Maureen Blair

National Review ^ | 06/15/03 | David Frum

[Pokey78]

Maureen Dowd seems to have learned nothing from the Jayson Blair fiasco. No, that’s not quite right. She does seem to have learned one thing from the paper of record’s plagiarist of record. Fresh from the scandal of being caught abusing ellipses to twist President Bush’s words, she is now using other people’s work to pad out a column when the deadline clock is tolling.

Yesterday, Dowd wrote one of her trademark gaseous columns about popular culture turning its back on the accomplishments of feminism, etc., etc.

As the column trudged wearily to its end, there unexpectedly appeared an unusual thought, vividly phrased: “There's even a retro trend among women toward deserting the fast track for a pleasant life of sitting around Starbucks gabbing with their girlfriends, baby strollers beside them ...."

Now compare Dowd’s words to these, broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” two weeks ago:

“You see them at Starbucks at two o’clock on a weekday afternoon, pushing a stroller and balancing a latte, with a slight look of bewilderment on their faces, as if to say, ‘How did I end up here?’ … Yet forty years after the launch of the women’s movement, this is exactly what many former career women find themselves doing.”

The broadcaster in question happened to be my wife, Danielle Crittenden, and the "trend" to which Dowd refers (in the late 1990s, the percentage of mothers of young children who worked dropped for the first time in a quarter century) provides the theme for Danielle's new novel.

Asked for comment about how she feels about playing Macarena Hernandez to Dowd’s Jayson Blair, Danielle said only, “Be nice: Maybe she sent a stringer to the Starbucks to look around for her.”

[A_perfect_lady]

LOL! Amanda Bright at Home meets Maureen Dowd at Work.

[per loin]

Dowd wil never win a Milky if she continues to paraphrase instead of copying word for word.

[Mr. Bird]

Dowd is rapidly being exposed as one of those people who hears a good quip or interesting comment and saves it to drop as her own. Such people annoy the hell out of me. No problem in dropping such things, but proper credit should be given, even in casual conversation.

[Michael.SF.]

Seems like much ado about nothing to me.

If something is, in fact a 'trend', then to speak of it in similar terms strikes me as not being unusual.

[Steve_Seattle]

Thanks for the post. I remember Dowd claiming Bush had said that al Quaeda was "not a threat anymore" and thinking that didn't sound right, that it didn't sound like something Bush would have said. Now the truth is out that Bush DIDN'T say that at all, and Dowd clearly intentionally misrepresented his statement. Another one who does this all the time is Molly Ivins; she takes little snippets of speeches, omits key phrases, and makes it appear that something outrageous is being said when in fact that is not the case.

[Tacis]

I believe that the _Pravda Rule Book For Sleazy Left Wingers Who Work For The Media_, in the section on "Distortions" allows the worker of one left-wing media outfit to steal the "word, concept, or idea" of the worker for another sleazty left wing media outlet "...without attribution or citation." Sorry.

[Cicero]

For what it's worth, Starbucks and latte are pretty much shorthand for a certain kind of politically correct postmodernist person. If you've seen the movie "Best in Show" you'll recognize the comic possibilities.

I think I'll stick to calling on Dowd to apologize publicly for her ellipses in all the venues in which her lying column appeared. And I'll also continue to point out that she's the most hormone-drunk, over-the-top, feather-headed writer of bad prose out there today.

She's post-gonzo incarnate.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There should be an annual "Molly" award for the biggest, most blatant plagiarism published in a national newspaper or magazine. Suggest we get Rush to be Master of Ceremonies for the awards dinner. Perhaps there could be a couple of lesser awards, given to those journalists who tell the biggest whoppers. A "Silver Dowd" statuette with chevrons would be nice.

[thegreatbeast]

Uncanny coincidence?
I think not.

[elhombrelibre]

I like that. Think I'll copy it into my next posting without attribution!

[elhombrelibre]

Dowd is rapidly being exposed as one of those people who hears a good quip or interesting comment and saves it to drop as her own. Such people annoy the hell out of me. No problem in dropping such things, but proper credit should be given, even in casual conversation.

Or at least that's what I was thinking (wink, wink).

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[Steve_Seattle]

If Bush said, "I hate it when people say I have no compassion for the poor," perhaps Dowd would quote him as saying, "I hate . . . the poor." That would be about as honest as her use of ellipses in Bush's comments about al Quaeda.

[Charlie OK]

what the hell is SPOTREP? You do that on every single thread.

[mhking]

Considering that Dowd is full of used food...

[LiteKeeper]

I am a retired Army officer (artillery, MI, and chaplain). I have the privilege of teaching several classes in Colorado Springs to high school, college, and adults on comparative worldviews (biblical vs secular). As I read the various threads, some impress me as good for illustrating different worldviews. So, using some Army terminology, I mark "incidents" as "SPOTREPS" (spot report) and "descriptions of the current world scene" as "SITREPs" (situation reports). When I get home, I download these SPOTREPs and SITREPs to a database for future use.

Does that help?

[Charlie OK]

thanks. sorry to word that so harshly. I have seen you post that several times and could never figure out what it meant. Hard to convey emotion on a message board, but know that I was laughing while I asked what it meant. I wasnt mad or anything.

[LiteKeeper]

Not a problem, thanks for asking. FreeRepublic has become a gold mine for illustrating to my students the very strange world that we live in. I find dozens of illustrations daily!

[LiteKeeper]

And, BTW, it brings new, young Freepers in to the fold!