Memo to David Brooks: Applebee's doesn't have a salad bar
By John Amato Monday Jun 02, 2008 10:08pm
In an earlier post, C&L and many other sites caught David Brooks say this:
DAVID BROOKS, “NEW YORK TIMES: 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. He has to change 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 to you on policy.
C&Ler Mitzi left this in the comment section:
I called my Applebee’s today to make sure I was correct and they do not have a salad bar. Just goes to show how much these people who make these comments have no idea how “regular people” live their lives.
I called an Applebee's also and they told me that none of their restaurants have a salad bar. David, sometimes the jokes write themselves. What an idiot.
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You misspelled "write".
[Ok Ok Ok. I wrote to the spell correctors. It should be fixed soon-Sitemonitor]
Psst....
"David, sometimes the jokes right themselves"
Should be -
David, sometimes the jokes write themselves...
Frist?
I ate at Applebees yesterday and as of then they didn't have a salad bar.
I called an Applebee’s also and they told me that none of their restaurants have a salad bar also. David, sometimes the jokes right themselves. What an idiot.
you mean idot, don't you?
(didn't you get the concern troll memo?)
Okay and what does "fits in naturally" actually mean?
perfect! now that is worth a thread!
did LA Crybaby get here yet?
David Brooks = overpaid, rich and out-of-touch. I'm sure he's never been in an Applebee's.
He has no business critiquing anyone's ability to understand the "common people".
Brooks, the true ELITIST, calling the kettle black. Love the irony.
Of course irony is lost on most TV talking heads. To this class of useless people... irony is what flattens the wrinkles on their on-air shirt collars.
"bobo" brooks‘ problem is that he can't go into an applebee‘s men's room and people think he fits in naturally there.
I presume he meant that Obama wouldn't fit into the picture unless he was replenishing the salad bar. Which is what I would expect of Brooks.
I'm not sure Obama should be an "Applebee's guy". I don't think anyone can afford to go to Applebee's anymore (I remember reading a news story on the subject) and thus an "Applebee's" guy may be seen as elitist. Maybe Obama can be the guy that you'd share your Ramen noodles and ice water with as you, with tears in your eyes, open your foreclosure notice. Y'know, regular folk.
He's employed by the "liberal" New York Times. One more reason not to read that paper. Aside from the lousy sports section.
He meant the salad bar in his head.
J DeRego @ 2:
Shorter version: David Brooks is a joke.
I guess that would depend on if he's ever been outside of the country club.
I ate at an Applebbe's. Once. It was the blandest most pedestrian food I evedr vaguely remember eating. And I got stuck with the surprisingly large check. Two thumbs down.
Applebee's is owned by a very conservative corporation. Not nice people to support! Just a heads up!
Damned if you do and damned if you don't. I wonder what sort of angles the media elite would find to attack Obama with if he DID eat at Applebees regularly.
I can't believe this actually is a legitimate discussion in the so-called mainstream media, about a presidential candidate.
If we as a nation base our decisions on a Presidential Candidate's choice of chain-restaurant, (or whether or not we feel as though we can have a beer with him/her...sound familiar?) then we get the President we deserve.
Touche, Mitzi. I'm sure you'll do just fine in the lightening round.
aarrgghh @ 10:
Theres a stall reserved for him next to Craigs one in MN in Sept.
Typos in solidarity. Rock on John.
Peter G @ 11:
brooks said this on sunday, like a reprise of the barstool president meme. but Obama doesn't drink, AFAIK, only smokes. hence the stool at Applebees. of course you know that.
It occurs to me that so many have been handing this asshat his idiot papers, that he's been keeping a low profile. what I'm seeing in this asshat revival is that the media is about to blast Obama with everything from virulent racist pat buchanan to total concern trolls brooks and stephanopulass
Peter G @ 17:
But,but but their TV adverts look so appealing...
this is a silly gotcha. ha ha, Brooks, there is no salad bar. ha ha, Obama it's Buchenwald, not Auschwitz. etc. The point is not whether Brooks eats at Appleby's; the point is: does Obama have some work to do in terms of perception? yes, suggests Brooks, and he's correct. guess what folks, just to take the most recent example: Bush won a second term in part because he pulled off the 'regular folks' crap succesfully, regardless of that fact that he was a little oil patch princeling. this is not Obama's fault, it's all about control of the media narrative -- of course the netroots all know McCain and wife have a hundred million, but do the folks lining up at the salad bar of Appleby's know this?
