The Harpies were fierce, filthy, winged monsters who had characteristics of a bird and a woman, similar to that of the early Sirens. Their hideous faces of women with sharp claws mounted on the bodies of vultures inspired both horror and disgust. They could fly as fast as a bolt of lightning.
– from Monstrous.com
I'd been wondering, ever since the bad reaction of Hillary Clinton's spokesman Howard Wolfson to Maureen Dowd's ever-so-carefully-calculated stinkbomb of last week, if there might have been more than a little bit of "let's you and him fight" in what MoDo was doing.
In other words, was she merely reporting the news – or doing her level best to create it?
This Media Matters piece strongly suggests it was the latter:
In an article for the March 5 edition of Newsweek about Maureen Dowd's controversial February 21 New York Times interview (subscription required) with Hollywood mogul David Geffen, a longtime donor to former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) who is supporting Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Evan Thomas reported that Dowd told the magazine, in Thomas' words, that during her interview with Geffen, "Geffen did not seem out to get the Clintons," adding: "Dowd says Geffen was initially reluctant to be interviewed for her column. … Dowd says she was the one who brought up questions about Bill Clinton's past as a campaign issue."
In other words, Dowd hammered away at Geffen until she had something she could use to goad the Hillary camp and the Obama camp into the sort of open war that puts Benjamins in her wallet and Manolo Blahniks on her feet.
This is made clear at the end of the Media Matters dissection of Dowd's actions:
Geffen also spoke to Newsweek, and he flatly contradicted both a key assertion Dowd quoted him making just a few days ago, as well as the wholly negative portrait of the Clintons Dowd painted from his comments. The lead Geffen quote in the Dowd column was, "Whoever is the nominee is going to win, so the stakes are very high." But Geffen told Newsweek: "I think Bill Clinton is a great guy. … I support them both. I just don't think she can be elected president."
Got that? Geffen said: "I think Bill Clinton is a great guy. … I support them both. I just don't think she can be elected president." Which is fair enough. (He's not the only one who thinks that, not by a long shot.)
But it wasn't what Dowd wanted to hear from Geffen, because it wouldn't suffice to start a nice big destructive war that would damage both the Clinton and Obama campaigns.
So the Harpy jumped into her favorite role, that of crap-stirrer and muck-flinger, seeking to create a controversy where none had existed before.
If what MoDo did was done by a blogger, you know that the Usual Media Suspects – perhaps including Dowd herself – would be tsk-tsking and finger-wagging all over the place, eagerly taking said blogger to task and wondering out loud why the FEC hasn't reined in those pesky bloggers yet, instead of treating them like respectable journalists and opinion columnists.
But of course MoDo did it, so none of her fellow travelers in the GOP/Media Complex will so much as raise an eyebrow, much less their voices, to protest her actions.
Related posts:
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Fitz!
Phoenix Woman!
Fuckin’ MoDo is part of the problem. As is any talking head that enables her bullshit (yes I’m talking to you Bill Maher)
Where there is no controversy, start one.
Wait, isn’t that the WAPO’s motto?
Hi PW!
With all the discussion of the Libby trial here at FDL, I don’t recall reading anything about the likely penalties should he be convincted on some of the counts. Anyone know what the sentencing guidlelines are in a perjury case?
Maureen has an extremely sharp pen and one of her favorite targets is Hillary. She seems to have a pathological need to put Hillary down any way she can.
Not that Hillary doesn’t deserve some slings and arrows, but there are many more in the political arena who are equally deserving.
And Maureen definitely wants to create “news” – are there any Op-Ed columnists that do not????? That is their business after all.
“Harpy” is really too good a word to describe MoDo.
She’s had a patholigical hate on for Hillary for years. Makes me wonder if Bill turned her down, quite frankly…
That whole Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton thing was so overblown. CNN and other major outlets were feeding us meat which was prechewed and tasteless, all the while pretending it was filet minon.
Three comments, released by Obama and Clinton, which weren’t very controversial, and hardly worthy of this much exposure. . Why do the major outlets feel they needed to overblow this? Why did Wolf Blitzer and other talking heads feel the need to cast so much light on something that was so irrelevent?
Slings and arrows about substance I got no problem with. But all this other petty high school bullshit is what needs to stop. We all wanted to have a beer with Fredo and look where that got us!
swamp thing @ 5
It’s not the perjury, and he’s facing up to thirty years.
Does anyone know how Walton sentences, he doesn’t strike me as the throw the book type?
Or, MD was bringing to the surface what Hillary was doing behind the scenes.
Level the playing field = Maybe!
CancerCures @ 8
They were exhausted from the substantive Anna Nicole coverage and their news judgment faltered?
Today in Court
the Libby Trial
The day began with a big bruhaha. A juror, a seventy year old Art Curator [the one who didn’t wear a Valentine’s Day tee-shirt last week] either exposed herself to or was exposed to information about the case over the weekend. She was excused [been there, done that, no tee-shirt]. The issue became plodding ahead with eleven jurors or bringing in an Alternate. Wells was happy with the decision to plod ahead. Fizgerald was not.
Then Jane Hamsher was reconnected with the blue/grey glasses she lost earlier, but subsequently lost her phone and wallet in the bathroom. That was right before the power went out in the whole building. The jury deliberated by window-light. The Media watched as the UPS lights started to wane on the WiFi and their lap-top batteries began to drain. But then the power came back on around 4:00 PM and order was restored to the kingdom. So then, someone turned in Jane Hamsher’s wallet and phone to the lost and found. All’s well that ends well.
Oh yeah. Zipola from the jury…
I understand Libby could get thirty years if the sentences were consecutive. That’s unlikely. More like 3 to 5 years.
swamp thing @
5
I’ve seen varying reports, most are either 1.5 – 3 years, or 3-5.
The total sentences add up to much more than that, but assuming that he’s sentenced to serve concurrently rather than consecutively, federal sentencing guidelines seem to fall in those ranges.
I guess 2-4 years is the way to bet.
dave @
7
Too funny! But really has MoDo ever had anything nice to say about anybody?
But we all want to know, no need to know did she ever find her knickers?
punaise – my comment on your Cheney comment was epu’d last thread and just to be clear I was simply curious cause it was posted soon after Air Force II with Cheney departed Australia and don’t have any bookmarks for reliable news links on that side of the world.
Jane never lost her knickers. No idea where that one started.
