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On Friday's PBS NewsHour, the show's regular "Shields and Brooks" segment unintentionally summed up the major problem conservatives have with the show -- that there is no actual conservative panel member giving a contrasting point of view against liberal columnist Mark Shields as he and New York Times columnist David Brooks often show little disagreement when discussing the week's political news.
As the two men were both critical of Republicans over both ObamaCare repeal and the White House budget, not only did Shields at one point declare that "I can't argue with any point that David (Brooks) made," but a bit later, host Judy Woodruff observed that "both of you are saying the same thing." Shields then joked: "What? I hope not. I mean, there's no point in watching."
After Shields condemned the Paul Ryan plan for ObamaCare repeal as "truly unforgiveable" and "morally indefensible," Brooks seemed to argue in favor of universal health care using a market-based system like Switzerland, and asserted that Trump voters "get hammered" by the proposed changes.
When Shields got to speak again, he began: "I can't argue with any point that David made." The liberal columnist then turned to the Trump budget and complained:
And he has turned his back not simply on the health care -- this bill does -- but on the budget. It takes from the -- it takes from the have-nots -- it takes from the have-nots and the have-lesses and gives to the have-mores. I mean, it is absolutely a Robin Hood in reverse budget. And I just don't understand it. It really -- to use David's word -- hammers the very people who voted for him, especially in rural areas in America.