I have fantasies of taking a survey of pundits, reporters, and politicians: How many times in the past week have you had food served to you by waitstaff, whether a restaurant's or in a private home.
Bet the answer would tell you everything you need to know about our political class.
I Am A Banana @ 19:
They'll wonder why he isn't more like the guy that good ol' red blooded apple pie American folk share their heroin needles with.
I think Barack looks like he would fit right in at an Applebees.
David Brooks would not for sure.
David Brooks has no idea what people look like in an Applebees.
JM @ 18:
Correction?? I see IHOP purchased the chain last year. I just recall a few years back when the good people at BuyBlue.org had Applebee's corporate owners listed as baddies!
Been to Applebees once, not impressed,
Culvers (and their Jumbo Deluxe bacon burgers, yum) FTW.
Sometimes the jokes do right themselves....maybe.
And it's about time you addressed this, Amato. I thought you might be dodging the salad bar controversy. Well reported, if not a tad late.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 24:
I have a friend who manufactures "food" for ads. None of it is at all edible. In fact the more appetizing it looks the more lethal it is likely to be. I prefer less glycerin and hairspray in my diet.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 30:
and their frozen custard, until you eat too much of it...
David Brooks, saw him at the local Soup R Salad the other day talking to the salad bar.
This is awesome. I'm so making a video about this.
ferrofluid (Obama 08) @ 30:
Culvers frozen custard.
YUMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......
Maybe he meant Sizzler. They have a salad bar.
But seriously, "Not an Applebees kind of guy" has got to be the most pathetic attempt to connect wit us "common Folk" ever.
Does anyone here worry that Hillary will run as a third party candidate like I do?
Andy K Jong Il @ 31:
Sneeze guards. If those don't make you lose your appetite, I don't know what will. More controversy...
Brooks and the rest are trying to paint Obama as arrogant but they are right. Obama has the audacity to make them pay their fair share.
Peter G @ 32:
I wonder who made Chimpy's plastic turkey he showed off for that thanksgiving PR stunt in Kuwait.
the salad bar that doesn't exist
gives to Brooks a mordant twist
for when reality dies its death
blame the one with crouton breath
and so it is Obama's shame
too elite to play the game
Applebees remains the place
where Brooks has found egg on his face
++++
John F A @ 37:
Maybe it was Ponderosa, Home of the All You Can Eat Buffet? Who knew that tacos and spaghetti are the perfect lead-ins to a New York Strip?
Boy you should have seen the looks on the faces at the white guys at the Fox Nothing Channel after Obama burned the roof off that place! The camera was shaking around, and they all looked pale. I guess Karl Rove has video of Michelle Obama at church and is going to release it manana. McCain was terrible terrible tonight. Clinton was terrible terrible. Obama probably have the best speech I've ever seen in my 33 years. I guess that's why they are going to destroy him.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Michelle+Obama+%E2%80%98Bombshell%E...
peace @ 38:
It might be rather embarrassing for her, I doubt she would risk it.
It would really show up how much or how little real support she has as HRC (I) rather than as HRC (D).
If it turned out she had 1% or less she would never live it down.
I wonder if the NYT knows just how real world stupid David Brooks really is. Not that it would make much of a difference, after all they did hire a real mouth breather ...... Bloody Bill (the papers village idiot).
peace @ 38:
Don't even joke about it. And yes, I do. If it was good enough for Loserman in CT,...
miss_kitty @ 39:
Sneeze guards. YUMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......
I'm very tired. Wings in regulation tomorrow night, please, Gods of Hockey.....GNA!
This was an attempt by David Brooks, the racist, to bring to mind how blacks have been allowed to be served at restaurants and how that has caused the downfall of America and why so many white people are now not doing so well. Racist such as David Brooks are always looking for groups to scapegoat.
David Brooks suffers from deliberately untreated mental illness as so many Republicans do.
The sun rises in the east. Christmas comes in December. And yet another right wing idiot doesn't know what the hell they are talking about.
Some things will never change!
miss_kitty @ 39:
With greasy fingerprints on them. I have enough to worry about thinking what goes on in the kitchen never mind eating from the communal bowl of salad. Anybody care to guess about what percentage of people don't wash their hands after visiting the washrooms? Oh and to stay on topic: David Brooks is bad.
Anyone with working taste buds would not want to eat their crappy chain food.
