April 24, 2013
— Ace I know no one reads Maureen Dowd anymore -- including, apparently, her own editors -- and yet there was a time, from approximately March 1996 to December 1998, in which she was actually considered a leading light of liberal opinion.
Perhaps there's no point in brutalizing her any further; just as everyone knows the Tsarnaev's motivation without having to say so, everyone knows that Maureen Dowd is a failure and a bore.
Still, if you were annoyed by this gum-cracking, spitball-shooting aged juvenile becoming prominent for a couple of years, you might enjoy her grisly remains being pulled behind the chariot one last time, Hector-style.
The whole column is worth reading (and it's not very long), but for those who want a pull-quote:
Column writing is dangerous work and long success in the game can lead to the stifling of that Editor Within who keeps you from looking too stupid in print. A rich self esteem, fortifed by decades of op-ed tenure and dinner party table talk dominance, has apparently given Ms. Dowd the confidence to believe that she is a maestro of political infighting, a Clausewitz of strategic insight and a Machiavelli of political cunning rolled up into one stylish and elegant piece of work. From the heights of insight on which she dwells, it is easy to see what that poor schmuck Barry Obama canÂ’t: those 60 votes on gun control were his for the taking, if he was only as shrewd a politician as Maureen Dowd.The President needs to get his hands dirty, our genteel and accomplished op-ed writer advises the ex-community organizer and Chicago pol. He needs to get real, get down in the dirt, muck around with the senators and exercise raw power. DonÂ’t make empty gestures and donÂ’t give up, she advises him: fight! fight! fight!
Perhaps because she fears that the President is too stupid to understand what she means, or simply out of her benevolent desire to show her readers just what brilliant political insight looks like, she vouchsafes us some examples. HereÂ’s how she sees the President twisting the arm of North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp:
Sometimes you must leave the high road and fetch your brass knuckles. Obama should have called Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota over to the Oval Office and put on the squeeze: “Heidi, you’re brand new and you’re going to have a long career. You work with us, we’ll work with you. Public opinion is moving fast on this issue. The reason you get a six-year term is so you can have the guts to make tough votes. This is a totally defensible bill back home. It’s about background checks, nothing to do with access to guns. Heidi, you’re a mother. Think of those little kids dying in schoolrooms.”If only Lyndon Johnson had understood the art of political pressure as well as Maureen Dowd. “You work with us, we’ll work with you.” It’s… brilliant! Reminding her about her six year term… if that doesn’t swing her around, nothing will. “You’re a mother…” This is a set of brass knuckles no one could resist. The NRA must be thanking its lucky stars that a bumbling amateur like Barack Obama is in the White House instead of the arch-politician Maureen Dowd; Heidi Heitkamp would have been putty in her elegantly manicured hands.
This is a politician getting down to what the New York Times editorial page seems to think is a particularly fetching set of brass knuckles: reciting liberal talking points one after another in rapid fire sequence. ThatÂ’s hardball, thatÂ’s brass tacks at least in the mind of Maureen Dowd, a woman who on the evidence of this column could and would teach her own grandmother to suck eggs.
...
The Times apparently thinks it has readers who find columns like this either useful or diverting, so we say nothing about whether this is the caliber of political thought that ought to appear at the Newspaper of Record. But the paper may want to recalibrate its intellectual void detectors just a bit; it is hard to read anything this vapid without questioning the judgment of everyone involved.
I've not quoted the part where Read explains what real hardball would look like (hint: it's dirty political deals, such as were used to pass ObamaCare), which Dowd doesn't want to discuss because she wants to say "fight dirty" while actually maintaining her status as a bien pensant.
Posted by: Ace at
08:36 AM
| Comments (151)
Post contains 761 words, total size 5 kb.
Posted by: soothsayer at April 24, 2013 08:38 AM (Vhc4u)
Posted by: toby928 at April 24, 2013 08:40 AM (evdj2)
Posted by: jwb7605 ([i][u]Let it Burn[/u][/i])[/s][/b] at April 24, 2013 08:41 AM (Qxe/p)
Posted by: soothsayer
Only if your friends can't find out?
Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (Yr6sH)
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (kXoT0)
Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (1Jaio)
we are supose to be "cutting edge and awsome "
Posted by: alec at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (usWYv)
Posted by: joncelli at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (RD7QR)
Posted by: Waterhouse at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (nbX4o)
The NYT is not the newspaper of record, unless you mean the newspaper of record for the DNC.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 24, 2013 08:42 AM (gJyfA)
Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 24, 2013 08:43 AM (XYSwB)
Posted by: MaxMBJ at April 24, 2013 08:43 AM (deaac)
Posted by: AmishDude at April 24, 2013 08:43 AM (T0NGe)
Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at April 24, 2013 08:44 AM (+z4pE)
Posted by: not in Paraguay at April 24, 2013 08:44 AM (Dll6b)
LBJ knew how to apply political pressure, and I'm pretty sure there are gravestones to prove it.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 24, 2013 08:45 AM (gJyfA)
***
Wow. Does MoDo even understand that Senators don't work for Obama, so he can't call them over to the White House for a dressing down? She is aggressively bad, isn't she?
Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2013 08:45 AM (KqmXZ)
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 24, 2013 08:46 AM (gJyfA)
Posted by: ALH at April 24, 2013 08:46 AM (/hegn)
Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 24, 2013 08:46 AM (XYSwB)
Those suggestions a) probably occurred to even an idiot b) still occurred to idiots and c) don't really make much sense, but it's Obama's style so we have to defend it at all cost.
God it.
I can write for the NYT now? Nah they'd fire me for "asking why too much"
(I'm still bitter!)
Posted by: tsrblke (work)[/i][/b][/u][/s] at April 24, 2013 08:47 AM (Vt/hU)
Posted by: E.PWJ at April 24, 2013 08:47 AM (Z+7WE)
Second thing that came to mind.
Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 24, 2013 12:46 PM (XYSwB)
Third thing that came to mind.
Posted by: EC at April 24, 2013 08:47 AM (GQ8sn)
Posted by: AmishDude at April 24, 2013 08:47 AM (T0NGe)
life imitates radio art...
Posted by: not in Paraguay at April 24, 2013 12:42 PM
---------
Amusing: "Might have been a Harvard professor..., or a Democratic Congressman.."
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 08:48 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Amalgamated union of treestumps and layabouts, Local 6969 at April 24, 2013 08:48 AM (T0NGe)
Ugh, saw her on Meet The Press last Sunday and her delivery is soooo affected, like the weight of her "wise" words causes her to pause and lower her head after each phrase. Because she's so SERIOUS and HEARTFELT. Or something.
Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2013 08:49 AM (KqmXZ)
Posted by: oblig. at April 24, 2013 08:50 AM (cePv8)
Posted by: tasker at April 24, 2013 08:50 AM (r2PLg)
Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2013 12:49 PM (KqmXZ)
That particular affectation was too allow her straight artfully streaked blond hair to swing forward and cover her face and then swing back gently when she looked up. It was probably very effective when she was twenty and it made the lads think of her blond head bent over their lap. Now, it's just stagy and sad.
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at April 24, 2013 08:52 AM (kXoT0)
Posted by: rickb223 at April 24, 2013 08:52 AM (GFM2b)
Posted by: oblig. at April 24, 2013 12:50 PM
--------
True that
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 08:52 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Waldo Truth at April 24, 2013 08:52 AM (y2XjR)
Posted by: rickb223 at April 24, 2013 08:53 AM (GFM2b)
Six years ago it was The Law that two liberals couldn't spend more than five minutes together without one of them bringing up the most recent Maureen Dowd column.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 24, 2013 08:53 AM (SY2Kh)
Posted by: tasker at April 24, 2013 08:53 AM (r2PLg)
She still is, but the liberal bulb has dimmed.
Posted by: Marcus at April 24, 2013 08:54 AM (GGCsk)
Posted by: pat at April 24, 2013 08:54 AM (jlQR7)
Posted by: Jane D'oh at April 24, 2013 08:55 AM (lVPtV)
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at April 24, 2013 08:55 AM (kXoT0)
As opposed to now, where one of them brings up something Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert said.
Doesn't that mean liberalism is sexist since their go-to icon was nominally female and now is nominally male?
Posted by: Ian S. at April 24, 2013 08:56 AM (B/VB5)
I'm curious. How are you at....knife fighting?
Posted by: EC at April 24, 2013 08:57 AM (GQ8sn)
think of her blond head bent over their lap. Now, it's just stagy and
sad.
I'm curious. How are you at....knife fighting?
