Maureen Dowd needs to look in the mirror

[CatWoman]

I "borrowed" the following excerpt from a thread in Editorials.

It's an excerpt of Dowd's latest column:

Looking for a Democratic Tough Guy, or Girl

....Two of them, who could have stopped W. and Dick Cheney before they undid 230 years of American democracy, didn't, because they allowed themselves to be painted as girlie men. The other, a manly girl, has been so cautious and opportunistic about weighing in on everything from Schiavo to Alito and Iraq that when she finally sang out on Monday and railed against W., she sounded more soprano than basso profundo.

It was easy for the Republicans to play their usual gender games and dismiss the three Democrats as whiny, shrill and ineffectual.

After Mr. Gore and Senator Clinton went on the attack, Scott McClellan rebutted: ''I think we know one tends to like or enjoy grabbing headlines. The other one -- sounds like that the political season may be starting early.'' He rubbed Mr. Gore's nose in the fact that he is not the president fighting the terrorists, noting: ''If he wants to be the voice for Democrats on this debate over national security, we welcome it.''

To lead, and not just conduct campaigns that parrot the liberal elite's editorial pages, you have to shape your own identity and political destiny. And ever since the 2000 race, the Democrats have let Republicans caricature them as effeminate. The Democrats have let the G.O.P. give them their shape, and it's an hourglass.

Ms. Dowd, with all due respect: I remember reading your column week after week and observed you gleefully promoting these talking points for the GOP.

Remember the "alpha male"? The issue with the color of Gore's clothes?

Take your phony concern and shove it.

[Sequoia]

1. I tried to read her "Are Men Necessary"

and couldn't even get through the first chapter. So I skipped ahead and it all seemed the same, male bashing, women must still be chased and not hunt after men. Just awful. Makes me glad I'm not in the playing field.

[Beelzebud]

2. Dowd is full of herself, and needs to look in the mirror LESS.

:D

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Good call. She was helping the Repubs kick the Dems when the Dems

were down. Tough broad, that Maureen Dowd. Can't wait until she writes a column talking about her contribution to the trivia media reporting of the 90s.

[cally]

4. So, she's back on her trashing Gore theme again

Who is she to determine who is manly or womanly? She is a pathetic caricature of a woman. It's outrageous to call Hillary Clinton a manly girl and refer to Vice President Gore as Mr. Gore.

[madaboutharry]

5. In the months leading up to

the 2000 election, Dowd was a first class jerk. She echoed every sophomoric piece of bull coming out of the RNC. She ridiculed Gore and made a big joke out of the election. I remember her column right after the SC decision in which she laughed about all the Texans and their cowboy boots coming to Washington. Her conduct along with her cohorts in the media enabled Bush and had a hand in bringing this mess upon us.

[karynnj]

31. She was atrocious to Gore and to Kerry

She was the one who put in her column a sentence that reasonably parsed had Kerry saying "who among us doesn't like NASCAR?" which was then taken as real by her own paper and others.

She slandered Gore - describing him in such a way that he seemed unsure of who he was (when he had no such problems) talking about things like brown suits.

With Kerry, she is again questioning his masculinity (along with Gore's). To me it's beyond strange that she identifies manliness with being inarticulate, chopping brush (and getting hurt), riding a bike (and getting hurt), eating pretzels (and getting hurt). As a supposedly liberal columnist, she could have challanged this bizarre label. Although it had nothing to do with any reason to support him, Kerry was probably the Democrat who in reality fits the alpha male stereotype. He played 4 sports in college (rather than being a cheerleader), he learned to fly airplanes, he put his life at risk in Vietnam to save someone. That no one in the liberal press tackled this stupid image is crazy.

Something tells me that either Gore or Kerry, if they wanted to waste their precious time, could certainly chop brush without injuring themselves.

[Eurobabe]

6. I just cancelled my TimesSelect subscription.

not gonna do it.

[rodeodance]

7. Many times I do not like to see it in print--but she says what many DU'ers

say. Be honest, she does.

[Marie26]

11. She's usually right

Even though we don't like to hear it. The Republicans did successfully paint Gore & Kerry as intellectual "girlie-men" vs. the macho cowboy/pilot George Bush.

[Beelzebud]

12. And they pulled it off with help from people like Dowd....

[CatWoman]

14. Dowd, Tweety, Dana Milbank, etc.

I remember Tweety's roundtable discussion in which they all were laughing about how great a job they did trashing Gore.