Maureen Dowd is a tart-tongued contrarian who enjoys a good fight at her goading.
Frankly I can’t recall her ever taking a stance or promoting anything other than her own books.
She harbors a hatred for the Clinton’s that borders on pathology.
She is Dick Morris in drag.
-GSD
Info-tainment in the form of catfights, wardrobe discussions and personalities has taken the place of coverage of issues. But bloggers use “bad words.”
From the earlier “who needs underwear, right?” thread Christy. By the way did you get the baby owls?
dave @ 7
History would say that this is backwards. Harpies have standards too…
Christy Hardin Smith @ 19
Jane started it in an early, early thread.
Ah, MoDo. Talk about stirring the pot. I still haven’t forgiven her for deciding to skewer Al Gore’s character based on his wardrobe choices.
There is a place — several places, actually — for a jaded, snarky column in the NYT by a smart, sharp-tongued woman, but unfortunately MoDo’s column is not it. At least not most of the time.
Why couldn’t it be MEEEEEEEEEEEEE…..
GSD @ 20
Wow GSD – Miss Dowd is gonna get ya for that! LOL!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 19
Another rumor started by MoDo?
I think of her as a political cartoonist who uses
words instead of drawings–she, like cartoonists,
exaggerates features and draws out scenarios that
are ridiculous when enlarged or extended, just as
Steve Bell, Bill Mitchell, et al., do. Is she
responsible for how people respond to what
she says? I think she provoked both Clinton &
Obama into exercising some muscles that need
that kind of stimulation for the marathon they’re
embarking on.
Pat_AlexVA @ 24
As I remember it, she didn’t exactly loose them, just sacrificed them in the interest of time management!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 19
Jane mentioned in an earlier thread that she’d left CT for the courthouse so quickly that she’d forgotten a few things… “who needs underwear?” was the punchline.
Dowd also attacked Al Gore with similarly stupid BS. Thanks MoDo for your sarcastic wit. You have a hand in the disaster we have today.
Mickey @ 13
Mickey @ 13 may I please repost your succulent summation?
The museum curator offed the jury with the google.
woodhall @ 29, you’re right. It morphed as the urban legend grew.
swamp thing @
5
2 counts of perjury – 5 years max each
2 counts false statements – 5 years max each
1 count obstruction of justice – 10 years max
total 30 years max if found guilty on all counts… don’t know about expectations of what might be likely…
Now the MSM, including The Times, will spend days reporting Dowd’s lies?
litigatormom @ 27
I blame Farmer Ted.
It seems to me that one of the job requirements for an NYT writer (journo or editorialist) is to ‘be a STAR’, so the paper is reknown as the center of the universe (or the flat earth in one case).
This has no benefits for the rest of us. They just inflict themselves on us.
Sincerely, who gives a …. what she said or writes?
Sure…
Twisted Martini >
“Politics is just high school with guns and more money” – Frank Zappa
Great minds discuss ideas
Mediocre minds discuss events
Small minds discuss people
Shopgirlove @ 10
I thought I read somewhere (here at FDL maybe) that Walton is tough at sentencing. Not sure if I have this right.
she would never exactly “loose” them.
newspaperbrat @ 18 – got it. I didn’t think you were putting it out there as fact. Intriguing, however.
so…any insights into a curator’s mindframe?
Mickey @ 38
thanks!
Former Fed @ 6
I wrote this a while back about Maureen Dowd:
During 1993 and 94, Dowd was generally pretty favorable to President Bill Clinton, while poking fun at the Arkansas set that came to DC as part of the new administration.
When Bimbroglio broke in 1996, Dowd wrote about Clinton like a woman scorned, as if Bill had been unfaithful to her, rather than to his wife Hillary. I’ve alway thought that Dowd, who was a protege of A.M Rosenthal at the Times, had a serious crush on Bill Clinton, and took his hound-dog ways much too personally.
logorrhea @ 41
That would be nice!
varney @ 27
See, the point is that those aren’t the muscles she should be stimulating. From the pulpit she’s been given, major column at the New York Times, the muscles she needs to stimulate are the ‘brain muscles’ of her considerable readership, the muscles to wrestle with budgets and foreign policy and the things a presidential election so vitally concerns. Why doesn’t she buckle down and do her job, which as a writer is to boil down difficult issues in a way that encourages citizens in a democracy to tackle them, and determine their own futures?
Muscles? If all she’s going to do is portray our political discourse as a catty fashion show, she’s only encouraging the parties to learn how to preen their feathers.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/11/03/116/48031
Pat @32: It was interesting to watch Jane’s funny comment morph into the Case of the Missing Unmentionables today. I started to wonder if Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer would pick it up for their broadcasts tonight.
I so don’t give a crap about this. It doesn’t even rise to the level of tempest in a teapot. It’s tea in a teapot. By even addressing it we enable it.
dave @ 7
I think you might be on to something. Maureen thinks she is quite irresistible to men (she dated Michael Douglas, after all)
ralphbon @ 50
But, but if you adress it doesn’t that perputuate the enabling?
CancerCures >
I like it, got a cite ?
“Small men follow the letter of the law, great men seek justice” – Buck Rodgers (in The 25th Century)
GSD @
20
MoDo is a pathological is an asshole whose writing invariably lowers the level of political discourse in this nation. Why does anyone pay attention to her? When a dog farts, do you listen?
Mo doesn’t want to just write the story, she wants to be the story. The Geffen column smelled engineered from the git-go. Something tells me that if you scratch MoDo, a little bit beneath the surface you will find a little Judy Miller. There is some of that “tropism toward powerful men” in Mo too….
I try to be careful not to criticize women unless absolutely necessary, but you know the phrase “follow the money”, well in Mo’s case, I think we need to follow the sex partners.
Mo needs to be called on her cattiness, over and over and over. It ain’t good journalism, and it ain’t good opinion-mongering.
I submit that it is not possible to lower the level of political discourse in this nation!
There was a discussion last week on sentencing. If Libby is convicted on more than one count, it is my off the cuff guess that the sentence would be right around four years, Either Looseheadprop or EW disagreed and thought right at 5 years. If forced to (it really is no fun) I will drag out my most current copy of the Fed Sentencing Guidelines and really calculate it, but it is somewhat safe to say at this point not less than 3.5 years and not more than 5 years.