Posted by: EC at April 24, 2013 12:57 PM (GQ8sn)
I'm pretty good with a bowstaff
Posted by: The Jackhole at April 24, 2013 08:58 AM (nTgAI)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 08:58 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: The Town Drunk at April 24, 2013 08:58 AM (YGHl3)
Posted by: Phinn at April 24, 2013 08:58 AM (1w2r1)
Clearly, Ms Down understands the North Dakotan voter better than Senator Heitkamp
their disdain for being told what to do
their mistrust of easterners
their mistrust of federal anything
their love of guns, hunting, fishing and snowmobiling
their dislike of emotional argument
yes, Ms Dowd knows better than Senator Heitkamp the mind of the NoDak voter
dumbass
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 08:59 AM (nH8jP)
Posted by: BuddyPC at April 24, 2013 08:59 AM (jfUIE)
Posted by: rickb223 at April 24, 2013 09:00 AM (GFM2b)
...on her buttocks.
Posted by: EC at April 24, 2013 09:00 AM (GQ8sn)
Ugh, saw her on Meet The Press last Sunday and her delivery is soooo affected, like the weight of her "wise" words causes her to pause and lower her head after each phrase. Because she's so SERIOUS and HEARTFELT. Or something.
Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2013 12:49 PM (KqmXZ)
Drunk Before Noonan
Posted by: Captain Hate at April 24, 2013 09:00 AM (C3XXv)
Posted by: The Jackhole at April 24, 2013 12:58 PM
------------------
I'm inclined towards cudgels.
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 09:00 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: pat at April 24, 2013 09:01 AM (jlQR7)
Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 24, 2013 09:01 AM (XYSwB)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 09:01 AM (aDwsi)
So MoDo thinks she needs to give tips on dirty political infighting to a Communist-backed Chicago agitator? Whoa.
That'll give Alice Palmer and Jack Ryan a bitter laugh.
Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2013 09:01 AM (IDSI7)
Posted by: MaxMBJ at April 24, 2013 12:43 PM (deaac)
She has been trying to detach herself from his idiocy for a while.
Posted by: The Jackhole at April 24, 2013 09:01 AM (nTgAI)
Posted by: @PurpAv at April 24, 2013 09:02 AM (/gHaE)
Posted by: irright at April 24, 2013 09:02 AM (dt38j)
"I don't get it. Romney beat Obama 58% to 38%. He has nothing to sell Heidi. What will he do? Threaten the energy industry? "
What I don't get is why ND, while having a big stake in energy production and accordingly going big for rMoney, would be so effing stupid as to elect a Dem like Heitkamp. I mean, yeah, for a Dem she's not too bad on guns and some other things. But just who the fuck did the ND voters think was going to get control of the Senate by adding another D to that side of the aisle? She's still going to support Harry Reid and all his evil minions when the rubber hits the road.
Stupidity.
Posted by: Jaws at April 24, 2013 09:02 AM (4I3Uo)
the only leverage the JEF would have over NoDak is to either stop fracking by declaring the whole state a national park (NPR approves of this solution)
or make the whole state an Indian Reservation
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 09:02 AM (nH8jP)
“Jed Bartlett doesn’t win policy debates because of his amazing tactical skills, his overpowering arguments, or the sheer persuasiveness of his granite-faced brand of urbane folksomeness. He wins them because Aaron Sorkin is a liberal and he wants Republicans to lose on the major issues. Unfortunately for liberals, Tom Coburn and John Boehner don’t have their lines faxed over from Hollywood every morning.”
Posted by: RoyalOil at April 24, 2013 09:02 AM (VjL9S)
Posted by: irright at April 24, 2013 01:02 PM (dt38j)
.000000000000000000000 at the very least.
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at April 24, 2013 09:03 AM (kXoT0)
Posted by: maddogg at April 24, 2013 09:03 AM (OlN4e)
She's the perfect example of a Lefty Boomer Feminist trapped in adolescence. She's lived her life focused on herself - no husband, no kids, no higher being to distract her from being the best little opinion column-generator she can be.Sad.
Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2013 09:03 AM (KqmXZ)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 09:03 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: tasker at April 24, 2013 09:03 AM (r2PLg)
What I don't get is why ND, while having a big stake in energy production and accordingly going big for rMoney, would be so effing stupid as to elect a Dem like Heitkamp. I mean, yeah, for a Dem she's not too bad on guns and some other things. But just who the fuck did the ND voters thinkwas going to get controlof the Senate by adding another D to that side of the aisle? She's still going to support Harry Reid and all his evil minions when the rubber hits the road.
Stupidity.
