Brooks says Obama is an eltist & Americans can't picture him eating at an Applebee's salad bar

[Hamlette]

problem is, Applebee's doesn't have a freaking salad bar.

This completely cracks me up.

Brooks is so much the elitist he doesn't even know Applebee's doesn't have a salad bar.

I am SO SICK of the elitist GOP telling us we are elitist. How did that get started? They were born with a silver spoon up their butts and their party is anti equality, anti poor, anti middle class and they paint us as elitist?

[MrCoffee]

1. Son of a ....you got me all excited with the Applebee's salad bar talk!

Way to rain on my friggin' parade, Hamlette!

[Auggie]

2. I can't picture myself eating at Applebee's

[MrCoffee]

7. They've got that Santa Fe chicken salad with the really good dressing

And Hamlette robbed me of the dream of a salad bar with that dressing on it! :cry:

[Dollface]

12. That's why they have a to go menu. For elitists.

And I was also thinking of the Sante Fe chicken salad.

[LakeSamish706]

3. They were talking about this elitist bullshit on morning Joe as well this AM...

I just can't figure how anyone can see elitist in Barack... He is the farthest thing from that in my view.

[BrklynLib at work]

14. Sounds like a Rovian, repuke talking point that they are trying to spread.

[Mabus]

15. Elitist = GOP nightmare

Whenever a Dem makes 'em twitchy, the GOP labels them an "elitist".

[Mabus]

4. What a moran

Now who's out of touch? :rofl:

[Supersedeas]

46. more high quality rightwing analysis

[Mabus]

51. Not to mention the impeccable research

that was the basis for the spot-on quality analysis.

:spray: :rofl:

[Dollface]

5. I'm an elitist (I read a couple books one time that didn't have pictures) and I would so eat at an

Appleby's salad bar if they had a salad bar and if there was one near my farm.

[BrklynLib at work]

6. Riiiiiight. Brooks is such a nitwit. Probably the only prez who ever actually ate at a fastfood

outlet was Bill Clinton.

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. I don't think he's elitest.

I think he has learned to be careful.

[blm]

28. I agree. Media used elitist on Kerry but never mentioned he lived much of his public life

under death threats, did they?

First as the effective leader against Vietnam war and Nixon.

Then as the prosecutor who put away mob bosses in Boston.

Then as the senator who worked for his entire first term to uncover more government corruption than any lawmaker in modern history - illegal wars in Central America, IranContra, BCCI and CIA drugrunning. The entire DC powerstucture was set against him on those matters, including Dems who sided with Reagan and Bush on those operations.

Then as the senator who led the advocacy for gays to serve openly in the military. That REALLY brought out the gay-hating loonies.

Then as the top lawmaker on issues of terrorism, including the funding of global terror networks.

Then as Presidential nominee against the most criminal, yet most protected incumbent in history.



Kerry had good reason to study anyone approaching him - for over three decades, his enemies have been some of the most dangerous people to cross in the world.


Your point about what Obama has faced and will continue to face is a solid one. Once you are targeted by the BFEE there are few in DC you can trust.

[leftyladyfrommo]

45. Besides he's a good pool player.

Pool players aren't elitist.

[blondeatlast]

9. Brooks? Talk about elitist--that's satire that writes itself.

What an elite, Ivy League, Hereditarily Affirmative Actioned, utter dumbass.

[unpossibles]

10. that is funny

and Applebees sucks.

[OhioBlue]

11. lol. when i read your headline, the first thing I thougt was...

"So, does Applebee's have salad bars in other States or something? 'Cause I've never seen one...."

[Kerrytravelers]

13. I know I only vote for people who eat at Applebee's. It's my crappy-restaurant litmus test.

:eyes:

[TornadoTN]

16. And I can imagine sitting at the Applebee's bar having a brew with Hillary or McCain?

Seriously, get real.

[MaryEllen71]

If the voters elect Mcsame...

because he is someone they could have dinner at Applebee's with, then we are totally doomed and lost as a nation.

[ProgressiveFool]

36. More importantly than the salad bar, do they have an early bird special?

If not, you won't see McCain there, either.

