I don’t know if David Brooks had a couple of drinks at lunch or not, but he went on MSNBC this afternoon and claimed that he had once sat through an entire dinner with a Republican U.S. Senator’s hand in his lap.
BROOKS: You know, all three of us spend a lot of time covering politicians and I don’t know about you guys, but in my view, they’re all emotional freaks of one sort or another. They’re guaranteed to invade your personal space, touch you. I sat next to a Republican senator once at dinner and he had his hand on my inner thigh the whole time. I was like, ehh, get me out of here.
HARWOOD: What?
BROOKS: I can only imagine what happens to you guys.
O’DONNELL: Sorry, who was that?
BROOKS: I’m not telling you, I’m not telling you.
Now, I understand that certain situations can be awkward and no one wants to correct people of a certain age, particularly those that have a lot of power or whom you are trying to please. But I’m not letting some old man put his hand on my inner thigh for ten seconds, let alone throughout an entire meal. The only way I would do that is if I wanted to give them the impression that I would let them sleep with me.
Even if the old pervert is a valued source who you feel you need to do your job as a journalist, you have to have some self-respect. Politely state that you have to use the little boy’s room and when you come back put a napkin on your lap and use a stiff forearm if you have to. There are ways to deal with such things without allowing yourself to be violated for thirty minutes straight.
David Brooks is a strange dude.
WTF..big violation of a man rule. Unless like you said, he wanted it to happen.
sounds like a giggling gay teenager
i bet he coulda got to second base
Nobody said he didn’t. Although I don’t quite know where second base would be in this case — um, never mind….
I figured that was what he was hoping for…
"David Brooks is a strange dude. "
Yes, but what do you think about this story of his?
I think he had a couple of drinks at lunch.
I think it was wishful thinking.
Obviously he didn’t mind it very much.
Gives a new meaning to a “thrill up my leg.”
I knew he had issues when MoDo mentioned their little chat about the FLOTUS’ “thunder and lightning.”
Anyway…my bet is on Sen. Craig.
Makes me think:
“Yuck. Way too much information. Keep it to yourself.”
Without a doubt.
Like a lot of what Brooks says– exaggeration, hyperbole, stretch, smokescreen, distort. I find this guy to be one of the most insufferable fools on television. I don’t even try to read his columns any more. If he is a reporter, I’m a ham sandwich.
Maybe it’s his way of dismissing the significance of the recent scandals. The ‘they all do it’ defense.
Except, it would have worked better if he said Teddy Kennedy fondled his balls for forty-five minutes once over Joue de boeuf en daube.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!
comment of the week.
well, if he REALLY want to correct the situation, he could have taken the hand and move it back to the owners own thigh at such time, bending back a finger so hard it would have made him cry with whining of a baby. There are certain ways to have corrected the situation. yes, i think he enjoyed it….yuk!
Hey, Bobo, take your personal ads to Craigslist, will ya. It’s not that important that you have the hots for who might it be? er, Lindsay Graham? er, Patrick McHenry, er, just to name two perennial rumors.
Brooks: “and then Mark Foley slid a well-oiled finger right up my…”
who was the senator?
did he finger brooksie’s ring? his chocolate starfish?
if this had been a Democrat, this would be all over the newspaper and internet.
I think the strange part is that people like Brooks who run with the rulers learn early on how to assert themselves gracefully but unambiguously. Media people get propositioned for all kinds of shit — it comes with the territory. Dealing with it is one of the skills at the most elementary level of the profession. So I have to agree with what was suggested above: Brooks was stringing the old creep along for purposes of his own. Putting a harder spin on “media whore”.
But what really has me wondering is, surely the old GOP poster boy could have found somebody sexier than Brooks to fondle. So it was the most obvious and overt kind of sexual dominance play and Brooks let it happen. Amazing. I wonder if the duffer respected him in the morning.
Didn’t really want to think a whole lot about this, but did anyhow. Here’s a strange part in a strange story:
What was the message here, exactly, do you think? Sounds like “If this happens to a bigtime whore like me, I can only imagine what it’s like for street whores like ya’ll on MSNBC.”