[throwaway82388]

I enjoy Rao’s writing, but he has a tendency to overindulge the occasional (and not particularly funny) mean-spirited joke, as well as over-stuffing his essays with half-formed ideas and references to his other work. His frequent insights make it worth it. He doesn’t seem afraid to occasionally get it spectacularly wrong. I admire someone willing to work out their ideas in such a public way.

As a milquetoast center-right op ed columnist for the Times, Brooks is a favorite target of a certain ideological bent (journos and bloggers who use twitter). And some of the criticism is deserved, but it often has the flavor of off-putting, personal vitriol. And Brooks has had a few decent pieces. His book Bohos in Paradise, although fairly dated, is recommended, and includes a few sharp and entertaining observations.

[ElevenLathe]

The main thing people pin on Brooks is selling the Iraq war to the American public, which IMO is fair, though almost any mainstream journalist working at the time is nearly as culpable IMO. Also, we tend to forget that lazy, troopsucking journalists just did the propaganda -- they didn't actually plan and order the invasion and "counterinsurgency." That blame lives with the White House, and Congress, and the Pentagon, as always.