Posted on 05/01/2014 3:25:25 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
".............This is a good example of punditry in its purest, most useless form. Dowd doesn’t actually say how Obama should apply the lesson of the NBA commissioner banning a bigoted old coot. She just says Obama should do that. Because it’s right. And leadership, or something.
Also, if you’re familiar with Dowd’s writing from years past, you know that the big, brash, swing-for-the-fences attitude she wants Obama to embrace was precisely what she disliked about George W. Bush. On the day of Obama’s first inaugural, Dowd wrote a column explicitly differentiating the two on that point: “The optimism was tempered by pessimism, a vibe of ‘Maybe this once-in-a-lifetime guy can do it, but boy, there are a lot of never-in-our-lifetime problems here.’ Unlike W., Obama is a realist. He knows there is the potential of letting all these blissed-out people down.”
But whatever. This is punditry! You don’t need good metaphors or internal consistency or even a point to make it big, especially when arguing that the president just needs to lead. That’s why Dowd’s column, vacant and nonsensical as it was, got an enthusiastic endorsement from the pundit world’s chief leadership fetishist:
[Tweet] Ron Fournier - Every day finds a column I wish I'd written. This is today's: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/opinion/dowd-is-barry-whiffing.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0&referrer= … @NYTimesDowd 6:15 AM - 30 Apr 2014
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
It’s always amazed me that MoDo gets paid to write this stuff. Anyone could do it.
A recent David Bentley Hart line sums it up: “Journalism is the art of transforming abysmal ignorance into execrable prose.”
"WASHINGTON — Stop whining, Mr. President.
And stop whiffing.
Don’t whinge off the record with columnists and definitely don’t do it at a press conference with another world leader. It is disorienting to everybody, here at home and around the world.
I empathize with you about being thin-skinned. When you hate being criticized, it’s hard to take a giant steaming plate of “you stink” every day, coming from all sides. But you convey the sense that any difference on substance is lèse-majesté.
You simply proclaim what you believe as though you know it to be absolutely true, hoping we recognize the truth of it, and, if we don’t, then we’ve disappointed you again.
What does a 'home run' look like, in the context of the Ukrainian crisis? ... I would prefer cool, drama-free, iceman-like reflection and alternative solutions rather than baseball metaphors.
Even some of the chatterers who used to be in your corner now make derogatory remarks about your manhood. And that, I know, really gets under your skin because you think they just don’t get your style of coolly keeping your cards to yourself while you play the long game. Besides, how short memories are. You were the Ice Man who ordered up the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.............."
Wow - looks the Prince really wants to touch those boobs. He sure ain’t looking her in the eye LOL
secondly, the entire piece is drivel... reminds me of that cute AT&T commercial where the little girl is telling the man, "we want more, we want more, we like it and we want more." she is young and cannot formulate her thoughts into words... this is not at all cute coming from Maureen Dowd...
The chickens are coming home to roost for the Obama bootstrappers...
Dowd is worried about the lame duck Obama. Putin isn’t.
AT&T is running a dreadful cringe worthy commercial. There are 4 bossy business females and one incredibly limpy wimpy sappy male “negotiating” with the sales girl. I can’t hit the mute button fast enough.
On that terrible day, January 20, 2009 — a date which will live in infamy - I started flying my American flag upside down and praying that I could right it four years later. It's still inverted as a distress signal, and I am now praying I will be able to right it on January 20, 2017. There has been no more terrible event in our country's history than the assumption of power by that evil, drug-addled communist, aided by enough bigots and parasites to put the election within the margin of fraud.
i have seen it... it is cringe-worthy... i did not even realize it was AT&T... they should stick to the cute little kids at the round table... i love those... "queen my dishes, please..." :)
“It’s always amazed me that MoDo gets paid to write this stuff. Anyone could do it.
A recent David Bentley Hart line sums it up: “Journalism is the art of transforming abysmal ignorance into execrable prose.””
That’s right - even a computer program.
Check out this Thomas Friedman generator... it’s a hoot (and better than the real thing).
http://thomasfriedmanopedgenerator.com/about.php
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