What is wrong with Maureen Dowd? And why am I still reading her?

The light touch re: Trump. The affectionate tut-tutting of the Donald and then yet another gratuitous swipe at the President: Obama is a pig in a poke, just like G.W. Bush, says la Dowd, from the safety of her very well paid perch at the world's most influential newspaper.

But Trump: "He always treated me well." Well, you should be ashamed of yourself, then.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-trump-the-disrupter.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

And I'm sure she didn't get roofied by Bill Cosby...

But she's fun, no?

Anyone catch her Tom Brady-as-Hillary column last week? Very clever.

She won her Pulitzer for zinging the Clintons. And she's hammered away at "Professor" Obama for years.

Gail Collins is as much fun, and not as snarky (except for the dog-on-roof thing).

Maureen Dowd turned me off years and years ago. There is something about writing satire that can or maybe should burn people out. I recall Russell Baker who wrote for the NY Times talking about moving away from political satire because it was disheartening after a while. Even Maureen's photo is such that I think I would want to stay away from her. I think if she chose not to like a person she would rip them to shreds.

gerryl said:
Maureen Dowd turned me off years and years ago. There is something about writing satire that can or maybe should burn people out. I recall Russell Baker who wrote for the NY Times talking about moving away from political satire because it was disheartening after a while. Even Maureen's photo is such that I think I would want to stay away from her. I think if she chose not to like a person she would rip them to shreds.

+1, I was going to say I asked the OP's questions years ago. What took you so long? LOL!

She doesn't even text or email me anymore. I think it's cuz I took her to Libretti's and ordered her a pasta dish that she said was "something rather less than winsome".

She also called my tie "an affront to quietude".

So tough to please.

But her hair smelled like cinnamon.

I miss her so.

Oooh! At Libretti's with MoDo! I hope it was one of the nights all the priests were there. I know that Essex County RC priests love Libretti's.

What is her voice like?

Like confectiony purrrfection. Such nouns. Such verbs.

Alas, no more. All past tense.

I stopped reading Dowd and Friedman about a decade ago. I haven't read Collins since she was at Newsday. I gave up on Brooks 5-6 years ago, and never started reading Bruni. The NYT op-ed page is mostly a bunch of lazy hacks, and I don't find Dowd or Collins funny or entertaining. The Time op-ed page is borderline journalistic malpractice, given the weight its given among the power elite. There are half a dozen people who post on MOL who are more insightful and/or entertaining than Dowd, Collins, Friedman, Bruni, and Brooks. Maybe the paper of record should be recruiting their next columnist from this board.

I totally agree as to the quality of that half dozen or so MOL columnists.

I miss Gail Collins. I love Gail Collins. She shouldn't be allowed to take book leave.

Spike_Jones said:
I totally agree as to the quality of that half dozen or so MOL columnists.

If you go back to the "Rose Garden" thread, you will find that ridski's comments on Benghazi are better researched and argued than anything that's ever appeared that topic on the NYT op-ed page.

ml1 said:
I stopped reading Dowd and Friedman about a decade ago. I haven't read Collins since she was at Newsday. I gave up on Brooks 5-6 years ago, and never started reading Bruni. The NYT op-ed page is mostly a bunch of lazy hacks, and I don't find Dowd or Collins funny or entertaining. The Time op-ed page is borderline journalistic malpractice, given the weight its given among the power elite. There are half a dozen people who post on MOL who are more insightful and/or entertaining than Dowd, Collins, Friedman, Bruni, and Brooks. Maybe the paper of record should be recruiting their next columnist from this board.

Well said. Also your comment on Ridski's comments. While we are at it, we can toss in Ross Douthat who along with Brooks is a resident conservative. He can be a bit more on than Brooks and the others, but he also swings and misses so often that I wonder why they let him take up column space.

Then again, this is the leading newspaper that has turned over about 70% of the front page of the Sunday editorial section to a large graphic each week, which shows how much they value their brand.

The Washington Post is worse. Neocon central, with Will, Krauthammer, Gerson, etc etc.

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:
I miss Gail Collins. I love Gail Collins. She shouldn't be allowed to take book leave.

Me too. Seriously.

Me too. I think she's remained fresh while Dowd has not.