[sinkingfeeling]

40. But McSame wouldn't eat at Applebee's because they don't have a senior menu!!

[Kingofalldems]

17. It's called projection

A repub trait. Must be in their DNA.

[Bluebear]

18. I can't picture McCain eating anywhere without drooling on the table, so there.

[JCMach1]

19. Applebees is not exactly cheap... I know plenty of people

who couldn't afford to eat there.

Obama should start dropping the suits more over this Summer. Put him in some real clothes, a baseball cap, and get some shots eating a hotdog.

Cubs game photo-op anyone??? Come on there must be an Obama staffer or two lurking... Oh, and make sure to emphasize it is a PORK hotdog.

[JackRiddler]

20. I have never set foot in an Applebee's or a White Castle ...

and this is a qualification for office.

[blondeatlast]

21. An open invitation and DARE to David Brooks; I'll even pick up the tab. (I have a gift card)

What're you in the mood for, Davey? Someone with as much Applebee's knowledge as you have must have a standout fave...

http://www.applebees.com/MenuLanding.aspx

Any DUers care to join Dave and me? :rofl:

[DAGDA56]

24. I'm guessing Dave (I wonder if anybody calls him Dave) is heading for...

...a triple chocolate meltdown...soon...very soon.

[Initech]

22. Good! I want a president who's an elitist!

I'm tired of having one who's a fucking moron!

[TornadoTN]

23. Look how much good it did to have a President we "could have a beer with"

Sorry, I'm not electing a drinking buddy or a Applebee's dinner friend.

[Malikshah]

25. Applebee's don't have salad bars. Brooks is an idiot.

We go quite often.

I've never seen a salad bar there.

Ruby Tuesday's has a salad bar.

Applebee's? Nope.

Brooks-- You are a Moran. M.O.R.O.N. Moron!

[edbermac]

26. Yeah, but would Obama eat at Olive Garden?

Why spend hundreds of millions on the campaign? McCain, Obama...whoever eats at Olive Garden gets my vote, Mr Brooks.

:sarcasm:

[JackRiddler]

27. Citation: It was on MSNBC on June 2nd...

Brooks is possibly the most disgusting sophist on the planet.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200806030004

During the 2 p.m. ET hour of the June 2 edition of MSNBC Live, discussing Barack Obama's presidential campaign with CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood, New York Times columnist David Brooks asserted that "less educated" and "downscale" people "look at Obama, and they don't see anything." He added: "Obama's problem is he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there." Media Matters for America contacted the consumer relations department at Applebee's, which confirmed that Applebee's restaurants do not have salad bars.

Brooks' claim about Applebee's, which was noted by the blog Hoffmania!, recalls CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley's reported suggestion in 2004 that Sen. John Kerry's having ordered green tea in an Iowa restaurant exemplified what Crowley reportedly referred to as his inability to "bridge the gap" with "most of America and how they live." According to a November 16, 2004, Palm Beach Post article, Crowley gave a speech in which she said that in January 2003, she and Kerry (D-MA) "met for breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Dubuque, Iowa. 'I'd like to start out with some green tea,' Kerry told the waitress, who stared at him for a moment before responding, 'We have Lipton's.' " The article reported that Crowley said: "There were many green tea instances ... There's a very large disconnect between the Washington politicians and most of America and how they live. Bush was able to bridge that gap, and Kerry was not." In fact, as Media Matters noted at the time, according to Lipton's product locator, green tea was available (and still is available in 2008) at the Dubuque, Iowa, Kmart.

In introducing Brooks, Harwood stated: "David, you have argued in your column that Barack Obama at the beginning of the year was leading a movement that was shaking up American politics, but that over time he's become more and more of a conventional politician. Why do you say that, and what do you mean?" Brooks responded that "the movement hit some natural parameters among highly educated, affluent people, people who live in places like Portland, Oregon," then claimed that "the magic is not felt by a lot of people. It's not felt, obviously, by a lot of less educated people, downscale people. They just look at Obama, and they don't see anything." After claiming that Obama "doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee's salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there," Brooks added: "And so he's had to change to try to be more like that Applebee's guy, and as he's done that, he's become much more transactional, much more, 'I'm going to deliver this, and this, and this for you' on policy."