[Marie26]

20. Isn't she a Democrat?

I thought. If she repeated the "girlie-man" meme w/o pointing out that it WAS constructed by the Republicans, then that probably did help.

[Vinnie From Indy]

18. You seem to be missing the point

Ms Dowd actively and repeatedly gave the GOP slime machine voice in her column in the once great paper the NYT. For me, Ms Dowd can only cleanse herself of this taint by writing a mea culpa column concerning her complicity in the bashing of Gore in the lead up to the 2000 election. There is a better chance that monkeys will fly out my butt than Ms Dowd being able to repress her ego long enough to admit her role.

[Marie26]

24. Probably

I've only read her column since maybe 2002, and she has repeatedly criticized & made fun of Bush in her columns. She even wrote a book about his idiocy (BushWorld). She's been a pretty strong voice against this Administration & Cheney in particular. But I have no idea what she was writing back in 2000 - if she bashed Gore, I'm not surprised. But at least she's changed around to bashing Bush! Dowd is one of those people you want on your side mostly cause you'd never want her as an enemy.

[Vinnie From Indy]

25. I agree

I have liked her whenever she swerves into the truth and when she speaks truth to power.

[karynnj]

32. with her help!

Maybe she could have written a column discussing image and reality. It would have worked in either case, but rather than complaining about Gore's earth tones or making up a Kerry quote, she could have helped.

Kerry is more recent, but here goes.

Bush = cowboy, pilot
Reality - he has no horses or other large lifestock on his farm. He doesn't ride horses, Kerry can and does ride and is apparently good at it.
-he lost his flying rights in the 70s and apparently has flown since then, Kerry is a certified pilot in good standing. When he was younger, he qualified to fly gliders.

Kerry played 4 sports in college, and was reasonably good in them. He is still athletic enough to go on 150+ mile charity bike races, play charity ice hockey games and to windsurf
Bush was a cheerleader in high school

Kerry is a highly decorated war hero
Bush had dental work in Alabama

The liberal media should have hit back on this - maybe it's because most of the liberal columnists were themselves girlie men and were vaguely intimidated by the fact that Kerry wasn't. That Kerry and Gore also were well read, well spoken and intelligent, doesn't negate the other things.

[Marie26]

35. The "girlie men" phenomenon

Yes, it would've been nice if she'd pointed out exactly how the Republican-created "image" conflicts w/reality, but it probably wouldn't have made a difference. People who follow politics would presumably know that, for example, Bush is not a real rancher. These images work on the average American who doesn't follow politics much, or read Dowd's column, but just can't stand that wishy-washy Kerry, and would like to have a beer w/that "regular guy" Bush. Rove sucessfully created this image of Bush as the All-American macho cowboy war hero pilot "Big Man on Campus" beer-drinking plain-spoken patriotic family man who loves mom and apple pie. It's like every American stereotype rolled into one. It's everything Americans love. W/this imagery, hating Bush was indeed like hating America. You know? And they successfully defined Kerry as the snobby rich know-it-all pansy that all Americans hate. It doesn't really matter that the reality was almost the opposite. How can you fight that? Until Democrats learn to create the same imagery that Rove does, we're going to keep losing elections, IMO.

[Deb]

8. Amen!

"Take your phoney concern and shove it." :applause:

[Apollo11]

17. e-mail Dowd, let her know how you feel.

Then e-mail the Times and tell them why you won't pay to read her trash.

Gore's speech = not fit to print?

Dowd dissing Gore = something we will pay to read?

Any enemy of Al Gore is a friend of Bush. That's how I see it.

Here are some e-mail addresses I found on the Times website
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]


In Gore We Trust
www.algore.org
:)

[mattclearing]

9. Word. n/t

[Eric J in MN]

10. That was my reaction. Maureen Dowd trashed Gore in 2000

with bogus stories, and now she knocks him for how he "allowed" himself to be portrayed, as if he controls her column.

[Dr.Phool]

13. Is Dowd Necessary?

I think not.

Bubble-headed Bimbo never missed an opportunity to bash Clinton or Gore. I remember reading her columns in the '90s. Enough to make you wanna puke.

