David Brooks: Palin's A 'Joke,' A 'Potential Talk Show Host' (VIDEO)

New York Times's columnist David Brooks -- never a huge fan of Sarah Palin -- laced into the former vice presidential candidate on Sunday, calling her a "joke" and a "potential talk show host."

Speaking the day before Palin's new book, "Going Rogue," is slated to be officially released, Brooks scoffed at the notion that the ex-governor was somehow ready to be the face of the GOP.

"She's a joke," he told ABC's "This Week." "I mean, I just can't take her seriously. We have got serious problems in the country. Barack Obama is trying to handle war. We just had a guy elected Virginia governor who is probably the model for future of the Republican Party, Bob McDonnell: Pretty serious guy, pragmatic, calm, kind of boring. The idea that this potential talk show host is considered seriously for the Republican nomination, believe me, it will never happen. Republican primary voters are just not going to elect a talk show host."

Brooks has never been a big Palin believer. Back in October of 2008, he said that Palin "represents a fatal cancer to the Republican Party" and insisted that she was "absolutely not" ready to be president.

On Sunday, Brooks did get a bit of pushback to his Palin skepticism. Speaking right after him on the "This Week" panel, PBS' Gwen Ifill urged her compatriots not to "underestimate the degree to which women will be drawn to her story."

"And that is who she is speaking to," she added. "These are people who are ignored, who nobody counts into their thinking."

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Comments

[SiberianRat]

10:03 AM on 11/19/2009

Gwen Ifill urged her compatriots not to "underestimate the degree to which women will be drawn to her story."

Not intelligent women who actually care about the country.

[ajax2]

01:42 PM on 11/19/2009

Gwen should have said 'ignorant women' drawn to her, but didn't have the courage.

[KIVPossum]

06:07 AM on 11/19/2009

She couldn't make it as a talk show host. They have to be quick witted and able to think on the move. She does not have those traits.

[truthinreporting]

11:06 PM on 11/18/2009

David Brooks is correct: Sarah Palin is a joke. It is beyond me why the mass media is covering her endlessly now, except that I know our news these days is merely sensational and not really news. And, I do not know why Oprah featured her, giving her legitimacy, after Palin's nearly riot-inciting words about Obama during the end of the McCain campaign. The type of hate speeches she gave should not be rewarded by a stint on Oprah. Although, I see there were immediate analyses of her lies on the show, as proved by her prior statements. It's all on tape.

Honestly, can't we be better than this? This woman is not going to run for any office. She is just out to make mega dollars. And it is to the detriment of our collective psyche that she is given any air time at all.

[ajax2]

10:04 PM on 11/18/2009

Palin is a leader of the GOP, a darling of the conservative right. She could take Mr. Brooks down in any Republican arena.

[snoopjohnny]

05:40 PM on 11/18/2009

Gwen is an experienced newsperson and champion of women's rights. She's not suggesting Palin's smarter than we think. Instead, her warning is more an astute observation of popular trends. 8 years of Bush left many feeling left out (especially women).....that's (at least partly) why Hillary garnered such momentum in the campaign. In the big world outside of HuffPo, many will cheer "Going Rogue" as mud in the eye of cranky old white guys like McCain or the jaded political system at large, including David Brooks. They're not interested in details like documented proof Obama was born in Hawaii or the reality that Palin spins 180 degrees on issues and facts when it suits her. They only read or listen to what fits their view; when Palin waves the long awaited flag of a gutsy woman politician, they see a hero. Like Ronald Reagan in cute little pumps.

[jgaines7]

09:05 AM on 11/18/2009

C'mon, Gwen!

[Aranxa]

12:42 AM on 11/18/2009

Yes, she is a joke. That is why she's getting so much attention. No one pays attention to stalwart people of sense and intelligence.

[DanGreen]

11:11 AM on 11/18/2009

Are you able to provide us with one example of Mrs. Palin's sense and intelligence?

[ksflower]

11:59 AM on 11/18/2009

That's Aranxa's point. They're paying attention to her because she's a joke. People DON'T pay attention to people with sense and intelligence. There are no examples that she possesses either.

[Guitanguran]

12:01 AM on 11/18/2009

You know...

None of this really matters.

Our current debt is over 12 trillion $s. It's expected to reach $14 trillion next year.

It's doubled since 2002.

The unfunded mandates we've promised to our parents, ourselves, our children and our grandchildren is over $105 trillion.

The total profit for the Fortune 500 was $785 billion in 2007. You would have to take all the profit from them for the next 15 years to pay off the current debt. To pay all of those unfunded mandates, we'd have to take all the profit from them for the next 134 years.

That doesn't include interest.

For this reason, our dollar is in danger of total collapse.

It doesn't matter what your political opinion is, this cannot continue.

If you don't tell your government to stop, there won't be any healthcare available to heal, no schools to educate, no armed forces to protect, and nothing left to argue about.

Tell them to stop until we can figure this out. Tell them now.