I must quote Maureen Dowd in this one instance to allow for some level of forgiveness.
daCascadian @ 53
I saw it on a hotel plaque in Toronto – Sorry, no idea who came up with that proverb.
njprogressive @ 45
She took a lot of her spite out on Gore in 1999/2000.
Mo and a billion other women, I went to university with the hounddog.
litigatormom at 25:
I agree, why can’t it be you……if it was I would consider buying my way over the pay wall.
Ms. Dowd deserves our scorn for her lack of thought concerning her
effect on the issues. The result of her loose grip on the truth is only to be expected from this type of writer. Ms. Dowd has no answer to any
problem without creating more problems. This is her way of including herself into the cause and effect. Ms. Dowd is not a reporter. Ms. Dowd is not an independent commentor as she follows some vague NYTimes
editorial slant. When Mr. Brooks and Mr. Safire spew their diatribes they
are continuing an established vein. Ms. Dowd is all over the place with only sensationalism as a constant. The sad reality of Ms. Dowd comes through her words, shes less than the subjects she covers and it hurts
her feelings to realize she is all she ever will become already.
MoDo: sopper randy.
or
MoDo’s sop, errant. D.
Is the jury going past five today? No Jane announcement yet?
bmaz @ 57
Must be LHP, because I leave that sentencing hocus pocus to you lawyer types.
blessed relief: sanity at last!
thanks.
Verdict tomorrow…
Steve Clemons is speculating on Cheney’s timely travels… http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/
Teresa @
63
They just went home.
I remember seeing it as a Bobby Kennedy quote, no cite.
Hey all — Jury has been released for the day, per information from one of the court clerks to me. Thought everyone would want to know. Looks like we’ll be waiting until tomorrow, at the earliest, for a verdict.
Am I the only one who can actually enjoy a MoDo column? Not all of ‘em, mind you, but many. At least I did before NYT started collecting a toll at the door. (I’d love to know what that has done to the clicks on MoDo’s columns.)
One thing we can’t blame on MoDo is the response from Hillary’s camp. I wish they’d handled it differently.
OK emptywheel. Travel safely and bring us good news tomorrow.
Comte de Rochambeau @ 61
I totally agree. Dowd has no substance. She stands for nothing except sensationalism
Christy, has Marcy made it to DC yet?
Please tell Jane that during those few minutes when I had her wallet and phone, I used her credit card only six or seven times and made very few calls to my favorite 900 numbers.
Christy, are you in DC?
Not to defend MoDo per se, but I’d like to suggest that many people felt betrayed by Bill Clinton, including me, and to suggest that her feeling of betrayal had anything to do with him actually rejecting her sexually seems silly to me. Thousands of people worked for thousands of hours and spent millions of dollars getting him elected, and his lack of judgement in sexual matters, and subsequent lying, cost this country dearly.
Ooops, mods: I meant to say “the” perjury @ 10…I know, preview is my friend. Sigh.
*sigh*
The woman who gave us “Barberini faun” when describing Jeff Gannon’s pin up shot is really not living up to her potential. What a shame. It seems like she is going through a midlife crisis. She lost her WH press pass, she was exiled off the Sunday op/ed page and Ana Marie Cox is the new Prom Queen. MoDo must be wondering if she is necessary.
This is a tragedy. She needs find a purpose in life. Why won’t do something positive with her talents and stir up trouble on the other side of the aisle?
“Just ain’t room enough on this planet for the two of us” -Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half century
1,439 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen PhOEnix Woman and the Firepup Patriots:
Is there anymore clear evidence that the old line corporate media have become printed versions of “Entertainment Tonight” than Maureen Dowd and the entire editorial staffs of the New York Times and the Washington Post?
If what niprogressive reports about MoDo bein’ a protege of A.M. Rosenthal is true, that explains a lot about the lack of intellectual substance or integrity in her writing. She reminds me of the Sorority Suzies I ran into on campus in the late 60’s and early 70’s after I got outta the service…they were outta the loop and couldn’t get laid even by the jocks.
KEEP THE FAITH AND KEEP THE BASTARDS AWAY FROM YER KIDS!!
The thing is, Mrs. Clinton’s mug could fit that graphic just as easily.
Cancercure at 58-
I’ve seen it attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.
Tweety wondering who the ‘Buttinski’ at the trial was, as if he doesn’t already know. And he’s convinced — and Shuster didn’t contradict him — that it led towards the question of covert status / underlying crime and thus the Comstock/Toensing tap-up strategy.
A grateful and constant lurker has to acknowledge the wonderful Eleanor:
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
Eleanor Roosevelt
US diplomat & reformer (1884 – 1962)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/36354.html
I agree that Maureen Dowd was out to create news where there was none. However Dems always fall right into this trap. If Obama had just said something like, Mr. Geffen is a big supporter of the Democratic Party and I am grateful for his support of my campaign and Democrats in general, that would have been the end of it. Instead everyone starts snarking. It is time for candidates to stop believing reporters when they quote something someone supposedly said about them.
Great minds discuss ideas …
General consensus of the toobz: Eleanor Roosevelt was source.
Twisted at 75 — Nope, I’m home with The Peanut. She needs her momma this week.
Notta Flatlander >
Thanks to one & all. I now have it in my “stash”
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
CancerCures @ 40
Blog minds multitask and can discuss everything simultaneously, at least here at the lake.
Heaven for people with ADHD. So much semi-connected stuff flying by, this is how we perceive the world in general. It’s home.
Remember KO special comment tonight.
egregious @ 89
I know. The google & the wiki helps us, but… yeah.
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” -
— Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.quotedb.com
Can’t vouch for the accuracy or reliability…
“If I decide to get into this, I would run not just to make a statement,” Hagel, 60, said in an interview last week.
He said that if he ran he would seek the Republican nomination. Yet he’s also talking up Unity08. That’s a plan by a bipartisan group of political operatives to draft a bipartisan presidential ticket on the Internet and offer voters an alternative to the Democratic and Republican candidates next year.
Good. If this coming election were only about the Iraq war, and that may yet be the case, this life long Democrat might just vote for Hagel. Unless of course my party nominates a better candidate. We Democrats have much talent in our party, exclusive of Senator Clinton.
Christy, maybe you missed where I was asking about the owls? (@22)It was a sparse comment, I thought (foolishly) that it would be right under your question. But no, of course a few got posted while I was typing a few words, and I’m not a pecker (on the keyboard).