Later, during the June 2 edition of MSNBC's Race for the White House, NBC chief White House correspondent and host David Gregory replayed Brooks' remark about Obama. Asked for comment, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson asserted: "Well, you know, is he -- he's not an Applebee's guy -- is he an Olive Garden guy? I tend to take the sociology a little more seriously when it's delivered by people who actually eat at Applebee's, you know, more than once in a decade."

[Frances]

30. I was born during the Depression in Alabama

I wish the people who were voting age at that time could come back and hear that a black man should not be President because...he's too elitist. They would die a second time...laughing.

[JackRiddler]

38. Thank you. Please start a new thread with that observation!

[blm]

43. Damn straight, Frances. You should post that in a separte thread. It deserves to be widespread

and every one of us Dems should use your remarks in the months ahead.

[LucyParsons]

29. This is the new meme.

Chris Matthews and co. were at it first thing this morning.

Doesn't stick.

Then again, Americans are stupid.

[wtmusic]

31. Good catch Hamlette.

:thumbsup:

[notadmblnd]

32. I was going to ask; when did applebees get a salad bar

I have been there a time or two. As a rule, I don't frequent chain restaurants, but the one thing I liked was their oriental chicken salad.

[CJCRANE]

33. Elite vs elitist.

Just about anyone who makes it as candidate to be POTUS is "elite" in some way. Obama and Bill Clinton are academically elite (which basically just means they are intelligent and worked hard).

Shrub is a different kind of elite - a blue-blood aristocrat by birth.

[ProgressiveFool]

34. lol probably won't be there for long, but on Wikipedia, Brooks' page has this:

Applebeegate
In June, 2008, while appearing as a guest commentator on The Race for the White House, with David Gregory, Brooks claimed that Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama's "problem is he doesn‘t seem like a guy who can go into an Applebee‘s salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there..."<1> Brooks, apparently, has never been in an Applebees either because the national restaurant chain does not have a salad bar, indicating that the tired Republican "president you would want to have a beer with" meme is being rehashed for the 2008 presidential election cycle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brooks_%28journalist%29

[Bluebear]

35. Ooooh burn!

:)

[Riddler]

37. I've never gone into an Applebee's that had food or service good enough to ever want to go back.

So the fact that he wouldn't go to an Applebee's, salad bar or no salad bar, is a plus in my book!

[Beausoleil]

39. Is it too much to ask

to be able to have a beer with a self-recovered alcoholic president? This is just what Americans want.

Or have a president you can picture eating at a non-existent salad bar? If you can't do it, he doesn't deserve to be president.

Apparently this is all we want in a president. Should be easy to find someone.

When is the NYT going to stop letting idiots have columns? I think I'm tired of the "balance" we keep getting from the media, you know that "sanity/insanity" or "truth/lies" equal time thing they've got going.

[lolly]

41. Let's just simplify this

Instead of electing a President, let's elect a restaurant. Or maybe have a Marie Callendar's pie eating contest--whoever wins, gets to be Prez!

Obama should run with this--make a campaign appearance at an Applebee's, pretend to look for a salad bar. Eat some food and proclaim it delicious (and be sure to leave a big tip).

[sarge43]

42. To the best of my knowledge there's no picture of Obama

picking his nose in public. So yeah, I guess that makes him an elitist.

[RB TexLa]

44. Why would we want a president we can picture eating with the ignorant?

:banghead:

[ksdemo]

47. I don't know where the elitists thing came from. I really don't get how that came to be. nt

[Cobalt Violet]

48. Umm...they don't even have a salad bar.

Maybe is Brooks wasn't such an elitist he would know that.

[Kansas Wyatt]

49. I'm not an elitist and I would not eat at Applebee's.

All they serve, are over-priced TV dinners. Used to be a good place, but their corporate mentality took over, and now it sucks.

[L. Coyote]

50. Who can afford to eat at Applebee's with BIG OIL taking all the money?