[Totally Committed]

15. This is the same woman who went after Wes Clark

during the primaries for his "cynical" (I think that was the word, but not sure) wearing of a sweater instead of a suitcoat while campaigning in New Hampshire in the middle of winter. I like her most of the time, but when it comes to men, she can be a real a**hole. They're so tough, they are "cynical" when they wear a sweater in the middle of winter or they are not tough enough to carry off "earthtones". If she can find one she can stand to be around for more than 5 minutes, or better yet, one who can bear her withering assaults for more than 5 minutes, she ought to get herself a real man and leave the freaking Democrats alone.

The Democrats are doing PLENTY ENOUGH wrong on their own to be worrying about wardrobe hints from her.

TC

[ProfessorPlum]

16. Exactly.

People also forget just what a GOP shill Frank Rich was during the same time period. Dowd and Rich should both be publicly shamed for what they helped bring on this country.

Maybe they should be forced to get on their hands and knees and lick the undersides of Gore's cowboy boots. (They both slammed Gore for wearing boots on the campaign trail, as if that was important).

[leftofthedial]

19. she does come off as a shallow opportunist, doesn't she

Her performance in helping the bush crime gang and king george seize power will haunt her forever, especially because it was so petty and trivial. She usually deals with more substance than other columnists, but acted like a giggling cool-clique-wannabe high school hallway gossip when she could have made a difference by telling the truth.

[Skittles]

30. hasn't haunted her enough to aplogize for it

and until she does, I'm with CatWoman - Ms. Dowd can SHOVE IT

[Apollo11]

21. Let's rebutt her arrogant a$$ !!

Then e-mail the Times and tell them why you won't pay to read her trash.

Gore's speech = not fit to print?

Dowd dissing Gore = something we will pay to read?

Any enemy of Al Gore is a friend of Bush. That's how I see it.

Here are some e-mail addresses I found on the Times website
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]


In Gore We Trust
www.algore.org
:)

[Loge23]

22. ...and your point is??

I just read the column after seeing this thread.
I have disagreed with Dowd's work before, but what is it about this column that upsets you?
Is it that the truth hurts?
Let's face it, After Gore's impassioned and dead-on speech the other day, not one ranking Dem had the backbone to back Gore up. Not one. How's that for the Dems?
Dowd's last line sums it up: "(the repukes) stick to their guns even when they can't shoot straight.
Frankly, I'd be happy to see Gore embrace or start another party. Both the Dems and the repukes need to go.

[CatWoman]

23. I thought I made my point in my original post

[karynnj]

33. Kerry did - I assume as the last Presidential nominee

he has some ranking. He totally agree with Gore that the President is breaking the law. He was interviewed from Israel by Wolf Blitzer. He also agreed with Hillary that Bush will be viewed harshly by history. This is in fact why Dowd included him in her nast column.

[SaintLouisBlues]

26. And don't forget about this gem from the 2004 campaign:

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh100204.shtm

DOWD MAKES IT UP! Maureen Dowd ginned up that fake NASCAR quote. Why isn’t Maureen Dowd fired?

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2004

DOWD MAKES IT UP: We finally have the full information. Yes, Maureen Dowd invented that fake NASCAR quote—the comical “quote” from pretentious old Kerry (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 9/21/04). And once Dowd invented the phony quotation, it spread through the great New York Times. It was repeated by Tierney; repeated by Stolberg; repeated by Egan; repeated by Rich—and Kerry was mocked for his pompous (fake) statement every single time that they did it. Five separate times in the past several months, Kerry was mocked in the Times for his comment. And oh yes, let’s repeat this—the “quotation” in question was phony. Kerry never made the statement in question. Maureen Dowd simply made the “quote” up.

We discussed this matter on September 21, and last week, we finally got the full facts. Did pretentious Kerry really say, “Who among us doesn’t like NASCAR?” According to Dowd, when Kerry made this laughable statement, it made him “come across like Mr. Collins, Elizabeth Bennet's pretentious cousin in ‘Pride and Prejudice.’” But wouldn’t you know it? Kerry never made the laughable statement!

[blm]

27. Exactly - Dowd will lie like Repubs when she can. Rest of media LETS HER

get away with it.

CatWoman nailed this TOTALLY.

[CatWoman]

28. Thank you, SLB

I didn't know about this!!

[blm]

34. And thank YOU, CatWoman - you described her game perfectly - K&R

.

[CatWoman]

36. BLM!!!

:hi:

:D

[Skittles]

29. I can't stand her

and I get sick of the kudos she gets on DU now - whatever she is saying is too little, WAY too late