Let's Blame Canada (Dowd alert)

The New York Times ^ | 07/20/03 | Maureen Dowd

[Pokey78]

They were wrong, of course. Soldiers should not go public in the middle of a conflict and trash-talk their superiors or ask for the resignation of the secretary of defense.

But it was inevitable that their gripes would bubble to the surface. Many American troops in Iraq are exhausted, and perplexed about the scary new guerrilla war they're caught up in. And they have every right to be scared, because the coolly efficient Bush commanders have now been exposed as short-term tacticians who had no strategy for dealing with a war of liberation that morphed into a war of attrition.

The Third Infantry Division, which spearheaded the drive to Baghdad and has been away from home the longest, has had its departure date yanked away twice. Last week, some soldiers from the Third in Falluja — a treacherous place where many Americans have been killed by guerrillas, including one on Friday — griped to the ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman. One soldier said, "If Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation."

The complaints infuriated some in the Bush administration, and the new Tommy Franks, Gen. John Abizaid, suggested that field commanders might mete out "a verbal reprimand or something more stringent."

Somebody at the White House decided not to wait. Matt Drudge, the conservative cybercolumnist, told Lloyd Grove, the Washington Post gossip columnist, that "someone from the White House communications shop" told him about the ABC story and also about a profile of the Canadian-born Mr. Kofman in The Advocate, a gay publication. Mr. Drudge quickly linked the two stories on his popular Web site, first headlining the Advocate piece, "ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINTS STORY — OPENLY GAY CANADIAN." Eight minutes later, he amended the headline to read, "ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINTS STORY IS CANADIAN," leaving readers to discover in the body of the story what the Bush provocateur apparently felt was Mr. Kofman's other vice.

Now that the right wing's bête noire, Peter Jennings, has gotten his American citizenship, conservatives may have needed another ABC Canadian to kick around. And the Christian right is still smarting over the Supreme Court's telling police they could no longer storm gay bedrooms in search of sodomy.

Scott McClellan, the new Bush press secretary, said that if Mr. Drudge's contention about his source was true, it would be "totally inappropriate." He added, "If anyone on my staff did it, they would no longer be working for me." He said he had no way to trace an anonymous source.

But Bush loyalists regularly plant information they want known in the Drudge Report. Whoever dredged up the Advocate story was appealing to the baser nature of President Bush's base, seeking to discredit the ABC report by smearing the reporter for what he or she considers sins of private life (not straight) and passport (not American). Let's hope the fans of Ann (Have you no sense of decency?) Coulter aren't taking her revisionist view of McCarthyism too seriously and making character assassination fashionable again on the Potomac.

What we are witnessing is how ugly it can get when control freaks start losing control. Beset by problems, the Bush team responds by attacking those who point out the problems. These linear, Manichaean managers are flailing in an ever-more-chaotic environment. They are spending $3.9 billion a month trying to keep the lid on a festering mess in Iraq, even as Afghanistan simmers.

The more Bush officials try to explain how the president made the bogus uranium claim in his State of the Union address, despite the C.I.A. red flags and the State Department warning that it was "highly dubious," the more inexplicable it seems. The list of evils the administration has not unearthed keeps getting longer — Osama, Saddam, W.M.D., the anthrax terrorist — as the deficit gets bigger ($455 billion, going to $475 billion).

After 9/11, this administration had everything going for it. Republicans ruled Congress. The president had enormously high approval ratings. Yet it overreached while trying to justify the reasons for going to war.

Even when conservatives have all the marbles, they still act as if they're under siege. Now that they are under siege, it is no time for them to act as if they're losing their marbles.

[Pokey78]

Bitch.

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From Oxblog:

IMMUTABLE LAWS OF DOWD

1. Ashcroft never deserves credit.

2. Offering constructive solutions to problems, instead of whining endlessly about them, is a sign of weakness.

3. The People Magazine principle: all political phenomena can be explained with reference solely to caricatures of the personalities involved ("Dubya" is stupid; "Poppy" is an aristocrat; Cheney is macho-man; etc.). Any reference to the common good or even to old-fashioned politicking is, like, so passe.

4. It is much better to be cute than coherent.

5. Maureen knows best. Her long years as a columnist (doing basically what your great-aunt Tillie does in the nursing home bull sessions, but getting paid for it) have given her deep insight into foreign relations, politics, welfare, the Constitution, and all other topics. To disagree with Maureen in any way is not only a sign of being wrong, it's a hallmark of pure evil...or at least membership in the NRA, which is pretty much the same thing.