As my sacrificial offering of the day, I must confess that I find Maureen Dowd sarcastically amusing and snarky. Sometimes she zeros in on the personality foibles of our leaders with a refreshing take on them. I wouldn't want to be in her cross-hairs, but don't think I have to worry about her as much as MOL.

Jasmo said:
As my sacrificial offering of the day, I must confess that I find Maureen Dowd sarcastically amusing and snarky. Sometimes she zeros in on the personality foibles of our leaders with a refreshing take on them. I wouldn't want to be in her cross-hairs, but don't think I have to worry about her as much as MOL.

Let me know when she compares the GOP presidential field to Survivor. Or Gilligan's Island. Or both. I believe she's contractually bound to write that column every four years. I think we'll see it around October of this year.

Dowd seems to spend more energy on showing her wittiness than saying important things. It takes so much energy to read her, and then after I've spent it, I realize she doesn't make many salient points.

But she recently wrote a column about Joe Biden, and by chance, I read it. And it was good. Ya nevah know.

Brooks is sometimes insightful and sometimes a total rear orifice.

I stopped reading Brooks because he had a tendency to blame all the problems in this country on his perception that Americans are morally lacking (without evidence of course). There's an aspect of victim blaming that I find distasteful.

ml1 said:

Spike_Jones said:
I totally agree as to the quality of that half dozen or so MOL columnists.

If you go back to the "Rose Garden" thread, you will find that ridski's comments on Benghazi are better researched and argued than anything that's ever appeared that topic on the NYT op-ed page.

I would not expect less. Ridski is clearly a lot smarter than any of those people.

GL2 said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:
I miss Gail Collins. I love Gail Collins. She shouldn't be allowed to take book leave.

Me too. Seriously.

I have to admit that I like most of her columns.

So the Library book group decided to read a Gail Collins book. I emailed her to see if she would join with us during the dfiscussion. (I often do that to very few replies, alas)

Ms. Collins IMMEDIATELY responded that our request with a delightful email

Hi
Nancy - It's so nice of you to ask me and I'd love to meet your group
but I'm afraid I can't. I have two book projects going simultaneously
and I've sworn a blood oath that I won't agree to do anything until
they're out of the way. If I lapse I'll wind up fired or divorced or
both.
So please tell everyone hi for me. I'm honored you chose my book.
Gail

A real mensch and I read everything she writes!

What specifically has Brooks said that implies that Americans are lacking in morality? I am curious.

here's an example. we're not "self-effacing" like we were in the good old days:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/opinion/david-brooks-when-cultures-shift.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region

LL_ said:
So the Library book group decided to read a Gail Collins book. I emailed her to see if she would join with us during the dfiscussion. (I often do that to very few replies, alas)
Ms. Collins IMMEDIATELY responded that our request with a delightful email
Hi
Nancy - It's so nice of you to ask me and I'd love to meet your group
but I'm afraid I can't. I have two book projects going simultaneously
and I've sworn a blood oath that I won't agree to do anything until
they're out of the way. If I lapse I'll wind up fired or divorced or
both.
So please tell everyone hi for me. I'm honored you chose my book.
Gail


A real mensch and I read everything she writes!

LL, that's wonderful, and one more reason I love Gail Collins. (Mitt Romney was the best thing that ever happened to her. She wrote some compelling and hilarious stuff about him.)

How about Krugman?

ffof said:
How about Krugman?

I worship Krugman.

I love Krugman's columns, too, but I take issue with his repeated claims about there being no inflation. I understand that government measures don't necessarily reflect reality, but he seems to believe there is no inflation. I'm thinking of writing to him.

ml1 said:
I stopped reading Dowd and Friedman about a decade ago. I haven't read Collins since she was at Newsday. I gave up on Brooks 5-6 years ago, and never started reading Bruni. The NYT op-ed page is mostly a bunch of lazy hacks, and I don't find Dowd or Collins funny or entertaining. The Time op-ed page is borderline journalistic malpractice, given the weight its given among the power elite. There are half a dozen people who post on MOL who are more insightful and/or entertaining than Dowd, Collins, Friedman, Bruni, and Brooks. Maybe the paper of record should be recruiting their next columnist from this board.

ditto, more or less

The lack of brainpower on the NYT op-ed page is remarkable. It's about the most insight-less collection of words you're likely to find.