Q&A part 4

Q: Could you comment on the negativity apparent in journalism?
A: Journalists want to prove that they're smarter than the people/things they're covering. People also tend to believe the negative/cynical coverage must be smarter than the positive converage. He finds this to be an unfortunate fact. He's slightly amazed at the negativity of the US in general (80% of the country thinks we're going in the wrong direction).

sidenote to the conversation: Mr. Brooks calls himself a "Mr. Pollyanna", about the state of our society especially.

Q: Why does the far right hate Hillary Clinton with such a deathly passion?
A: He think it's recently diminished. The deeper issue goes back to the 60s, the idea that she's a feminist liberal (which Brooks doesnt think is true), and she sees politics as war. After 2000 she made an attempt to reach out to republicans. He finds that republicans respect Clinton, but fear Obama.