I remember MoDo bopping around the Yearly Kos last summer in her skin tight blacks. What she was looking for was unknown, but she seemed to be more in hanging out mode than in reporter mode.
yech, Isikoff now up on hardballs with Tweety touting the “fabulous book”
ok – i suppose i see the problem here, but in light of the fact that hillary comes out looking a whole lot worse than obama in all of this, and given that i’d like to continue to see an ascendant obama, i’ll take maureen’s instigations!
egregious@89 You are so correct. LOL
Special comment tonight? Didn’t know that. Thanks egregious.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 93
Be aware that the ONLY issue that Hagel is good on is the war. Other than that IIRC he got a 100% rating from the wingnuts.
Don’t be fooled by his seemingly level headedness.
punaise @ 43
Oh I wish – awaiting more clues to her identity. Thus far all I’ve learned is she retired from the prints and drawings department at MMA and NYC to become an independent consultant to the equally glorious national museums in Washington. Have narrowed her name down to three and am pretty sure I’ve at least identified her. Just awaiting confirmation from a trusted friend from our Art Institute of Chicago grad school days whose career has been in DC from the get go.
FWIW I am still mildly shocked & saddened at some of the negative comments on this former juror. Of course I’m biased cause in the museum world – especially top tier institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art – attract the best and brightest scholars. They are rarely if ever known political partisions.
Don’t forget his vote on cloture over the anti-war non-binding resolution in the Senate when he apparently remembered how much he loves Bush. His wingnut rating that you mention is pretty scary too, I seem to remember that coming up on Meat the Press.
Since some folks are clearly not happy with discussing people and want to elevate the discussion, let’s try another tack:
What is it that makes any media figure relevant?
And what is it about Maureen Dowd that’s relevant?
Personally I think MoDo’s harpy routine is going the way of the dodo — she is adding nothing constructive to the conversation.
That is what we are having, all of us; we’ve relied on members of the Fourth Estate to tell us what the topics are for discussion, and then we work on it. But when they fail to bring us the truth to discuss, fail to bring us meaningful material, fail by bringing us hot air and fluff that is as useless as Anna Nicole’s warmed-over-still-dead corpse, they are irrelevant.
I don’t read MoDo any longer; do any of us? If we don’t read her, is she relevant?
edit: I’ll check back in a few for feedback, sorry, have to go shovel snow. The snow is more relevant in my life than MoDo.
Check out Media Matters today. It proves a second source for “The Harpy” article. Geffen was bagged by Maureen Dowd. I agree that there’s a back story about Dowd’s unrequited love of Bill, and “betrayal” that’s at the heart of her strong hatred of the Clintons. She’s jealous that Hillary has more skill and power that Dowd will ever have.
O.K. I turn on MSNBC and they are covering the Padilla trial. Is he *still* considered guilty? MSM acts like he is. They say his lawyers says he’s not competent to stand trial (for what?) Why? I am sure it has something to do with t*rture.
Exile — I saw the e-mail but, to be honest, I have been so insanely swamped, I haven’t had a chance to open it yet. Will try to get to it tonight.
jeffreyw @ 69
According to this site it is attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/146
She can be entertaining like a Cheech and Chong record as long as she isn’t writing about anything important. Then she becomes sand in the gears of democracy.
P J Evans @ 14
Heard on AAR that Libby would likely get about a year and maybe some change. He isn’t going to do one damn day either way. Chimpco is going to pardon him promptly if he is convicted.
dave @ 7
Exactly. She has a love-hate thing for Bill, but with Hillary it’s all hate. And it’s not founded on any logical, rational reason, since her political views (at least the ones she makes public) are pretty damned similar to Hillary’s.
hwmnbn @ 106
I’m gonna go with the memory defense, here.
I am aware of Hagel’s views on things and I am at the opposite end from this man on everything but Iraq. But, peace for me, at least, is paramount. I am deathly afraid of this Middle East thing getting bigger. ;0)
Gore in eight, or some others.
How hard is this? Stop paying for Times Select…
Thanks Christy, I suspect all you Firegirls and pups are really busy with your time at a premium. But I know I sure appreciate what you all are doing. I think you’ll enjoy the owlets when you get a chance to see them. I don’t have any kids under thirty anymore (that just happened) but I can remember when they were the Peanut’s age. They take so much less time and energy now, indeed they look after me more than the other way anymore.
theExile @ 107
I always thought MoDo was Lite fare.
BTW. This one thing I really hate about Hilary’s run. It allows the MSM and the creeps and the obsessives to come out and talk about “things that won’t go away.” Like what? The accusations that Hillary is gay and shot her boyfriend Vince Foster? C’mon, I thought all that was discredited.
Meanwhile . . . tick tock, we have Gitmo and Iraq, and New Orleans . . . tick, tock.
MoDo’s antics?
She wants Obama and Hillary to spend their time attacking each other. Wants the media to talk about the feud. Alas, she might succeed.
OTOH, if O and H manage to destroy each other, who could step in late and take the nomination? And get elected (again)?
Oh come ON, people! We’re talking about David Geffen. Who do you think he is? Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm? Here he is confabbing with another Ruler of the Universe. Sacrcely Mr. Innocent.
And if you don’t want to take my word for it, ask THIS dude.
Notta Flatlander @ 115
Good thinking. Gore of course.
1,439 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen RevDeb and the Firepup Patriots:
You are absolutely correct, Hagel is so far right he is comin’ around left again…his politics are right outta America First and the original pro-Nazi isolationists. He is first and foremost an anti New Deal, social Darwinist who longs for the good ol’ days of the 1840’s.
KEEP THE FAITH, ALL THEY GOT IS OUR MONEY!!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 93
Please rethink that. The coming election WON’T just be about the Iraq war. It will be about the Supreme Court, and fiscal responsibility and the environment. Hagel is no moderate.
Here’s the correct link for my last post.
Just saw Hardball – had a former Fed prosecutor on. Said now was the time if he was the prosecutor that he would start worrying about a hung jury. Tweety seemed to think we were going to hear something tomorrow either way. And Michael Isikoff claimed if it was a hung jury – Fitzgerald would be under a lot of pressure to not go for a retrial (idiot).
Notta Flatlander @ 115
Well it might be a shame to lose Obama, but he’s got lots of time left. I would consider it a worthwhile sacrifice to get rid of Hillary. Then we could consider Gore, Edwards or Feingold.
