David Brooks: 'Obama Has Run An Amazingly Scandal-Free Administration' [mentions my blog]

Newsbusters ^ | May 31, 2015 | Tom Blumer

[grundle]

One doesn't know what to do with the rubbish which follows beyond noting it and hoping that the ridicule which results will somehow and in some way have some kind of impact.

Despite 6-1/2 years of horrid governance and dozens of acknowledged scandals, several of which a few of the credible remaining outposts of liberal thought have actually agreed are scandals, David Brooks, the New York Times's resident fake conservative, asserted on Friday's PBS NewsHour, as if it's an indisputable fact, that "President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him."

The relevant video segment is at Real Clear Politics, but it doesn't appear to be embeddable. There is a YouTube of the entire 12-minute Shields & Brooks "analysis" segment for those who can stand it, where Brooks's bombast begins at about the 2:05 mark.

Here's the transcript of the Real Clear Politics snip, which transitions from fellow panel member Mark Shields's discussions of charages against Dennis Hastert (which, as egregious as they might be, appear not to have anything directly to do with his duties when he was a congressman or Speaker of the House:

DAVID BROOKS: First, if the allegations about the contact with the boys are true, well, we have seen that with the Catholic Church. We have seen a disturbing undercurrent in American life, I guess, and maybe in world life, of this sort of thing.

I am struck, as Mark just mentioned, the whole litany of people, especially of that era, who were involved in some scandal or another. Some of it was sexual. Some of it was more financial, even Tom DeLay’s, Speaker Wright. And it was just all concentrated in a lot of people all at once.

Does politics attract such people? I don’t know. Is it prevalent in society? It’s certainly a reminder of original sin. The other thing, though, I did want to say that there are people in American life to whom this has not happened.

And I have my disagreements, say, with President Obama, but President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him. He’s chosen people who have been pretty scandal-free.

And so there are people in Washington who do set a standard of integrity, who do seem to attract people of quality. And I think that’s probably true of the current group. I hope it’s true of the current leadership group in Congress. But — so they’re not all involved in scandal.

MARK SHIELDS: David makes a good point. And I agree with him on this administration in particular.

David Brooks should know, and probably does, but he apparently doesn't care that Tom Delay "was formally acquitted" of "criminal charges of conspiracy to violate election law" in September 2013. That acquittal was affirmed in October 2014. All you need for a "scandal" in LeftyLand if a Republican or conservative is involved is an indictment (if that); apparently, no amount of acquittal or exoneration will ever cause the press to remove the "scandal" tag. Meanwhile, you can have literally smoking guns (e.g., the Obama administration's Fast & Furious scandal), and the press will never go beyond calling it a "controversy" — if that.

Shields and Brooks perfectly exemplify the utter contempt for the truth we have seen during the past seven-plus years going back to Barack Obama's first presidential campaign. It has been and continues to be nothing short of astonishing, even for those of us who expected the worst.

[ETL]

It is only a scandal if Obama is impeached.

It's only a scandal if the left-wing snooze media decides to cover it.

[lentulusgracchus]

Onion or has Brooks entered the dimentia zone?

I saw the show and thought it was like Clinton's bought-and-paid-for "Three Noes" performance in China that time.

I decided that Brooksie has gotten crossways with someone nasty and vindictive like Valerie Jarrett, and this was his "makeup" crawling and handkissing, to get out of trouble.

I thought his performance false and, frankly, captive and coerced, as if he were an "air pirate" being paraded by the North Vietnamese, after being tortured. That's what he sounded like.

[hosepipe]

[RedMDer]

Don't let FR fade away!

[a fool in paradise]

David Brooks is blind enough to be a MLB umpire.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Here are 1,080 well sourced examples of Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, waste, etc.
https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/

[Postman]

Yes, the White-out House

[MeshugeMikey]

[MeshugeMikey]

may he find his happiness there in his soon retirement.

[falcon99]

You are exactly right. Brit Hume (Fox) once said there is no scandal unless the media makes an event/issue one. And, with this Obama loving sycophant media, there never will be one — not that there isn’t enough factual lying, corruption and abuse of power by Obama and his administration that would qualify.

[RginTN]

sounds like 1984 Newspeak

[a fool in paradise]

He’s not gonna get much of a taste with the cap on.

[MeshugeMikey]

that perplexed look on his face....is a sure sign that he doesnt even know how to un cap the bottle...

[null and void]

The biggest killer of mankind

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

[oldtech]

He may be closer to the truth about the scandals than he realizes. Obama only had one scandal,but it must be a big one as it continues on.

[Lazamataz]

This is the framework under which these a-holes operate:

1) Scandal after scandal emerges. The NYT refuses to report on any of it.
2) The Administration stonewalls, ignores Congress and the Courts, and refuses to investigate itself through the DOJ.
3) The NYT steadfastly refuses to note any of 2), above.
4) The NYT crows about what a scandal-free administration this is.

I suppose if you are going to be a laughable liar and co-conspirator, you should go all-in. For their commitment, I give them kudos.

[Popman]

——And I have my disagreements, say, with President Obama, but President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him. He’s chosen people who have been pretty scandal-free.-——

If you parse Brocks exact words, he is correct...Obama and the people around him are scandal free....

Move to the outer ring of his circle, his stooges, his indirect reports... You could write a novel...

IRS, VA, BAFT, SS, State Dept..just to name a few...

Why do you think he read most of his scandals in the paper...

Plausible deniability....

[SunkenCiv]

"Does it count as hacking since I knew the password?"

• CENTCOM Twitter account hacked by ISIS sympathizers
• U.S. military social media accounts apparently hacked by Islamic State sympathizers
• U.S. military Twitter feed hacked, apparently by IS sympathizers
• Islamic State Hacks CENTCOM Twitter Feed as Obama Talks Cybersecurity
• US Central Command Twitter feed hacked by ISIS supporters
• "Isis" Hacks CENTCOM Twitter Page - Posts Strategy Powerpoints, Officer's Info.

[SunkenCiv]

• Obama: "I want to make sure we end before the call to prayer"
• Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea [2008]

[SunkenCiv]

"Once Again, David Licks My Ass Clean. Oh, and Death to America!"