Applebees is lower than Chili's And about the same level of disgusting as Red Lobster.
That being said, who cares about the salad bar thing?
What Brooks is saying is stupid on its face because they are trying to run that old horseshit up the flag pole again about how we all want to have a "normal" guy as the prez.
As in a phony cowboy who had a daddy get them into Yale and Harvard.
That sure worked out well for us.
I don't care what the fucker likes to eat, or what brand of smokes he likes, or beer he guzzles.
Just do the fucking job.
can someone please explain to me, how someone from a single parent home can be painted as an "elitest"?
and i have never been in an appleby's, but i always assumed they were known for their pies
Are we a blogging community of copy editors?
Post American @ 44:
I'll bet you that video doesn't exist. it's a classic GOP/ Bush ploy: back in 88 the bush campaign circulated a rumor that they had a photo of Kitty Dukakis burning the flag during a college anti-war protest. That photo didn't exist either.
The problem with John McCain is that whenever he eats at Applebee's his wife has to cut his chicken up into tiny bite size pieces. Just kidding....kinda. But seriously, while Obama is eating Applebee's, McCain is eating applesauce.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory @ 7:
I'll check back in a few to see if he shares more of his pearls of wisdom (non ad hominem, of course). The Kid!
I read somewhere that Barack Obama confirmed that he has more than enough votes to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States. Can't wait till Hillary gives her permission to announce it.
So many levels of disconnect on the part of this dandy little boy. When I grew up in the south, I used to think of Applebee´s as a "rich folks" place to go, as we did not have $$ for even more pedestrian restaurants. He obviously has never set foot in an Applebees and presumably dines exclusively in fine restaurants. He symbolizes the cluelessness and arrogance of the pundit class, "rich and priveledged" is stamped right on his forehead. Actually not a "bad" thing in itself, but truly disgusting when he strikes a pose as a "regular guy"
10:45 central time and still no open? let us illinoisans celebrate before we hit the hay, eh?
i live in illinois
springfield illinois
ive met obama ;)
bullfrog @ 60:
60626
What does Brooks know about "naturally"? Everything about the man is unnatural.
My daughter took some culinary courses. Her teacheer/chef told them that the "chains" such as Applebee's (Yes - it was one of those he specifically named) -- are the worst offenders for cleanliness and health code violations.
*
"get a brain !
moran"
Not only do i not believe this was post worthy.. but i don't believe people actually took the time to respond to it ... i guess this is just a blog....
Well, with all due respect, the question of whether Applebee's does or does not have a salad bar is somewhat nitpick-y. People need to stay focused on the bigger point at issue...which is that the question of whether a particular candidate would or would not seem at home in your average middle-class chain restaurant has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the question of whether or not that candidate would make a good leader and that Brooks's criticism of Obama is therefore a thoroughly asinine and blatantly disingenuous attempt to distract American voters from what's really important.
Also...this is the same tired old straw man argument of Obama being an "elitist" not being able to connect with the working class/regular folks. Actually quite the opposite is true. These are pundits who are just pulling this shit out of their asses. They are died-in-the-wool elitists and will delude themselves and anyone they can find to justify their support for their candidate. The hypocrisy and irony is so thick that you need a machete to wade through it.
These pundits keep repeating the tired idea that we want a president with whom we can have a beer. Time to get with times...
We want a president who can lead, who can listen, who can inspire, whom we can admire. We want Barrack.
Sen. Obama is the type that is seen treating Veterans and their families to a private pancake breakfast. He's the type that listens to a young child's heartbreak and offers them hope at their level. This was the experience of a South Dakota blogger last Sun. when Obama was in our state.
sigh... it's late. Time to get with* the times. And Barack*. :)
Great Reporting!!! and funny!
applebee's might as well have salad bar, worst restaurant ever
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory @ 7:
Lol.
Brooks is just another in a long line of lying out of touch traitorous conservatives that don't know a damn thing of which they speak!
Norbert @ 25:
here's the real problem:as the media ignores everything Obama says and does, it's going to be harder than heck for Obama to get his message past them. Just as brooks does, they will all pretend that there is some "perception problem". that's all bullshit. they will excerpt Obama's speeches to limit the power of his oratory to soundbites that they will misrepresent and dissect. they will not broadcast any significant portion of any speech as long as he's doing well. they will simply make shit up a la "bittergate". his wife will come under ridiculous scrutiny and his children may even become targets. all the nicey, nicey shit comes to a screeching halt tonight.
and keep your eye on the stock market. the corporations and bernanke will make the country pay for favoring a democratic candidate.