If Hillary became preznit that would likely mean :
24 years —– TWO FAMILIES running the country.
When did the US become a monarchy. I remember studying in school about when you guys wanted to get rid of monarchs.
I would like to have a candidate who doesn’t think that war is the answer to everything. And a nominee who will take seriously global warming. I want someone who is not afraid to change his or mind on things. And I am not talking about ‘political flip-flop’.
David Ehrenstein @ 116
I think I am really happy that I don’t have a clue who *any* of these people are.
Rayne @ 102
The deal is that her press buddies are following her lead.
And as far as “making it personal” goes:
People, not automatons, run our institutions.
And Maureen Dowd has a long, long history of this sort of anti-Democratic crap-stirring (remember her passing around that bogus NASCAR quote, among other things?), doing things that if a lefty blogger had done them would have the GOP/Media Complex jumping down that blogger’s throat.
TeddySanFran @ 12
Oh, thanks for the laugh. All Anna, all the time, except for when it’s Brittney. Ouch. In comparison, Dowd, who is nothing more than a gossip, looks almost thoughtful by comparison.
RevDeb @ 95
I got that, too. She seemed to be shadowing wonkette.
Does anyone have an answer to this question: If we slip into world war, what else matters? Perhaps I am being naive here.
David Ehrenstein @ 116
Thing is David, Dowd herself admitted that Geffen didn’t really say what she has him saying.
This isn’t a case of Geffen saying he was misquoted — it’s Dowd herself saying he was misquoted.
The coming election just might determine whether we destroy ourselves.
Phoenix Woman-
I like reading you.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 130
If we make it that far!
egregious @
90
Bummer. We don’t get MSNBC. Hope it goes up on YouTube pronto.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 128
MoDo is one of the people who, in her efforts to savage the people who would have kept us from this world war (go read Bob Somerby’s 02/2307 Daily Howler on her role in trashing Al Gore and keeping him out of the White House). So yes, noting her past history and present behavior matters.
Phoenix Woman @ 109
I believe the Bush WH calls her The Viper. Hisssss!
But, seriously, folks, I hate to see all of that talent go to waste. Maureen Dowd is the Mistress of Metaphor. When she nails one, it is breathtaking in its brilliance. What she seems to be lacking is motivation. For that, I fault her ‘director’. Someone at the Times needs to focus all that venom at the right target and say, “Ok, MoDo, the 90’s are sooo over. Cheney is in charge. The Clintons have been out of office for 6 years now.”
But maybe the director is the source of the problem. Maybe he thinks the right and the Cokie Roberts of this world will like him more if he keeps feeding their insatiable appetite for Hillary Clinton crotch shots. In that case, we have to tell him that as far as porn goes, we know it when we see it.
HotFlash @ 124
Unfortunately, the national media knows who they are, and Phoenix Woman is right. Everyone jumped on the Dowd drivel, even if, as Edwards said, no one cared about reporters. This stupid little column has the potential to frame the comparisons about Obama and Clinton.
The problem with the column is that it is so trivial, and will add nothing substantive to the discussion. Leading to statements like “Both Obama and Clinton are the same–just politicians”. That may or may not be true, but at least the public should be given the chance to find out. Without good reporting, we’re not going to get that chance. And if reporters just refer back to Dowd’s column, and the reaction to it, voters get screwed. So this trivial piece of crap does matter.
But then, I have Joe Lieberman for a Senator, so what do I know about the effects of the media on an election?
HUNH? I’m losing track here.
Phoenix Woman @
125
Oh, I heard you loud and clear, PW; you’re spot on that she’s a harpy. There’s very little that separates her from Man Coulter or Malkkkin in terms of shrillness of invective.
But the next point beyond her personal attributes is what is the content? Zippo? Zilch? Just another easily manipulated talking head doing the work of the VRWC?
We should be relegating her to the dustbin while asking about relevance…who’s picking up her work? who’s paying her? who’s continuing to buy into the crap she spreads as if it counts? Aren’t they just as irrelevant, too?
Should we be pushing back not only at MoDo but directly at the establishment that encourages her, enables, feeds, clothes her, asking why the hell they hate America so much that they won’t look into what really, really matters?
Look, it’s pretty clear that MoDo is a Maurine Watkins wannabe. But Geffen throwing support behind Obama and away from Hillary is preetty simple fact.
creeper @
133
The video should show up sometime after today on this site: http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/
If you want to read a preview of this evening’s special comment, please click on this link: http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.c…..69738.aspx
I will continue to badger and pressure the leaders of my party, the Democrats, to turn more leftward. But I will not have the DLC or any other organization or politician telling me I have nowhere else to go.
Good gravy, just take a glance at her work: shallow, just a rather thin puddle.
Not one thing that somebody else hasn’t said better, or left aside because it’s not worth paper or bandwidth.
And the New York Times wants me to PAY for this meager drivel? HAH!! I wonder that Paul Krugman, Frank Rich and Bob Herbert put up with being in the same op-ed pages with her.
KO’s special comments always show up on C&L within an hour of being on the air.
fourmorewars @ 47
Exactly. She spent the better part of the last two decades trashing first the Clintons and then Al Gore, and not once was it over a substantive, germane issue.
It was catty crap — Al Gore having conversations with his bald spot, claiming to have invented everything, yaddayaddayadda, all ridiculous smears that had the feel of something straight from Jim Nicholson’s oppo shop over at RNC Central.
The fact that someone like Dowd — whose writings are very anti-feminist in that they depict her and other women in a constant search to define themselves through the sexual approbation of men — could be the Times’ top writer, while someone like Molly Ivins was booted from the Times decades ago, tells you a great deal about just how screwed up the press is in this country — the media in general and the NYT in particular.
The heart surgery went very well and we are headed to get a nights sleep. Thanks for the white light FDL’ers!
As to Senator Clinton; I don’t dislike her. It’s her approach to politics (triangulating, finger in the wind) and her arrogance that’s offensive. As in if you don’t agree with me (Iraq), vote for someone else.
Oklahoma kiddo @
141
I would prefer to push them towards more rational politics, not left or right. And if you don’t like the DLC candidate (and I don’t), send money to the other guy(s) so we can have a real primary and hash it out. The problem with politics today is not that there is too much disagreement but that there is too little. The GOP gave us the impression that in order to be effective, you have to vote in lockstep. That doesn’t lead to effective government. It leads to legislative victories. Not at all the same thing.
