Mark Shields, I love ya but don't do Shields and Brooks anymore

[realFedUp]

Mark, you're a much better writer than
a speaker when you have to come up with
facts and arguments in the unrealistically
short time you and David Brooks have
to comment on the previous week on Lehrer's
show on pbs.

You can see Jim Lehrer smirking at you
while you painfully try to get your words
out on what a disaster Bush Inc.
has been every single week.

David Brooks constantly lies, but at least
he lies smoothly.

You are better on the Cap Gang where you
seem to have a better time or in written
columns.

[Stephanie]

1. Sadly I have to agree with you

But who would replace him?

The National Review guy who replaced Brooks last night was FAR SUPERIOR to David Teeny Little Girly Hands Brooks, BTW.

The Newshour needs new pundits!

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. I agree. David Brooks is one of the many reasons I stopped watching PBS

Shields comes across as rumpled and anxious, a print journalist uncomfortable in a suit under the bright lights. Brooks is, as you say, smooth, and also younger-looking, slick and shaven. He smiles his oily smile and nods at his own cleverness. It is a very uneven matchup. Brooks can tell his lies and distort whatever he wants and is almost never called on it. He is so cocky and smug, it can come across as being sure he is right. That can be convincing for people who have a shaky grasp of the facts. He's pure slime who smiles his smarmy, smirky smile as he tells lie after lie after lie to boost the blivet** agenda.

Disgusting. I can't bear to watch it. And I blame PBS for setting it up as a "balanced" team. It isn't, and I doubt anyone in PBS management or elsewhere believes it is.