Posted by: Jaws at April 24, 2013 01:02 PM (4I3Uo
Farm subsidies and welfare
Posted by: The Jackhole at April 24, 2013 09:04 AM (nTgAI)
I'm sorry I never took the time to get to "know" her. I could have helped her.
*flexes hands*
Posted by: Sean Connery at April 24, 2013 09:04 AM (GQ8sn)
Posted by: maddogg at April 24, 2013 09:04 AM (OlN4e)
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at April 24, 2013 09:04 AM (gJyfA)
81
the only leverage the JEF would have over NoDak is to either stop fracking by declaring the whole state a national park (NPR approves of this solution)
--------------------------------------
That worked for Clinton
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 09:05 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: shredded chi
Cut-rate blog-fodder, I guess.
Though, she doesn't rate high enough for intelligible headlines.
Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at April 24, 2013 09:06 AM (Yr6sH)
Posted by: ace at April 24, 2013 09:06 AM (LCRYB)
Posted by: tasker at April 24, 2013 09:06 AM (r2PLg)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 24, 2013 09:07 AM (ZK4Nr)
"Farm subsidies and welfare "
Did the GOP nominee underpromise Free Shit to NoDak's rugged-and-oh-so-independent-minded farmers?
Pussys.
Posted by: Jaws at April 24, 2013 09:07 AM (4I3Uo)
Posted by: The Jackhole at April 24, 2013 01:04 PM (nTgAI)
**********
And Indian Reservations?
Posted by: tasker at April 24, 2013 01:06 PM (r2PLg)
That too
Posted by: The Jackhole at April 24, 2013 09:07 AM (nTgAI)
(CNN was on in the break room, curdled my lunch.)
Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at April 24, 2013 09:07 AM (/kI1Q)
Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Please? at April 24, 2013 09:07 AM (VtjlW)
she ran the coal gasification plant in NoDak before the election, is pro pipeline and pro fracking
She is a dem, for sure, but lets call her a dem-lite
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 09:08 AM (nH8jP)
Posted by: maddogg at April 24, 2013 09:09 AM (OlN4e)
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 01:08 PM (nH8jP)
---
Not a socialist, just an enabler of socialism?
Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at April 24, 2013 09:09 AM (SO2Q8)
Posted by: Beagle at April 24, 2013 09:09 AM (sOtz/)
kids,
Sweet Jesus fucking Christ, can we stop living down to the American Taliban stereotype already.
Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at April 24, 2013 09:09 AM (/kI1Q)
Posted by: shredded chi at April 24, 2013 09:09 AM (NRQlH)
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 09:09 AM (nH8jP)
Posted by: Fourth Virginia at April 24, 2013 09:10 AM (wbmaj)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 24, 2013 09:12 AM (ZK4Nr)
HT Gateway Pundit:
So our First Lady has the time to visit the "saudi national" in the hospital, but skips over the guy who had both his legs blown off that actually identified the scum.
And this same "saudi national" has visited the white house several times since 2009.
I would not give up on this story yet. Kudos to Glenn Beck for at least looking the fuck into it.
I have no idea what's going on, but my limited powers of deduction find it interesting that there are only 21MM saudis alive today, roughly, and one just "happens" to be at the site of the bombing and previously was on a watch list and is from an islamist tribe.
Hmmm. Perhaps some more questions should be asked, eh?
Posted by: Prescient11 at April 24, 2013 09:12 AM (tVTLU)
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 09:13 AM (nH8jP)
Posted by: and irresolute at April 24, 2013 09:13 AM (DBH1h)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 09:14 AM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 24, 2013 09:15 AM (ZK4Nr)
Posted by: DavidR at April 24, 2013 09:15 AM (/B8uv)
Posted by: Margarita DeVille at April 24, 2013 09:15 AM (C8mVl)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 01:14 PM (aDwsi)
You can proudly display the alextopia flag without fear of reprisals or a tasteful "Go Ravage" bumper sticker would be fine.
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes C'est Magnifique at April 24, 2013 09:15 AM (kXoT0)
Posted by: Leah Christie at April 24, 2013 09:16 AM (DSbzT)
117 HT Gateway Pundit:
So our First Lady has the time to visit the "saudi national" in the hospital,
--------------
Has that been confirmed?..., I'm a little dubious..., though for the life of me I can't think why.
Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 24, 2013 09:16 AM (aDwsi)
Mike Hammer - the pictures are all over the guy's facebook.