Good deal Raven.
SING OUT LOUISE!
Dowd’s basic “message” is “I’ve fucked Michael Douglas and you haven’t.”
raven @ 145
I’m so happy for you & yours, Raven. It doesn’t always go as well — I know from experience in my own family. Keep on helping with your loving presence.
raven @ 145
YEAH!!!! sleep well.
Phoenix Woman @ 144:
“The fact that someone like Dowd — — could be the Times’ top writer, while someone like Molly Ivins was booted from the Times decades ago, tells you a great deal about just how screwed up the press is in this country — the media in general and the NYT in particular.”
And that pretty much sums up the situation. Ivins gets dumped. Dowd gets attention, and people delude themselves that they’re getting an analysis when instead, it’s just bitchy crap.
I would suggest people start writing to the NY Times. It may not have any effect, but hey, Anne Kornblut is now writing for the Washington Post, so some things can change….
David Ehrenstein @ 137
It’s right here:
And here:
Actually, I correct myself — Dowd didn’t say she misquoted him. Geffen does say that she did. But Dowd does cop to having had to bludgeon Geffen until he said what she wanted him to say.
It’s almost sacreligious to mention the wonderful Molly Ivins, bless her soul, in the same paragraph as MoDo. But I know you were illustrating a point so I forgive you Phoenix Woman.
raven @ 145
Great! Now, be sure to eat something — that waiting is draining and it’s easy to forget to eat. Best wishes for a comfortable night for everyone.
It would be really too bad for our country if we allowed our opinions to be shaped by the harpies of whatever stripe.
I happen to think Hillary Clinton would be a great candidate for president.
(Sorry, OK kiddo.)
She has a lot of support from people here in semi-rural Ohio. I was very surprised.
For example: My furnace installer with a mullet really likes her. I said, “SHe’s not far enough to the left for me.” He said, “You know, a woman is just as smart as a man. She’s really smart. SHe’d fight for us and get us health care.”
Polarizing? That’s Republican-speak for Oh no don’t pick her, she can win.
David Ehrenstein @ 149
Arggghh! I hate having to stick up for her. I understand she is very shy and introverted. Geez, Louise, I really admire her writing. It’s her topics I have trouble with.
And as much as I loved Molly Ivins, she was a bit too knee jerk for my tastes at times. And she supported Nader in 2000. I found it hard to forgive her for that one.
{{{raven and family}}}}
Mickey @
13
I think this bears repeating.
Actually there is an incredible amount of women that could call her a liar on this one!
Margot @ 156
Well… perhaps we will just have to disagree on this. ;0)
David Ehrenstein @ 149
Yup. Her cattiness is driven by the fact that deep down she judges her own worth by whether she can land a high-powered celebrity male — and yes folks, that means she’s going to get nastier as she gets older. Contrast that with Molly Ivins, who liked herself and didn’t care about getting the MRS degree, with either a man or a woman. She liked herself; ergo, she wasn’t a harpy.
annx @
121
I wouldn’t be worried about a hung jury until Wednesday, at the earliest. And I suspect that Walton would make them deliberate at least an extra week, even if they’re “hopelessly deadlocked”. From the little info we got this morning when the art curator was dismissed, it seems that members of the jury are taking their oligations seriously and are truly deliberating the evidence. That’s a very good sign.
theExile @ 159
Would it be better if Michael Douglas said, “I’ve fucked Maureen Dowd and you haven’t.”?
Just curious…
1,439 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen portia.vz and the Firepup Patriots:
“The problem with politics today is not that there is too much disagreement but that there is too little.”
And that, dear heart, is oklahoma kiddo’s point and the reason that the DLC is so damaging…the DLC wants to homogenize the Democratic Party into one big corporatist mixture with all the existing “moderate” politicos while accepting fascism as centrist.
Wake up and smell the coffee dear…the DLC is not an alternative political force, it is the same old fascist shit.
KEEP THE FAITH AND FIGURE OUT WHO’S STEALIN’ YER LUNCH MONEY!!
The Clintons and the Bushes are two sides of the same coin.
This site censors.
NorskeFlamethrower @ 164
Oh, dear, I hope you weren’t addressing that to me. I am NOT a DLC fan in the least.
(I apologize for the duplicate comments, by the way — I was trying to edit a couple to avoid the ziggurat, and wound up creating new ones instead which I had to delete forthwith.)
Phoenix Woman, Thanks for a post the explains what I have been trying quite successfully to ignore about this current kerffufle.
I am with Rayne on this. We should bombard MoDo and Newsweek or the NYT??? on this crap, much like what occured when the NYT tried to drag the Clintons marriage back into the spotlight several months back.
It is the idea of sitting idle while watching a repeat MODO performance that bothers me, second only to paying attention to it at all. As an avid fan of FDL I see what we are up against and how necessary it is to hit back on every level these days. So please excuse my grumbling as I prepare to wrestle in the mud with pigs.
[prepares to read the original article and send letter of complaint]
Another random thought: At this point, I think it’s safe to conclude that the art curator can’t have been the “lone holdout” one way or the other. Had that been the case, the jury would have returned a verdict today.
As I commented elsewhere, in response to this very story, I’m not sure I can bear another (presidential) election with Dowd sniping from the sidelines.
Who among us does not still hold a grudge against her for the made-up Nascar quote falsely she attributed to Kerry?
And I still have not forgiven her for referring to an earlier field of Democratic presidential candidates as The Seven Dwarves.
Then there was that incident when she morphed Kerry into Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Collins!!! For crying out loud…
One of the best roles of blogs in politics– from where I sit– is holding so-called journalists like Dowd accountable. Perhaps Dowd deserves a bit more attention on the internets. Just to balance out what she seeks from the MSM, of course.
[Fwiw, it must be frustrating to be stuck behind that paywall… what else can she do to get more attention paid to her column but continue to create non-existent brouhahas?]
emptywheel @ 64
When there is a conviction, I will try to take a stab at a guidlines calcualtion. Maybe even both a gov’t and defense version. God knows, I written enough of them in my time.
I don’t have a recollection of making a prediction yet though.
