Hey, Deaniacs!,

[No Mandate Here.]

Did you see his interview on PBS last night? Dobbs and McLaughlin were asking him questions, and he was giving great, direct answers- apparently satisfying the questioners, because there were no follow ups.

Then there was the other guy in the room, who just sat there strangely silent. That would be David Brooks, who is usually jabbering incessantly every other time I have seen an interview or talking head show.

The only conclusion I can draw is that he is so impressed with the good Doctor that he went silent- just sitting there with a silly expression on his face. Any other takes on this?

[murielm99]

1. Dean used a great technique.

He kept talking and talking, very eloquently, and would not let that stupid Brooks get a word in edgewise.

He said everything that needed to be said. He responded to Brooks' needling question about why Dean said we did not need to be ashamed to be Democrats any more. I think Brooks knew exactly what he was talking about in the first place. I think he was trying to get to Dean's alleged temper.

Dean was smart enough to keep talking and keep making sense. Not everyone could have done that.

I have been watching all the coverage on PBS, too. I will not have cable.

Every time Brooks is going to say something snarky, his face gets all narrow and sharp. Why do they have him there? This is OUR convention!

[Hekate]

2. Brooks is there for the conservative view -- no harm

Since I watch the PBS Evening News with Jim Lehrer I also see David Brooks a lot, and since PBS doesn't have screaming heads he's a well-behaved conservative.

What has intrigued me during the past couple of weeks, more so during the convention coverage, is how very subdued Brooks has become. He looks like a man who has seen the writing on the wall -- he's hard-put to come up with any kind of counter-argument for Mark Shields' comments. He ends up agreeing with Shields' assessment of the political situation rather often these days, and although he looks chagrined to have to do so, I take it as a sign of the honesty of his character that when he can't find something believable to say he doesn't say it.

Hekate

[2Design]

4. I thought david brooks awful first night of convention....eom

[No Mandate Here.]

3. The thing that was so cool

was that his answers seemed to satisfy Dobbs and McLaughlin. They did not press for clarification or further explanation- because none was necessary.

I tuned into this interview part way through- surfing from CSPAN and the Pirates game. It mus have been after Brooks talked, because I heard nothing from him. He just sat there with his goofy sort of smirk/smile, which must be his 'picture taking face' He could have been a cardboard cutout.

[realFedUp]

5. Brooks and fellow neo-cons have gotten what they wanted

He doesn't have much to belly ache about...
we are going to be a permanent presence in
Iraq unless Kerry stops funding American corporations
doing business there, stops the building of
14 military bases, removes Negroponte and his mob,
really hands over sovereignty to an elected
Iraqi government and the citizens, and removes
all American troops, including paid mercenaries.

The neo-cons have gotten all they wanted...now
they want Syria and Iran, paid for by American
taxpayers and lives.