David Brooks is a real peach. Spins blame for the McChrystal mess on

[NRaleighLiberal]

on the fact that we have a culture of exposure! More reinforcement that Repubs don't care about the truth...just loyalty and spin!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/opinion/25brooks.html?ref=columnists

Near the end -

"But McChrystal, like everyone else, kvetched. And having apparently missed the last 50 years of cultural history, he did so on the record, in front of a reporter. And this reporter, being a product of the culture of exposure, made the kvetching the center of his magazine profile.

By putting the kvetching in the magazine, the reporter essentially took run-of-the-mill complaining and turned it into a direct challenge to presidential authority. He took a successful general and made it impossible for President Obama to retain him."

[spanone]

1. yes mr brooks, we need less sunshine and more 'behind the scenes' bullshit

brooks is always wrong.

[EFerrari]

4. He is. Always.

[jaxx]

2. If McChrystal was as smart as he thinks he is,

he would have kept his mouth shut.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. "Culture of exposure," Brooksie? Is that anything like journalism? Forget it; look who I'm asking...

Brooks is a tool's tool. A tool for the ages. If he were a college, he'd be tool-ane university.

[scarletwoman]

5. THAT made me laugh!

"If he were a college, he'd be tool-ane university."

:rofl:

[Octafish]

6. Brooks is a Moonie

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20060508Scoobie.html

[kenny blankenship]

7. Michael Hastings is out there operating without any decent restraint. Totally beyond the pale

of acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field taking notes.

Your mission is to row up the River of De Nile in your column and on cable pundit shows. Pick up this Hastings scribbler's path at Rolling Stone, follow it, try not to learn anything you can along the way. When you find the reporter, infiltrate his entourage by whatever means available and terminate the reporter's career.

Terminate with extreme prejudice.

[Hissyspit]

9. LOL

[rocktivity]

8. In McChrystal's line of work, publicly kvetching about your allies and superiors

can get you brought up on criminal charges as well as fired.

...McChrystal, like everyone else, kvetched. And having apparently missed the last 50 years of cultural history, he did so on the record, in front of a reporter."

Well, that makes the whole thing HIS fault, then, doesn't it? Jealous much?

:headbang:
rocktivity

[rocktivity]

10. "Comments are no longer being accepted" LOL

So we'll just have to settle for hitting hitting the highlights:

...If the general and his aides didn't have the good sense to tell the writer that certain things should be off the record, then how can you blame the writer for writing about them? It's his job, it's his livelihood, and it's in fact his professional responsibility...

Are these really the kind of people we would want leading a war that has life vs. death outcomes for our young soldiers and sucks up countless billions of dollars of taxpayers' money?...

...(No) matter how excellent I (or we) are, if I or my (coworkers) gave an interview...in which we said the kinds of things that McChrystal and his staff said...we would not expect to be employed tomorrow...

David, your assessment is not credible. When a four star general knowingly allows someone from the press to record their comments, on the record, that general knows the ramifications of their actions. If not, they're stupid and we definitely do not want them in such a diplomatically sensitive position...

Firstly, McChrystal...knows this will be reported. Second, he had press agent whose job is to manage that exposure...Thirdly, he was sent a copy of the article and approved it. Fourthly, he'd been warned before. Plus, he'd used the press to his advantage before, ie. the Pat Tillman coverup. If, after all that, he still wasn't aware this was public, then one must question his judgment.

....McChrystal has spoken out in public more than once. A fact you conveniently left out of your column. How is it the media's fault when the man was a known loose cannon whom the President had previously called to the White House to tell him to shut up...?

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[fishwax]

11. lol -- david brooks

:rofl:

Has he ever showed any real insight about anything?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. There are a number of RW pundits I truly despise but I can only laugh at Brooks.

[joeybee12]

13. I actually am impressed by David Brooks...he always proves me wrong...

...just when I think he can't be more of an asshole, he proves me wrong.

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. fellow Red Sox fan here! Those injuries are piling up, hey?