OK, just for laughs. Contrast this:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..rd-threat/
With the front web page of CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/02…..index.html
Frank Probst @ 169
Hmmmm, I think you went to premise 1 to conclusion without stopping to consider other premises in between. What if they are systematically considering each charge in turn? What if they are reviewing the evidence for each charge and have gone through part of the questionnaire by now? What if they have already decided to convict on some of these charges but haven’t gotten to the others because they are being conscientious and careful?
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt because we have no evidence to conclude that there is another holdout on the jury.
portia.vz @164, Maybe Mr. Douglas is too much of a gentleman, and if he was gonna kiss and tell/brag it would probably take a day or two for him to get down to MoDo.
Karen M @ 170
I know how you feel. But I want you to think about Jeff Gannon for a minute and think about his advertising picture. Got that image in your mind? Ok, now go to Barberini Faun.
MoDo made me choke on my morning coffee that day.
annx @ 121
I think it was nice of the jury to wait until Emptywheel could get there to live blog it for us. Very considerate of them. ;-)
OT But Very Interesting!
Criticism of the security plan is getting louder.
“Al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice president, said he warned U.S. officials during a visit to Washington in December that sectarian rivalry had paralyzed the unity government and the White House must study alternatives if its current security strategy fails.
“I was very frank with the American administration. I encouraged them to think seriously about `Plan B,’” he said. “What sort of alternative do we have in the future in case the current security plan fails?”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..mi_ea/iraq
Wait a second! That means Bush had already decided on the SURGE back when he was “consulting” with Generals (more likely deciding which ones to “retire”)…and perhaps earlier than December!
Seems like Bush is far more comfortable telling Sunni Iraqi politicians about Top-Secret plans (giving Al Qaida in Iraq and the Sunni insurgents over a months advance notice) than he is in coming bfore Congress and the American people to tell us about his lame-brain schemes!
More security leaks from the same Administration that outed a covert CIA agent and her operations! The same circus that posted nuclear bomb schematics and poison gas formulas on “the INTERNETS” in ARABIC, basically saying to Al Qaida…”Here I am! Read ME!”!
Now we discover…from an Iraqi who told him “This isn’t gonna work” that Bush had told him the plans nearly a month before he told US!
Pathetic! Treasonous! Impeachable!
The DLC is as much the problem as the repugs. As long as there is the intent to appease the large corporations at the expense of the workers we will continue down the road we are on. The DLC is repug. light. I want my party to be bold and take principled stands with the aim being fairness and justice for all. What ever happened to community spirit and seeing that those among us with the least amount of resources are taken care of?
I’m for supporting the Constitution, not trying to find ways to subvert it. I’m for having a government that is responsive to the citizens not big business. The laundry list of wants and needs is long, but once upon a time the Dem. party used to espouse the values I care about.
I see it as our job to find the candidates who have the values and ideals that true progressives care about and support them in every way we can. Otherwise I wouldn’t be spending the time I do here and with the progressive blogiverse in general.
We are new at this but we have to start somewhere. So for now, this is the place.
Truth
Justice
Mercy
Community
theExile @ 176
You never know. Still waters run deep. Maybe she was really good.
Rayne,
I am so glad to hear the surgery went well.
Frank Probst @ 162
I saw it too. I’ll bet Tweety looked high and low to find a former prosecutor to say he’d be worried if he were Fitz.
wrt the jury “deliberating the evidence,” someone on Tweety’s show (either the former prosecutor or Isikoff – can’t remember) said that favors the defense (huh?) because Fitz made a point of arguing that 9 witnesses all refuted Libby’s statements. So, according to the guy on the show, either the jury takes the aggregate of the witnesses’ testimony (quick verdict in favor of Fitz) or they take each count and witness separately (slower verdict, favoring defense). I don’t see how he gets there, but that’s what the guy said.
Take this all with a grain – it’s Tweety’s show afterall…
cinnamonape #178 – The escalation (surge) started before Speaker Pelosi was sworn in. Clearly the decision to escalate was long before that.
yes, add it to the long list…
“Pathetic! Treasonous! Impeachable!”
I wasn’t suggesting that MoDo was below my personal standards, at least for a trial run. Of course I’ve never had the number of women after me as Mr. Douglas. But it is corrosive, the effect she has on American politics, usually just to get a rise or some attention. It is disgusting to think what responsibility she perhaps bears for Al Gore not moving into the White House in 2001. If she contributed to that then she also deserves some of the blame for what GeeDub and President-in-Fact DickHead have inflicted on the world
everhopeful @
183
Yep. Tweety is a sycophant par excellance. He loves to bathe in the reflected light of the powerful and well connected. If they are telling him that deliberation favors the defense, I’m sure that is what Broder and Peyton Place on the Potomac would like to believe.
They’d also like you to believe that people care whether Bill behaves himself.
theExile @ 185
I happen to agree with you. But I see her as sort of a Minister without Portfolio right now. It’s a pity that the Times would let such a talented writer go down like this. She needs discipline and a purpose. Poison like hers can be valuable if aimed at the right people.
Oklahoma kiddo @
93
Didn’t Hagel just vote with the Republican filibusterers to prevent the anti-Surge resolution from moving to debate and a vote?
When you have 95% of the Democrats who support withdrawal and are much stronger on social issues than Hagel…and he won’t even buck his own party…it seems to me that Hagel is simply getting attention because he’s a REPUBLICAN saying he’s opposed to Bush’s Iraq policies.
I personally don’t get it? Where was he back in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 on this issue? Seems that Hagel is following a lot of Democrats and responding at last to the concerns of his constituents…not that he’s some sort of hero.
It’s the Old Army Game. Journalists do this all the time. But the basic fact of the matter is Geffen said it — and wants to take it back. Sort of. Slightly.
Too late.
But why should he complain? He gets kudos from those of us (yours truly included) who don’t like — and don’t want — Hillary.
mui @
104
Yeah, seems so…
“The prisoner lived in isolation in a cell with only a steel slab for a bed. At times chained to the floor, he was deprived of light, sleep, a clock and heat. His interrogators injected him with “truth serum” drugs to try to loosen his tongue and threatened him with execution.
