Media Matters has transcribed a fascinating admission from David Brooks during his appearance on The Chris Matthews Show:

MATTHEWS: Do you think there’s a problem with this? I remember when the president wrote in his diary — his father, President Bush senior — “you know, I picked [former Vice President Dan] Quayle the first time around, and I wish I hadn’t. But I’m stuck with him, and I can’t admit it.” Is there a problem with this president simply admitting, “I put the wrong people at certain jobs, I didn’t get back fast enough to the White House, I wasn’t calling the orders fast enough?”

BROOKS: From Day One, they had decided that our public relations is not going to be honest. Privately, they admit mistakes all the time. Publicly — and I’ve had this debate with them since Day One; I always say admit a mistake, people will give you credit —

MATTHEWS: Who do you debate this with?

BROOKS: With people who work in the White House.

MATTHEWS: I thought you were talking about with the president in the back room.

[laughter]

BROOKS: Not with him, but they represent what he believes, which is, if you admit a mistake, you get no credit from your enemies, and then you open up another week’s story, because the admission of a little mistake leads to the admission of big mistakes and another week’s story. It’s totally tactical and totally insincere.

When was Brooks going to tell us? He’s addressed this issue in the past, but never so explicitly, as MM points out:

Brooks himself previously addressed the Bush administration’s refusal to admit error — both in his Times column and on PBS’ The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, on which he makes weekly appearances. In his November 2, 2004, column, Brooks wrote: “I’m exasperated at the Bush communications strategy. His advisers came in with one rule: no concessions to elite opinion. They decided not to be open on how they make decisions. They would never admit mistakes.” In his September 9, 2003, debut as a Times columnist, he noted: “The Bush administration has the most infuriating way of changing its mind. The leading Bushies almost never admit serious mistakes. They never acknowledge that they are listening to their critics. They never even admit they are shifting course. They don these facial expressions suggesting calm omniscience while down below their legs are doing the fox trot in six different directions.” On the November 14, 2003, broadcast of the NewsHour, Brooks said of the Bush administration: “Well, the good news about them is that they won’t admit mistakes, but they are ruthlessly pragmatic when forced to be.” In none of these instances, however, did Brooks indicate — as he did on September 11 — that deception was premeditated, or that he had “since Day One” discussed with White House officials their strategy to engage in deception rather than admit mistakes.