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

15. I guess he never looked at

the folks in the audience to see they are not all college students. Can't believe his lying eyes

[BuelahWitch]

16. I guess those 10,000 people at the Wisconsin rally

were all students and Socialists?

[jwirr]

17. LOL That is what I have always thought of David Brooks.

[CharlotteVale]

19. What's his user name?