That’s how Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without charge as an “enemy combatant,” was treated for three years and eight months at the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., his attorneys allege. In court papers, they say Padilla, initially accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb,” was treated so severely that it amounted to torture and rendered him mentally incompetent to now stand trial on terror charges that could bring him life in prison.”
http://www.azcentral.com/arizo…..a0214.html
portia.vz @
177
I forgot to mention that I think Modo belongs on SNL or in some other comedy-writing shop. Where she can let her metaphors run amok, still have a bit of impact on the political discussion, but without enough power (granted her by that primo NYTimes Editorial Real Estate) to actually frame the discussion to our detriment.
Your example was pretty funny (I remember Gannon’s photo], but do we really want that kind of mind having so much sway over who will occupy the oval office?
As funny as it is, it’s one of those lateral connections that superficial minds (e.g., like my own) are so good at making. I’d so much rather have someone like Barbara Ehrenreich at the Times. She also has an incisive intellect, but actually honors her audience with substance. Real sustenance. Not just cocktails and canapes.
Thanks for the link, though. I must have missed that one.
Portia, I agree with you too, I think and must admit I can enjoy her writing. I’m just having second thoughts about its effects. You’re right that she should aim at the right, or relevant and meaningful targets. Because of her effects admitting that I admire her way with words is like confessing to a secret vice.
Frank Probst @ 170
There are several (5) counts. So there will several verdicts…all released at the same time. Perhaps she was the sole hold-out on the first count they voted on (maybe last Friday), then went “home”…did her research on the point to convince the other jurors…and came back today and told them that she found out some “interesting” information. They stopped her from revealing it…thus no tainting…and brought the fact that she had acquired outside evidence (whatever it was) to the attention of Judge Walton.
Karen M @ 191
I absolutely think MoDo belongs in the political sphere. Her ability to kill with a good metaphor is priceless. If we didn’t have someone who mocks as well as MoDo does, the unwired would never know how ridiculous some of their leaders actually are. What is needed is for someone to tell her to be more serious about where she aims her missiles. She’s gotten lazy and only goes after easy targets. She could make a positive difference if she’d just get her act together.
If the Democrats want to stop the war and prevent an attack on Iran they can stop the funding. Can’t they?
Gee…do ya think this lying sack of shit will show at YK2007?
She’d have to be a lot more arrogant than even I think she is, and I think she’s completely in a class of her own on that score, to do so.
But a guy can dream can’t he?
Oh, Ms. Dowd…Ms. Dowd we have a few questions for you.
Portia wrote:
“What is needed is for someone to tell her to be more serious about where she aims her missiles. She’s gotten lazy and only goes after easy targets. She could make a positive difference if she’d just get her act together.”
I think it’s a bit late for that… unless I’m mistaken she’s in her 50s and fully formed. Who is going to “tell” her to be more serious? No one at the Times, that’s for sure. Not Bill Keller, nor even Barney Calame. Still, I have some hopes for the possible impact of an internet campaign waged to wake her up…
I do agree with you about her ability to kill with a great metaphor. Too bad she can’t find her way to use such power for the greater good, rather than just to burnish her own image, e.g., like Bob Herbert.
(Just count me as another Ivins fan… still mourning.)
dave @ 7
Not what I heard… I heard M Dowd is into Teabagging and Bubba obliged. Dowd has a blue dress to prove it. Do you think being single well into one’s 50’s causes some resentment that might spur this kind of conflict instigation?
From WIKI:
Maureen Dowd (born January 14, 1952) is a columnist for The New York Times . She has worked for the Times since 1983, when she joined as a metropolitan reporter.
She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for her series of columns on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Dowd was born in Washington, D.C., the youngest of five children in a Roman Catholic family where her father (who was born in County Clare in Ireland and had been a member of the Irish Republican Army there) worked as a police officer. Dowd resides in Washington, DC.
OK Kiddo, Yeah you are right. The question is framing the legislative process, I think. If the president says we need 300,000,000,000 USD to invade Iran, people might say hell no.
But if the president does it anyway, THEN says we need 300,000,000,000 USD for the soldiers to defend themselves with proper equipment, more people may feel inclined to say ‘yes, because our troops need ammunition to
fight the enemydefend themselves.It’s all about framing. I think the only reason we continually fund Iraq, is because Bush is the kind of president that would just keep our armed forces there, whether they have supplies to fight with or not. It could be a bluff. But how far will he go, how many soldiers would he allow sacrificed, before he finally caves?
Basically, I see it that cutting off funding is not necessarily the U.S. leaving. It could afterall be used as a ploy ‘The democrats starved our troops and voted on not stocking their ammunitions or repairing their tanks’ bullshit.
But I have a feeling that I am completely wrong. No one could be capable of this activity. Still the bluff can be used when the time comes.
Ran into another MoDo quote this weekend that made me laugh big time. It was shortly after 9/11 after Condi had yet one more time done a press event where she declaimed on all the things she could not imagine…MoDo quoted her, and then responded “Paging Nancy Drew!”
I don’t know if you know this, but MD is a columnist. It is her job to write her opinion and make news, not report it. She doesn’t like Hillary, part of the joy of being a columnist is that she gets to express her opinion. I don’t see what the problem is… Ohh except that Hillary had a bad response and looks like an idiot. How is that MD’s fault?
Julian Garza @
201
I know she’s an opinion columnist, and therefore entitled to her own opinion. However, she is still not entitled to her own facts. In particular, I object to the quotes she makes up and attributes to serious candidates… quotes that make them look small, although they are not true, and yet follow them throughout the MSM.
MD didn’t make anything up. She coaxed something out of someone. David Geffen may have made conflicting statements, that doesn’t mean she made it up. His official statement said he was quoted accurately. I still don’t see the story here.
OK, kiddo! ;)
Julian Garza @
203
Sorry, I wasn’t referring specifically to the Geffen quote, but to one I mentioned up thread… about Kerry and Nascar. I could find others… but not right now.
The trend is rising for ‘journalists’ to try to inject themselves into the story, or skew it. Chris Wallace, O’Reilly, Russert, etc. It’s insidious.
when the nyt booted modo off the sunday edition, (the only one i purchase to read offline), my thought was good! now i have an excellent reason to totally avoid her column.
i wonder out of all the nyt op-ed columnists, which one is in the most demand, (earns the most from online requests)
thank goodness they kept frank rich on sundays – his column i would pay to read if he wasn’t in the sunday edition.
educatedplaintiff @
207
Once every week or ten days, I’ll log on to lexis/nexis and catch up on the times editorialists. If you don’t have other access (e.g., via university library), you can probably get through via your public library.