John F A @ 47:
Does not need to do that. Just smile graciously step aside and watch Barkey do a nose dive.
Kerry was a relatively honest, straight up guy and the MSM and the FAUX Noisers murdered him. A guy who changed his name from 'Barry' to Barack? Rezko, Auchi, MEchelle and 'Whitey'? Shit every Rethug 527 owner is gonna get rich, rich, rich attacking the good Senator 48/7, TIVO ya know. I'll leave my mailing address with the site monitor and you can mail me some of what your smokin' that be some Righteous Herb Mahn!
Maybe Barry is tough enough.
We gonna find out.
I ain't holdin' mah breathe until I gets to inhale Mahn!
I think that what Brooks meant to say was "I'd like to toss Obama's salad."
You know what's funny is that all the liberal bloggers with the gotcha had to call Applebees to find out if it had a salad bar, because they obviously have never been there. LOL This is funny. Anyway, I have been there. It was for people with no taste whatsoever. I don't mean to denigrate American food. I went there for a burger. The point is, those idiots messed up a hamburger. I ordered rare. It was black and cooked inside to the point of being completely dry. I remember thinking, "I can't send this back, because the cook is going to spit on my next one." So, showed it to the waitress, and she said she would take it back and bring me a new one, but I said, "That's okay. I am going to choke this down. But will you do me one favor?" "What's that?" "Tell the cook he's a retard." She laughed. When she came back with our check, she said, "He says he knows." Anyway, I think we should celebrate our good taste that most of us can take one look at Applebees and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it couldn't be any good, just like we can look at the trailers for the latest Hollywood action movie and know it will suck, regardless of what the "critics" say. I only went there because it was the only restaurant in the area that was still open. Fellow Democrats and lefties of all stripes, we're not elitists. We're just better than they are.
Brook‘s problem is he DOES seem like a guy who can go into an insane asylum and people think he fits in naturally there.
redestructionist @ 68:
when these asshats hae a beer with the preznitwit, it's ofter serve to them on a platter held by someone looking like Obama.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory @ 80:
hae = have
Bluestocking @ 66:
Yeah, I used to think that also.
Then Bush won his second term.
My perception of Obama is corroded by his refusal, so far, to take the meme youi describe head on. Had he taken the Wright affair straight up and told the American people, as JFK did long ago, that who his pastor is and where he goes to church has nothing to do with his job ad POTUS the issue would now be dead.
He got cute and to be fair showed the real Barack who thinks that religion does have a 'place at the table' in our system of government.
Fatal error.
Very few Americans want Wright at their church as a guest preacher.
But hey would accept Obama if he was straight with them.
So far....not so much.
heretic @ 78:
And you expect these sorts of citizens to vote with you?
And you think they are to dumb to suss your attitude out?
I do agree that Applebee's serves shit food. So what?
so, since Brooks doesn't know about Appleby's and salad bars, it's pretty clear he isn't an Appleby's type guy either.
about the best thing i can say about him!
John F A @ 55:
that reminds me of the video that never quite caught on - Obama drug-ridden blowjob from a man who wasn't gay. I think the guy actually meant haggard, but he must have blown him after a day at the beach and mistook a tanned haggard for Obama. I could be wrong. maybe.
A.Citizen @ 83:
fatal error?
please!
alexandrite @ 77:
LOL, no you didn't!
I Am A Banana @ 19:
they would have said that Obama has bad health habits.
A.Citizen @ 76:
kerry never really fought back.
We were told the reason chimpy "won" his elections was that he was the kind of guy Americans could imagine sitting down with and drinking a beer. The funny part about that was he's supposedly a "dry" drunk. The last person on the planet I want to drink in front of is a dry drunk. Point to be made is that these "reporters" are nothing but arms of the neopig propaganda machine. They spout shit like "Obama doesn't fit in at Applebees" when John McCain could buy your local Applebees on his credit card. Johny and chimpy are common guys, if the top 0.1% of the population is common.
fiver @ 58:
after her her machinations, does she deserve anything like that?
I gotta say something about Applebee's, because I used to work for them. The waiter subsidize the manager pay by sharing the tip with management. And they don't pay a dime on taxes for the tip sharing they get. At least they didn't until I called Peter Defazio of Oregon. Applebee's is another case of a corporation that feed off the lowest paid employees. They had so many lawsuit for back pay of the manager for not paying them for mandatory meetings. My opinion is that Applebee's have very low ethical standard as far as corporation goes.