6. It is usually possible and always desirable to name-drop and name-call in the same sentence.

7. The particulars of my consumer-driven, shamefully self-involved life reveal universal truths.

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Explanation of the Dowd/Douglas connection: by Miss Marple- 2/11/03

Ms. Dowd was escorted around New York and DC for many months by one Michael Douglas of Hollywood fame and fortune. She got to go to all the best parties, was photographed for the tabloids, and was picking out a gown to wear at the Oscars. Of course, Michael had become interested in her during Clinton's impeachment, when she had written some very anti-Clinton columns. After a few weeks of the Michael treatment, she began to write anti-Starr, ant-Newt columns, ignoring Clinton.

Then Clinton was acquitted by the Senate. In an amazing coincidence, Michael Douglas dropped Ms. Dowd like a hot potato, and instead picked up a hot tomato, Catherin Zeta-Jones, who subsequently bore him a son and they were married.

Ms. Dowd cannot get over her tragic loss. Her columns are increasingly anti-Bush, in the hope of impressing her lost love, Michael.

In addition, we think she has a secret crush on the President and is trying to get him to pay attention to her. Ha!

[Cobra64]

Absolutely amazing what this creature writes. I'd use the "C" word to describe her.

[Gunslingr3]

what word are you hunting for...

[Helms]

I bet Dowd's Hot Flashes are hotter than
any teperatures in Iraq.

[sauropod]

"Let's hope the fans of Ann (Have you no sense of decency?) Coulter aren't taking her revisionist view of McCarthyism too seriously and making character assassination fashionable again on the Potomac."

ROFLMAO, Mo. Like you don't engage in character assassination?

[xzins]

"c"ommunist?

[snooker]

<<< ... to the baser nature of President Bush's base >>>

It's interesting to contemplate what the baser nature of President Clintoon's base might be. Have fun. It can be interesting thinking about it all. And where does Dowd fit into it.

[what's up]

"Now that the right wing's bête noire, Peter Jennings, has gotten his American citizenship"

However, I believe Jennings has retained dual citizenship so he is still Canadian when it is convenient, no?

[El Laton Caliente]

I have a phone call for Mike Hunt...
Has anyone seen Mike Hunt?
- Porkey's

[YaYa123]

.."it was inevitable that their gripes would bubble to the surface.." That's what happens Dowdy, soldiers gripe. Only now with GWB as commander in chief, do liberals pay attention. (They didn't report how hated Clinton was by all ranks, in all the services!)

"..Bush loyalists regularly plant information they want known in the Drudge Report.." Like Blumenthal planted Clinton stories in all the mainstream media?

"..the bogus uranium claim.."Read my lips, Dowdy, that claim ain't bogus!

"...Let's hope the fans of Ann (Have you no sense of decency?) Coulter aren't taking her revisionist view of McCarthyism too seriously and making character assassination fashionable again on the Potomac." Now we know Dowd's real target...gorgeous, brilliant, best selling Ann. M E O W!

.."Beset by problems, the Bush team responds by attacking those who point out the problems.." Dowdy does it again! Accuses republicans of doing what the Clintons are famous for!

"..Losing their marbles.." Dowdy would have this on the brain after a few weeks of watching the Democrats drool over the off chance they might have something to pin on Bush.

[whereasandsoforth]

Ms. Dowd is to a liberal rant what alum is to a douche.

[Allegra]

I'm convinced that Mo drinks heavily as she writes her poor excuses for "columns."

[ewing]

Is this the first time the Modo bird has mentioned Ann Coulter?

[CDHart]

"I'm convinced that Mo drinks heavily as she writes her poor excuses for "columns.""

But we all still post them and read them, don't we? That's why she's paid the big bucks, I guess.

Carolyn

[nothingnew]

...and perplexed about the scary new guerrilla war

Ewwww, it's "scary and new". These are well trained soldiers you ninny, who have learned the art of guerrilla warfare. Shut yer pie-hole, you stupid, ignorant, Bush hating communist.

FMCDH

[Allegra]

But we all still post them and read them, don't we? That's why she's paid the big bucks, I guess.

Carolyn

Who said anything about reading them? I read the first couple of her columns I saw a few years back, (they're syndicated in my local paper) but I now merely look at a line or two for my own personal amusement. One does not need to read very much of Mo to get her bilious drift.

[jimbo123]

The reporter is a canadian and a member of the vaseline brigade. That information is important for people to know in order to understand the motives of ABC and their hit piece.

[jimbo123]

Dowd is also dating the crackhead creator of the West Wing who was just fired. And her primary romance with the bottle is well known.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Attention: Maureen Dowd

The Effect of Sexual Deprivation on Women

[Grig]