Maureen Dowd: Who's On First? (10/29 column)

[highplainsdem]

http://oakparkgirl.blogspot.com/2005/10/whos-on-first.html


Who's On First?

October 29, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON

It was bracing to see the son of a New York doorman open the door on the mendacious Washington lair of the Lord of the Underground.

But this Irish priest of the law, Patrick Fitzgerald, neither Democrat nor Republican, was very strict, very precise. He wasn't totally gratifying in clearing up the murkiness of the case, yet strangely comforting in his quaint black-and-white notions of truth and honor (except when his wacky baseball metaphor seemed to veer toward a "Who's on first?" tangle).

<snip>

But what we really want to know, now that we have the bare bones of who said what to whom in the indictment, is what they were all thinking there in that bunker and how that hothouse bred the idea that the way out of their Iraq problems was to slime their critics instead of addressing the criticism. What we really want to know, if Scooter testifies in the trial, and especially if he doesn't, is what Vice did to create the spidery atmosphere that led Scooter, who seemed like an interesting and decent guy, to let his zeal get the better of him.

<snip>

Vice spent so much time lurking over at the C.I.A., trying to intimidate the analysts at Langley into twisting the intelligence about weapons, that he should have had one of his undisclosed locations there.

<snip>

Another great column...

[flowomo]

1. she has a long piece coming Sunday... see post below at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2190973&mesg_id=2190973

[highplainsdem]

20. Thanks for the heads up! Here's the link to that:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/magazine/30feminism.html?hp


Just finished reading it. Very thoughtful, and very saddening (despite her usual wit).

[texpatriot2004]

2. MoDo has such a way with words

"...Mr. Cheney, eager to be rid of the meddlesome Joe Wilson, got Valerie Wilson's name from the C.I.A. and passed it on to Scooter. He forced the C.I.A. to compromise one of its own, a sacrifice on the altar of faith-based intelligence."

[BattyDem]

3. Great column, but ...

I actually thought that the baseball metaphor was a terrific way to simplify the process. It put it into terms that the average person could understand.

[flowomo]

4. yes, I thought it made the point very well

[ROH]

6. Yes, the baseball metaphor was very good (n/t)

[Straight Shooter]

8. I also liked the baseball metaphor.

It provided visual imagery that anyone who has ever seen a baseball game could follow. And I liked the metaphor of the baseball hitting someone in the head, which is exactly what the administration did to Valerie Plame and Brewster-Jennings.

Sometimes MoDo is a dodo.

[Awsi Dooger]

14. I agree, it worked very well

I'm hardly a baseball fan but in this case I was more than happy to hear someone ramble about a hypothetical beanball. Fitzgerald is apparently a lifelong baseball fan, first the Mets then switching to the Cubs, according to Olbermann.

The only problem I had with the analogy was normally you know exactly why the pitcher throws at the batter, since any bad blood between the individuals or teams is highly publicized. Plus many beanings occur immediately after something happens in a previous inning or at bat.

[longship]

5. MoDo is worth a bump.

Recommended and kicked.

[thebigidea]

7. ... seemed like an interesting and decent guy?

[linazelle]

9. Exactly. I'm thinking the same thing....

:eyes:

[Carolab]

10. Maybe she "fancied him".

She's entitled.

[Neil Lisst]

11. Maureen is great. She hammered Judas Miller.

Here's my Who's on first? comic from last week.

[linazelle]

12. That's hilarious. LOL nt

[Neil Lisst]

15. Thanks. Here was the follow-up, which exploited that one.

[thebigidea]

13. only when it became ok to do so.

did she criticize Miller in print at all when it mattered, during 2002-3?

[Neil Lisst]

16. When the NY Times signaled it was ok, Dowd cut loose.

She never would have done so otherwise.

[Carolab]

17. I think she was waiting for the right time.

From Dowd's "Woman of Mass Destruction" piece:

"I've always liked Judy Miller. I have often wondered what Waugh or Thackeray would have made of the Fourth Estate's Becky Sharp.

The traits she has that drive many reporters at The Times crazy - her tropism toward powerful men, her frantic intensity and her peculiar mixture of hard work and hauteur - have never bothered me. I enjoy operatic types.

Once when I was covering the first Bush White House, I was in The Times's seat in the crowded White House press room, listening to an administration official's background briefing. Judy had moved on from her tempestuous tenure as a Washington editor to be a reporter based in New York, but she showed up at this national security affairs briefing.

At first she leaned against the wall near where I was sitting, but I noticed that she seemed agitated about something. Midway through the briefing, she came over and whispered to me, "I think I should be sitting in the Times seat."

It was such an outrageous move, I could only laugh. I got up and stood in the back of the room, while Judy claimed what she felt was her rightful power perch."

**********

Sounds to me like Judy had a bit more "protection" at the Times than did Dowd. Maureen wouldn't have jeopardized her own career by attacking Judy in print until the Times own management came down on her too.

[highplainsdem]

18. kick

[No Exit]

19. Great!! She also captures perfectly the Orwellian nature of this

mal-Administration:

"This administration's grand schemes always end up as the opposite. Officials say they're promoting national security when they're hurting it; they say they're squelching terrorists when they're breeding them; they say they're bringing stability to Iraq when the country's imploding. (The U.S. announced five more military deaths yesterday.)"--Maureen Dowd, same column