I sure am glad I get my news from those folks!
"Salad bar at Applebee’s"
"If you take a family of two professors here at St. Anselm, they're going to be in the $200,000 category that you're talking about lifting the taxes on."
"Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith ... moderate Republicans..."
Sen. John McCain "maverick" and "straight talker"
Blech! Would Ted Turner PLEASE buy CNN back?
LA, is Brooks your mentor? Tell us all, how can Obama win over the "regular guys?"
Brooks and others have accepted the cynical and materialistic realities of this world with no respect for the humanity of the participants in it. They do this because it is how they keep their job, advance in their career, and make their salary. The only character trait required to be a commentator for the neo-fascists is the ability to sound or seem sincere while deliberately misleading people. Their perspective is that if others knew what was really going on they wouldn’t believe the words they sell, but because they do it is proof that they are suckers who do not deserve the right to vote, and this justifies a plutocracy or fascist state that in an obtuse manner they argue for.
Obama is a regular guy who happens to be smart.
Who in the hell wants their president hanging out in an Applebee's* when they should be running the goddamned (yeah, I said it) country? I don't care if the POTUS can open a beer bottle with his mouth or belch the alphabet. What I care about is whether or not he (or she, let's be fair) can unfuck our once-proud (and now hubristic) nation.
*or any crappy chain restaurant with bland food, high prices and indifferently trained employees.
As if McMore has ever been to an Applebee's and would know what a salad bar was.
ROLMAO! Apparently Brooks needs to be more like an Applebee guy too.
Oh who gives a shit? It's like correcting somebody when they say 'I'm going to Wendy's, you want a Big Mac?' He got his point across.
"Obama needs to reach out to those ignorant working class people", said Brooks. "He needs to farm some filth... or play polo on a public polo field or whatever the peons do".
aarrgghh @ 10:
What about an airport men's room in Minnesota?
Tom Piltoff @ 101:
There's a big difference between a Big Mac and Wendy's. Brook pretends to have the facts and he expects his readers to believe them. And, too many people take a written word as gospel. Do you know what an authoritarian perspective of reality is? When you find out, come back and spout off!
Mcbush's wife wouldn't be caught dead in an Applebee's.
LOL! And David, Denny's doesnt have a salad bar either. I don't think that clown gets out too much. If he did, he wouldn't be making that retarded comment.
chicano2nd @ 104:
The difference is: Brooks called obama an elitist, then made himself look like one because Applebees doesn't have a frickin salad bar. I knew that because I've eaten there...and when I read Brooks comment I laughed my ass off.
Besides, look at the guys body. It's pretty obvious he doesn't pay attention to the salad bar anyway.
yes david, what america truly needs at this historic moment is a leader. Someone we can believe in. Someone who can inspire people to think of America as more open and accepting than many thought possible. Someone who can relight the belief that we have the values which can inspire the world. You know, like some random jamoke you might bump into at the restaurant chain at your local mall.
Baaah! Missing said veggie station aside, of all the barbarian greasy countertops from which one could draw inference, just how does Brooks descend upon the salad bar as the trough of the American everyperson? Or Applebees, for that matter? Also, how does one go "into" a salad bar? I've certainly approached them from various angles, but I don't think I've actually entered one.
Slothrop @ 6:
blend in with the white folks ???
if bobo thinks applebee's got salad bars, may he thinks they're segregated too
bobo ain't ever been to an applebees, we know that
I don't want a regular guy at Applebee's running the country. That's why we have been pushing his record. Stick to the issues and facts. If you treat us like adults we will act like them
Brooks: making statements like that mean that:
a. You are amazingly stupid.
or
b. You are a sleazy hypocrite.
Tom Piltoff @ 101:
Baaahahahhhaha! He certainly got a point across, although it wasn't the one on which he was counting.
BTW, you failed miserably at making yours. Wendy's? Big Mac? good lord!
Too perfect. I laughed out loud. And some of these comments. Just kept me laughing. Election season is so damn entertaining. Better than "Lost" or "Dancing with the Stars." I wish it would never end.Except, that the sooner Obama ascends, the better. I know we have to wait 'til January, just sayin'.
leave him alone.. David doesn't eat salad, he eats cheese cake!
