That guy is a moron.

Brooks is not really a moron. Rather, he is a remorseless liar. Every single word he writes is crafted–not necessarily very well–to reframe sick-fuck far-right-wing propaganda so that it is palatable to lazy “moderates” who aren’t really paying attention to what they’re reading. Whether he really believes anything he writes is completely incidental to his purposes in writing it.

And yes, Driftglass is a fucking genius, with some of his best stuff eviscerating Brooks.

Take Best Actor, this year Jeff Bridges. Imagine Jeff Bridges married to a skanky, trashy spouse like the one Bullock drew. Skanky trashy spouse cheats on Bridges and the marriage is rumored to be in trouble. I’ll make a tiny editorial change to the Brooks prose:

Then came the news reports claiming that BRIDGES’ WIFE is an adulterous jerk. So the philosophic question of the day is: Would you take that as a deal? Would you exchange a tremendous professional triumph for a severe personal blow?

Brooks goes on to say Jeff Bridges would be crazy to prefer his Oscar over marital happiness, the most important thing in life.

Could you imagine it? Not one word about how awful it was of Bridges’ skanky wife to betray her marital vows? No pity for the charming celebrity victim? And a hint that Jeff Bridges was wrong for trying to have it all?

This has been another round of Switch That Gender!

Brooks is very interested in anthropology, psychology and sociology, and likes to apply the language and tools of these fields to his analysis of politics and pop culture. He wishes to be taken very seriously by scholars in these fields, and would be, if only he hadn’t been born extremely lazy.

Brooks has been able to surmount these obstacles with surprising success. At an early age, he resolved that he would overcome his disability through a combination of dishonesty and smiling. This potent combination worked to a stunning degree, and Brooks has become one of the leaders in public influence, as well as serving as a role model to those all over the world who happened to have been born lazy and dishonest and have nice smiles.

Now if only Sandra Bullock had never made any movies, I’m positive that this Jesse James would never have screwed around behind her back with some random woman. And if he did, it wasn’t his fault — it was those evil womens who, yeah!, who tempted him!

/end sarcasm

If I had a bit more time, I’d write something that mirrors Brooks’ fatuous column, only it begins with Jesse James enjoying great media success with his show and his wife and all that, then blowing that to screw around. And how shouldn’t that be a lesson that monumental egos and celebrity (even D-list) fantasy are no substitute for holding on to reality and, you know, cleaving to your partner or being honest and upfront if that loving feeling is gone.

But my head hurts too much from banging it against the desk over this and other issues.

Fie on your Preznit.

Speaking of Holy Week: it’s positively Christ-like.

It’s more like: hey, I know faculty salaries are low but happiness is not about your job or your salary, now is it? He says he learned this from Studs Terkel. Well, not directly from Studs Terkel or anything he wrote, but from Working, A Musical.