[luxou812]

03:43 AM on 11/18/2009

To the Chinese, we are too big to fail. The dollar will not collapse if they have anything to say about it ...and they do. Otherwise you may be right about a collapse.

[Guitanguran]

12:39 PM on 11/18/2009

not if they can find a replacement for our currency.

[jjkmack]

07:39 AM on 11/18/2009

The deficit would disappear overnight by reversing the bazillionaire tax breaks Bush gave.

The debt would disappear overnight by reversing the Reagan tax breaks to the same bazillaires.

[Guitanguran]

10:00 PM on 11/18/2009

As I mentioned, if you took every penny of profit from the Fortune 500 for the next 15 years, not counting accrued interest, you could finally catch up on our current debt.

There's not enough 'bazillionaires' on the planet, much less the United States, to cover what's been spent.

More brainpower, less typing.

[Pema]

06:46 PM on 11/17/2009

she can't hold the stiffy vote for long, she is fast going from cougar to cow.

[WritusMaximus]

03:38 PM on 11/17/2009

Careful there! Bush The Dunce Jr. got elected, TWICE, so brains are not a prerequisite!

[Ipanemagirl]

07:38 PM on 11/17/2009

now that is the real SCARY part, writusmaximus!!! They are able to elect totally incompetent people and then we all suffer the consequences.

[openhand]

03:04 PM on 11/17/2009

“I’m trying to remember if I’ve met her before. I’m sure I must have.” His eyes twinkled, then he asked, “What is she, the governor of Guam?”
Dubya

[WritusMaximus]

03:38 PM on 11/17/2009

Birds of a feather nest together.

[panamarine]

02:21 PM on 11/17/2009

Try as hard as they want, the Palin deffenders will not convince themselves that PALIN=Quitter, A joke, Over her head, talks in circles, not a deep thinker, gets her thinking scripted for her, keeps a grudge, smiles only when in public, can't stand main stream media, prefers to do her speeches behind closed doors to avoid criticsm, plays the us against "them" card, thinks that "Real Americans" are the tea bagger types, didn't really put pencil to paper in writting her "book", abandoned Alaskans for the lower 48=Where the money is, and really doesn't like McCain. But YET, 20% would like to have her as their President. 80% are just amused and entertained by her.

[Ipanemagirl]

02:08 PM on 11/17/2009

So should we worry about what the ignorant women who idolize her think? Should we even consider them? I say no.
It takes knowledge to be a president, and she has none. She does not even try to acquire some ....thinks all she has to be is anti abortion, and "love Jesus", and all will be well in fairyland! How naive!
I think people should stop feeling intimidated to discribe what they really think of her.
Otherwise we will have to content ourselves with having a googly scarey faced insecure guy like Hoffman
elected to "guide us and elighten us on our filthy ways...."
America needs to become more progressive and stop listening to those teabaggers who are scared of change. They want to stay in the medieval ages....maybe they would like to live in Afghanistan?, we should suggest it to them next time!

[MominAmerica]

03:18 PM on 11/17/2009

[WritusMaximus]

03:39 PM on 11/17/2009

Nah, Bush "The Dunce In Chief" Jr. got elected, TWICE!

[VictorMorris]

02:00 PM on 11/17/2009

Might be that Brooks is the joke. Palin has a lot of supporters, probably a lot more than does Brooks. Too much 'put down' on personal issues. I share more values with her than I do with Brooks, but I don't feel it necessary for my ego to put Brooks down just because I disagree with him.

[krinklyfig]

02:41 PM on 11/17/2009

What values would those be?

[openhand]

02:52 PM on 11/17/2009

I'd be suprised about your list of values with Palin, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. What is clear is that Palin is a cheerleader who appeals strongly to 25% of the population on the far right. Personally I don't beleive that is where she wants to be, but that is where she has the audience and so she is milking it. If you ask her on the side, I'm sure she is happier with the Alaskan Independence Party. Either way you cannot win without the center, so her fringe 25% cast her as irrelevant. Further, her absolute ignorance of the issues and policy means she is, without a Rovian charachter, running on empty.

[WritusMaximus]

03:45 PM on 11/17/2009

Palin aint no Jane Six Pack, she aint no commoner, but she sure pitches a lot of "small town" rhetoric, hence her planned visits to selected towns and cities to burnish her image among the blind. Some folks wanna believe the fiction. Easy to prove as was proven during the 2008 campaign, she flaunts it but depends on the blindness of many to appear as Sarah of the people.

[Alexia Parks]

12:43 PM on 11/17/2009

Palin as talk show host? Perhaps for a local Alaskan TV station where she could stir up heated controversies to help her fans wait out those long, cold winter nights.

[snoopjohnny]

06:25 PM on 11/17/2009

I agree. Many seem to think she's a talk show waiting to happen. And sure, she LIKES to talk. But talk show hosts talk to and ABOUT other people...like guests. They also frequently use complete sentences and they're curious.....Palin talks mostly about two things: 1. Sarah Palin and 2. People who do terrible things to Sarah Palin.