Not that it matters. In a Tee Vee Nation, where mythology is more important than reality, "Truthyness" is all that matters. Kind of reminds me of the time John Kerry asked for green tea in a restaurant in Ohio, and Candy-ass Crowley told him that he wouldn't be able to find any green tea in between New York and California. Not in the noble heartland of America. When, in fact, more green tea is sold in these areas than in California. It doesn't matter. If it sounds like it should be true, that's all that matters.
David declares Applebees as the trough of the American everyperson.. that's so good, 60th St.. David can't abide those who don't suckle at the corporate tit, er trough.. but cuz he's addicted to the cheese cake he gets there-well actually at their other place on the other side of town- he thinks we'd best go to the salad bar they get out of plastic bags sprayed years ago in China by slave labor before being shipped here in a carbon spewing cloud which finances his cheese cake.. which makes him so smarmy and phlemy that the NY Times can use him to satisfy their corporate masters.. But Obama doesn't fit in..
The Sizzler has a salad bar Obama in 08 see ya at the Sizzler
I can only assume Bobo's (nasty) habit of eating left-over bunny food at vacated tables is what he considers the "salad bar". How pathetic...the man is obviously calling out for help.
Tom Piltoff @ 101:
Oh who gives a shit? It's like correcting somebody when they say 'I'm going to Iraq to get rid of their nukes, you want us to disarm all their anthrax and nerve agent warheads too? He got his point across.
Apparently, David Brooks doesn't want to speak about the real Obama problem - the one Republicans have with voters packing themselves into large arenas with 17,000 or so of their fellow Americans to hear, see and touch Obama. Oh, and last night, a reported additional 15,000 were swarming outside during his speech. Why, you could never fit those throngs of people into an Applebee's at one time!
Brooks later added:
"At the places I eat, Obama would be part of the staff."
Is Brooks implying that McCain IS an Applebee's kind of guy? I'm not so sure. After all, in addition to not offering a salad bar, Applebee's also doesn't offer a Senior Citizen's Early Bird Special.
I thought the only people who went to Applebee's were depressed secretaries and people looking for food poisoning?
Not only does Applebees not have a salad bar, I challenge anyone to find any kind of vegetable -- cooked or uncooked -- at that place. AWFUL food.
David Brooks: as dim as dim bulbs get, dimmer than a sunrise on Pluto.
one more thing to address....GASBAG media on PUBLIC airwaves.now, i understand that "fierce urgency of now part."
Norbert @ 25:
No, the point is that he demonstrates by this gaffe that the very fault he accuses Obama of, is one that he himself has. This completely undercuts his claim to be a judge of the whole question. Therefore he must be raising it not because it's true (since he wouldn't know whether it was or not) but only because it's a "useful" talking point. This shows him to be both duplicitous and also rather stupid.
Obama's mistake about Buchenwald is trivial because it doesn't change the point he was making; the difference between Buchenwald and Auschwitz is not relevant to the point and the difference between his uncle and great-uncle is similarly irrelevant. There are no absolutely no grounds for thinking he was being duplicitous, as there are in Brooks' case.
I don't know about Obama, but I definitely think you have some work to do in terms of perception.
Ho, yo...sure! That's the kind of president I want! A "reg'lr" guy.
Well, FUCK THAT! I want a brilliant man to be president!
Especially after the booger-pickin' moron we've had for 8 years.
Somehow, I fail to equate integrity, decency, decorum, and intelligence with elitism. What I am willing to give up is a calculating, misguided, narrow minded, obstinate, ill-informed President who continually embarrasses this Nation with his frat boy antics, but with whom I am supposed to feel I can have a beer.
Give the guy a break - He probably gets paid by the word :)
Also hypocritical is him speaking as an expert on regular guys, then dropping the term "transactional". Who talks that way?
I'm sure he meant to say Ruby Tuesday's. I actually like Applebee's (except for the french fries) but after reading all the comments, now I'm not sure I'll go back. But I do love Culvers - it's the only place outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana where I can get a decent pork tenderloin sandwich.
David wouldn't know a fried chicken salad if it bit him in the ass.
I went to an Applebee's once.
I had a salad at the bar.
Eight years of death and destruction and intense dumbf*ckery from "a guy you could have a beer with" (never mind he's supposedly an on-the-wagon alcoholic), and this assclown is concerned about the next President fitting in at an Applebee's. Wha tha FAHH!!