This "saudi national" was labeled as a Sec. 212(a)(3)(B)(i)(II).
According to Beck's sources, this is a TERRORIST designation and is not given lightly. You literally have to make a case before a fucking panel to get this.
His file was also accessed and someone attempted to erase it, but copies had already been made.
WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON???
Beck is taking a big gamble here as The Blaze is still a baby, so he must be pretty fucking sure of his sources. Otherwise he risks being branded as another infowars site.
Posted by: Prescient11 at April 24, 2013 09:20 AM (tVTLU)
Posted by: Janet Stalinpalitano at April 24, 2013 09:20 AM (DrWcr)
Posted by: bicentennialguy at April 24, 2013 09:20 AM (vg8iE)
Posted by: bicentennialguy at April 24, 2013 01:20 PM (vg8iE)
Sounds like a friend of mine that needs to have his opinions validated by the NYT. He's not a dumbass as much as he's insecure.
Posted by: Captain Hate at April 24, 2013 09:22 AM (C3XXv)
120Screw the coffee mugs. I want an AOS bumper sticker. On the other hand, that would make us easy targets..., probably would be classified by DHS as a 'extremist' flag.
---
How about 'Co-exist with my AR-15'?
Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at April 24, 2013 09:22 AM (SO2Q8)
I was wondering that myself, but then I remembered that it's Dowd and TFG we're talking about.
The former probably hadn't thought it through that far, but the latter likely believes his influence transcends time and title.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 24, 2013 09:23 AM (SY2Kh)
I have to ask: Back in the olden days, was it normal for little old ladies to suck eggs? Were there perhaps egg-sucking clubs that met every Thursday at the parsonage? And was it a special skill you passed down from generation to generation?
Plus there was that fine ol' Southern phrase, "lookin' like a egg-suck dog." Which brings us back to Maureen again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius (just back from We Made It) at April 24, 2013 09:24 AM (BDU/a)
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian fka irishacres at April 24, 2013 09:25 AM (HVff2)
Posted by: somebody else, not me at April 24, 2013 09:25 AM (29vnO)
I went to the Blaze and read the article
Saudi was put on the watch list AFTER the bombing when he was a person of interest
He was taken off the list, and the record altered AFTER they determined he was not a threat
so, they put him on the list when they wanted to talk to him, and took him off the list when it was clear he had nothing to do with the Boston bombing
so far, to me, it just looks like he said he was going to go to some little college in OH and went to Boston instead.
So far, to me, Beck has only proved that student visas are a bit of a joke
but I do not see a grander conspiracy afoot, yet
Posted by: thunderb at April 24, 2013 09:25 AM (nH8jP)
Too late.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at April 24, 2013 09:26 AM (SY2Kh)
Posted by: Beagle at April 24, 2013 09:28 AM (sOtz/)
"She is a dem, for sure, but lets call her a dem-lite"
Still results in the same megalomaniacal leftist asshats as Senate Majority Leader and Committee heads. I guess that's not particularly obvious to LIVs - even "conservative ones.
Posted by: Jaws at April 24, 2013 09:31 AM (4I3Uo)
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 24, 2013 09:31 AM (zF6Iw)
Biithering
Posted by: SOMEASSHOLESTOLEMYPEN at April 24, 2013 09:41 AM (3likN)
Posted by: JPS at April 24, 2013 10:10 AM (peZah)
Posted by: Croaker at April 24, 2013 10:15 AM (leNBy)
Consider the aging party girl no one asks out any more, sitting on the barstool at the corner of the bar, smoking cigarettes and nursing her drinks, trying and failing to chat with any male who sits within 20 feet of her. The raspy voice, the smeared lipstick, the sagging cheeks and breasts, the wrinkling of her leathery skin, turned coarse from too many walks of shame on cold winter mornings, the slurred pleadings that yes, she does write for the NYT, even if that picture hasn't looked like her in nearly 20 years.
It's a sad portrait of humanity, the Fun Girl after the thrill is gone, the lights turned down, the party over.
It couldn't happen to a nicer gal, either. Heh.
Posted by: Adjoran at April 24, 2013 10:17 AM (9uOra)
Posted by: T. at April 24, 2013 10:26 AM (OLfMh)
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars at April 24, 2013 04:43 PM (ac/8R)
Posted by: CBrown at April 24, 2013 05:51 PM (oef2I)
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Posted by: soothsayer at April 24, 2013 08:37 AM (LL42r)