THE PLANK AUGUST 11, 2008
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One other thing about that Maureen Dowd column on Edwards that Isaac mentions below. Dowd writes:
Back in 2002, Edwards sent me a Ken doll dressed in bathing trunks, Rio
de Janeiro Ken, with a teasing note, because he didn’t like my
reference to him as a Ken doll in a column.
It really is kind of amazing how much time politicians spend sucking up to MoDo. As Noam has noted, Obama is "unusually solicitous" to Dowd when she shows up on the campaign trail. And who can forget this Dowd column from October 2001, at the height of the anthrax hysteria, which began:
John McCain called to try to talk me down.
I don't necessarily blame these pols for trying to curry favor with Dowd. As the Clintons can attest, it doesn't behoove them to get on the wrong side of her pen. But I wonder if there's any other columnist who gets this sort of high-level attention.
--Jason Zengerle
6 comments
I do not know why anyone bothers reading Dowd anymore. When did she last say anything substantive? Perhaps any substance is lost in the sarcasm, innuendo, and glib throw-away lines that pass for wisdom in her columns, and I am too dim to understand her hidden meaning, but I view reading Dowd as a waste of time.
- scdrawe
August 11, 2008 at 12:48pm
The most powerful bitch in America.
- emigdio
August 11, 2008 at 1:00pm
Hmm.. maybe she's exaggerating a wee bit?
That Edwards, twerp that he is, would send her a Ken doll doesn't surprise, but I find it hard to imagine McCain or any other serious, heavyweight pol taking her all that seriously.
- teplukhin2you
August 11, 2008 at 3:57pm
Also, how many readers does Dowd have these days, and how large is her share of mind with even these readers? Given the complete flop that was TimesSelect, and the continued meltdown of the traditional media, I have to think that both MoDo's readership and her mindshare have fallen off a cliff since the Monica era.
- teplukhin2you
August 11, 2008 at 4:00pm
I don't know tep. Her drivel is always at the top of the "most emailed" list. Don't know what that means, but it is enough to always make me cry.
- boneill
August 11, 2008 at 4:56pm
I like that she can and does provoke her subjects. It's refreshing to see someone take her bait and abandon their script but I doubt it has much to do with intimidation or sucking up to her. It may take some time to see flaws when people are packaged and surrounded by a bubble. But she's on the mark with the weaknesses & she perceives them early on. By appealing to a person's vanity she ends up cracking through their self-importance. That's OK!
It's a neat trick and not many people have much luck at cracking the conceit. In the process she reveals superciliousness that should be exposed.
- michael
August 11, 2008 at 5:30pm