February 21, 2009 4:41PM 

# David Brooks — An Update 

By [Jerry Taylor](https://www.cato.org/people/jerry-taylor) 

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After carefully transcribing and then posting the nearly [indecipherable argument](https://www.cato.org/2009/02/20/david-brooks-thumbs-up-for-the-housing-bailout/) forwarded yesterday on NPR’s *All Things Considered* by David Brooks, I thought, well, even the smartest people in the world can make a verbal hash of things when put on the spot with a live radio or television interview. I had a nagging feeling that there must have been a well-thought-ought perspective knocking around in those words somewhere. Was I being unfair to the man?

And this morning — what do you know! — I open up Friday’s *New York Times* (I didn’t get to it yesterday) and see an [op-ed length treatment](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/opinion/20brooks.html) of the very argument Brooks tried to make on NPR. Alas, even when Brooks had a couple of days to think about each and every word, he still managed to be only a smidge less opaque than on NPR.

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