I cant really express adequately what an embarrassment Maureen Dowd is to the New York Times op-ed page and to the left. If anyone is still laboring under any delusions, Dowd emphatically does not speak for any part of the left. She is a fool, a jester, a marionette. She thinks she is clever. She is not.
The situation in Pakistan is complex. It has been complex for the last thirty years. It might be cute to criticize the president for being friendly with a dictator, and it certainly offers opportunity for schadenfreude for those that never bought into Bush’s ‘Freedom Agenda’. So, Bush’s rhetoric turned out to be bankrupt. Is that really such a big surprise? The evidence was already in. Elections in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia all resulted in anti-American victories. Perhaps we shouldn’t be pushing Bush to continue a fatally flawed policy?
The bottom line, and something MoDo doesn’t understand at all, is that events in Pakistan are not remotely funny. Whether we should continue to supply aid to Pakistan or we should withdraw that support is not a decision to be made by the faint of heart, nor by anyone without access to the best intelligence our agencies can provide.
Bush’s failure might seem funny, but it is no laughing matter. If I can turn the tables on the villagers: Maureen Dowd is not a serious person.
Er…I don’t think she WAS being serious in this piece. Maybe I need more context and convincing.
Tossing around nicknames like Mushy and Sarko? I think that it is deliberate, but not for the reasons you think.
I will say this: she helped Bush get in by attacking Gore back in 2000, and while she can apologize for this, I still cannot forgive her.
whats your problem Boo? have you lost your sense of humor? Sure this is an example of political humor and you apparently don’t like it. Thats ok. You are allowed. However, what the hell is wrong with Mushy? what the hell is wrong with poking fun with the inability of the “leader” of the only super power in the world to speak? Swagger is OK?
The lady is caustic, angry and this has been way she has been for years. Did you listen to the schmuck when he commented on his call to Mushy? What the hell is he? A two bit street corner punk? How about a little focus! This piece of shit is willing to continue to ship billions to the two bit frad while the two bit fraud hasn’t done shit to help the US. Poke fun at him and the chimp every time! What do you want?
Dowd packs a lot into one column. There is the whole hypocrisy issue that you casually dismiss. A lot of people supported his misguided war because it was to promote democracy and freedom. It also digs at Dubya’s flaws as a leader because he emphasizes the personal with the cute nicknames and “looking into eyes”.
This column is not getting enough support for exposing the failed Bush Administration’s policy in South Asia where we are cozying up to dangerous thugs with nuclear weapons because we so miserably messed up taking out the thugs that didn’t have nuclear weapons.
Behind the humor is some righteous anger and deservedly so.
It wasn’t Bush’s policy to make Musharraf suspend the constitution.
And regardless of whether or not Bush’s policies in the past contributed to Musharraf’s actions now, this is no laughing matter and it isn’t some grand betrayal if the U.S. decides to maintain our support for Pakistan. We have a whole NATO force in landlocked Afghanistan.
Sure, it will make us look like hypocrites…again. That is not the most pressing concern facing us in this situation.
Dowd treats this like some kind of dining faux pas.
Maurenn Dowd. Can’t stand her. Won’t read her.
I have never really liked MoDO’s writing or her cleverness. that being said, i think you may be over reacting to her column…while it is a bit awkward in terms of writing style, she uses humor to sum up Bush/GOP approaches to things that matter:
The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the repression of liberty in other lands.
…sometimes we must fight terror with tyranny.
From now on, it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of tyrannical movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending democracy in our world so liberty can thrive.
To serve your people you must learn to mistrust them.
Miss Dowd is a wit—a witette, in the Oscar Wilde vein. Except he was writing a hundred years ago in Britain, she’s pushing her prose today in the U.S.A. which is crumbling, partly thanks to her itchy bitchy remarks about Al Gore. Did you get the way she swooned over John Edwards’ hair and whole bunch of other crap. She doesn’t need to be serious because she is established and not poor. Her way with words is remarkable, though. It’s just the more abstract, analytical parts of her brain which seem to function less than optimally. Anyway that’s my opinion. If you’re interested in the anthropology of Miss Dowd, read Bob Somerby, dailyhowler, on the fifties-, sixties-ish Irish-American backgrounds of her and many of her cohorts who daily influence U.S. politics in print and on television. They include big, big names. By the way, Bob Somerby knows the tribal markers first hand, so he has excellent credentials.
yeah, she and Matthews share some common hangups.
I just saw this article up on msnbc.com. Do you think Biden’s comparison of the current situation in Pakistan to late 70’s Iran holds water?
It holds a lot of water.
However, if we were to line up the two situations and lay them on top of each other, it would be Benazir Bhutto playing the role of Ayatollah Khomeini.
He returned from exile in Najaf, she has returned from exile in Dubai.
From America’s perspective, a revolution that installed Bhutto would be positive development.
So, the situations are not exactly analogous. But Biden is correct that we could wind up with a complete nightmare. And don’t forget that India is not a passive observer here. They could make a major mistake at any time.
Hangups? Rather, social perversities, I’d call them, in plain English, sexual blocks, twisted frustration. If I have to be exposed to her in the Times, then she can put up with me at BooMan.