hook, line, and sinker

A few years after my drink with Brooks — and after the dubious ascent of Bush to the White House in 2000, and the Iraq War had caught and carried Brooks hook, line and sinker in his New York Times columns — I lacerated him in my own columns, perhaps especially this one.

"And they fell for it hook, line and sinker."

That was the last thing I wanted to be, having been a fad person my entire life and falling hook, line and sinker for so many diets, I know the sort of desperation that lurks within the hearts of a lot of fat people.

The New York Times fell hook, line and sinker for former Attorney General William Barr’s contorted reading of the Mueller Report, which he claimed exonerated Trump.

She still likes to say she fell in love with the games like we all did: hook, line and sinker.