"Obama Struts into Virgin Territory" WTF?

[uppityperson]

Sometimes my mind is in the gutter, and yes, I am very cynical, but still, wtf? It's not online but it is in the editorial section of the Seattle P-I. This headline followed by a Maureen Dowd piece and a picture of Obama with a big grin giving "thumbs up" sign. I found an article about the editorial at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-reardon/memo-to-dowd-and-the-pres_b_63192.html

I had a hard time getting past the headline and photo of the uppity Obama. Am I too cynical?

If you read the Vanity Fair article about how New York Times and Washington Post reporters shredded Al Gore's presidential candidacy with misquotes and distortions to achieve their own ends, you're bound to shudder when you read today's Maureen Dowd op-ed piece in the Times: "The 46-Year-Old Virgin." Dowd shreds Barak Obama for failing to shred Hillary Clinton. She accuses him of playing right into Clinton's "playbook" by distancing himself from Washington insiders. Then she tells us by doing so he pulled out "the oldest trick in the playbook -- the insider-who-pretends-to-be-an-outsider bit, the tactical populist, the sophisticate desperately shedding his sophistication."


When she finishes with Obama's supposed pretense, Dowd criticizes Clinton's experience as being that of a First Lady and a safety-first Senator rather than anything of import to voters. She wants Obama to go after Clinton for that and when he doesn't on that day she accuses him of doing an image flip-flop from a candidate who "consciously modeled himself and his wife on J.F.K and Jackie" to a "simple rube" fighting the system. Are we supposed to think one of these is better than the other? Obama comes out losing either way. So what exactly were you saying here, Maureen?...(more)
Link to article is here: "The 46 Yr Old Virgin". You need some sort of subscription, I tried the "free" trial but looks like I have to pay for a longer subscription to get a free one?
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/opinion/05dowd.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26showabstractQ3D1&OP=2a9f0a10Q2FeQ20hQ3Cebl@vvbekwwmewQ2Bew!ev2Q5CHQ5CvHew!WvQ20WdabV_

[The Count]

1. The designated losers -ready for the flambee....

[bemildred]

2. They want to get the "virgin" meme out there about Obama.

"He's not ready" and all that, like the current pResident is anything but a painted puppet. MoDo has no journalistic scruples and knows where her bread is buttered.

[Kagemusha]

3. They're not kidding. Dowd was vicious on Obama as a tool and a fool

Just another loser trying to act like an outsider and therefore bolstering Hillary as the consummate insider, the one worthy of leadership. Frankly I failed to detect that she was goading Obama to go after Hillary - I just felt she was laying out that Hillary is far superior, by Obama's own words and standards, and he has not only no chance, but he's insulting everyone in Washington by pretending to have what it takes.

[Dancing_Dave]

4. Obama has been a big dissappointment

To all those who thought his "star appeal" would carry him through to the Presidency without any issues getting in the way.

Of course, the Democratic Party can do MUCH better than to nominate Hillary in '08...but an Obama candidacy short on substance won't stop her corporate machine.

[Netbeavis]

5. I usually just throw Dowd's writings right into the trash

she's not worth my time.

[blogslut]

6. MoDo sure does like her high, little pony

n/t

[durrrty libby]

7. The woman has a way with words that gets attention. Obviously, it works

[NYCGirl]

8. Dowd sure helped Bush get "elected" in 2000:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/gore200710

Maureen Dowd boiled the choice between Gore and Bush down to that between the "pious smarty-pants" and the "amiable idler," and made it perfectly clear which of the presidential candidates had a better chance of getting a date. "Al Gore is desperate to get chicks," she said in her column. "Married chicks. Single chicks. Old chicks. Young chicks. If he doesn't stop turning off women, he'll never be president."

"I bet he is in a room somewhere right now playing Barry White CDs and struggling to get mellow," she wrote in another.

Meanwhile, though Dowd certainly questioned Bush's intellect in some columns, she seemed to be charmed by him—one of the "bad boys," "rascals," and a "rapscallion." She shared with the world a charged moment between them. "'You're so much more mature now,' I remarked to the Texas Governor. 'So are you,' he replied saucily." And in another column: "You don't often get to see a Presidential candidate bloom right before your eyes."