Brooks probably got Applebees confused with Ruby Tuesdays (do they even have RT in NYC?). They are both the same scale and style. Ruby Tuesday's has a pretty frou frou salad bar and decent food. While Applebees has no salad bar and crappy food. The restaurants used to be roughly equivalent. They aren't now. Ruby Tuesday's if far more upscale and Applebees isn't.
Anyway, why should I give a shit if any Presidential candidate fits in at a salad bar? Truth be told, Obama's the one MOST likely to be found 1) at a salad bar and 2) in a restaurant as downscale as Applebees. McCain and Clinton are WAY richer than anyone who might remotely eat at Applebees. Up until recent book sales drove the Obama's into the richest percentiles, they were mostly regular upper middle class--or even **gasp** middle class--people.
And I'm a Clinton supporter.
brooks went on to say Obama doesn't look like the kind of guy who'd be comfortable at Disney World, getting his picture taken with Bugs Bunny & the Monopoly Thimble.
Brooks is the kind of guy who, in school, always got the "kick me" sign on his back, then, as he got older, grew to miss the attention. And the pain.
As others have said, I don't want a "regular guy" running the country. For 8 years we had an overprivileged dullard trying to prove he's a regular guy (except when his privilege suited his purposes) running the country. Hasn't been that fun of a ride. I'd prefer good old IRregular competency.
Who reads David Brooks?
We've had seven and a half years of suffering a moron who was sold as the "guy next door."
I'm looking for a President is smarter than me and who doesn't talk with his mouth full, wash down a half chewed burger with house label draft, pretend to cut brush and has a pickup with a baccy stained driver's door and give back rubs to female foreign leaders.
I want someone comfortable with everyone, able to talk to street people and an effete snob without needing a translator.
IOW, we've had enough of legacy Yalies - time for someone who earned his stripes.
And Brooks thought he was being so clever.
Reporting a lie.
What I have to wonder about is the super-sleuth who actually had to call Applebee's to verify out they don't have a salad bar.
Applebee's is overpriced and overrated... much like McCain and the Republicans.
Obama strikes me more as a Chili's or Outback kind of guy... Hillary: Red Lobster or Olive Garden.
As a proud Massachusetts liberal, I find these mid western conservative hillbillies to be the most backwards people on the planet.
I doubt they'll vote for Obam,a for the simple reason he's black- it seems the west and east coasts are the only areas of sanity left in America...
The talking bobble heads like to create this myth that our president should be "regular folks" and they start mentionong things like fitting in at Applebees. I can't help but recall the idea that GW was the kind of guy people would like to have a beer with. Look where that got us.
Personally, I don't judge a person for his/her presidential material based on whether he fits in at the local bar or Applebees. I want someone who's smart, can communicate and is compassionate.
Applebees doesn't have a salad bar.. however, someone should really install a sneeze guard around David Brooks.
The last thing anyone needs is another idiot who is at home at Applebee's. What a fucking shithole. McCain is assuredly at home gorging and swilling his aging jowls on Applebee's corporate trough.
Frankly, I'm sick of the TV pundits. Doesn't matter which side they support, most all of them spew useless garbage 24/7. I'm not really interested in the opinions of people like Brooks, Buchanan, Kristol, Matthews, Scarborough, Gergen, Borger, et al.
I would prefer that the news folks just presented the "actual news" as in facts: show me the tape, read me the real words spoken by the real people running for office sans the interpretation. I know that won't be happening in my lifetime, as the fascist corporate media-types have too much invested in the political process. But, I am hopeful that Americans who profess to be fed up with "politics as usual" will speak up and tune out the media pundits who tell lies and denigrate candidates rather than work to inform and educate.
I don't care where Obama eats, has eaten or may eat (or McCain or Hillary or Bush for that matter). I am not interested in having a "regular guy" or gal as president.
Considering the state of our nation and the state of the world, we need leaders (as president and in Congress) who are intelligent, thoughtful, really compassionate (as compared with the fake "compassionate conservatives"), creative, resolute and who possess the qualities of integrity and honesty we've seen so little of over the past couple of decades.
From what I've seen and heard from Obama so far, I think he embodies many of these attributes of a real leader.
who cares?! I don't like David Brooks, but come on...this seems very nit picky.
I saw a stretched hummer unloading prom dates at an Applebee's in my town.
Upon seeing this, I frantically searched the landscape for a flag to salute.
I still get teary over it...
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