MoDo: Surrender Already, Dorothy

[RamboLiberal]

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Many voters decided last week to stick with Obama despite his less-than-convincing explanations about the Rev. Wright — even as many soured on Hillary, casting her as Lady Voldemort.

Democrats are coming around to the point Jay Rockefeller made 10 days ago after introducing Obama in West Virginia: “Democrats always make a mistake by nominating people who know everything on earth there is to know about public policy. I introduced both Al Gore and John Kerry at their rallies. They knew all the policies, but people didn’t connect with them. You don’t get elected president if people don’t like you.”

Despite Bill Clinton’s saying it was “a bunch of bull” that his wife should drop out, Democrats are trying to sneak up on Hillary, throw a burlap sack over her head, carry her off the field and stick her in a Saddam spider hole until after the Denver convention.

One Obama adviser moaned that the race was “beginning to feel like a hostage crisis” and would probably go on for another month to six weeks. And Obama said that the “God, when will this be over?” primary season was like “a good movie that lasted about a half an hour too long.”

Hillary sunnily riposted that she likes long movies. Her favorite as a girl was “The Wizard of Oz,” so surely she spots the “Surrender Dorothy” sign in the sky and the bad portent of the ladies of “The View” burbling to Obama about how sexy he is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30dowd.html?ref=opinion

[DJ13]

1. One Obama adviser moaned that the race was “beginning to feel like a hostage crisis”

[senseandsensibility]

2. I find many of Dowd's comments about Barack more

revealing about HER, and her limited worldview. She calls his ancestry "braided" and says he's exotic and has a strange name. She suggests that he is not American enough. I'm from California, and his background does not seem exotic to me. Are people on the East coast really like that, or is it just pampered, older ,rich people like Dowd?

[elleng]

3. I don't think that pampered, older and rich

properly characterize Dowd. Plain old obnoxious does it for me.

'Dowd was born in Washington, D.C.,<1/14/52> the youngest of five children, where her father (who was born in County Clare in Ireland) worked as a Washington D.C. police inspector.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_Dowd

[EFerrari]

9. I don't like the way she talks about either candidate. n/t

[Muttocracy]

18. same here - she's out to promote herself above all else nt

[KittyWampus]

24. Dowd's main concern is keeping her journalist title so she gets invited to all the parties

[americanstranger]

13. I'm East Coast and most of us don't think like that.

MoDo is a superficial idiot.

This piece may sound sympathetic to Obama, but she's already coined the nickname 'Obambi.' More abuse awaits him when he gets the nomination.

She'll turn on him soon enough. she always does that.

- as

[Orsino]

22. She may be fumbling toward the truth, here, whatever that may be...

...but Dowd is an idiotic waste of column inches.

If Dowd tell you to get out, staying in my be a good idea.

[roseBudd]

4. "You don’t get elected president if people don’t like you.”

Yes when will democratic primary voters figure this out.

Charisma counts.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. MoDo gets it.

[question everything]

12. Even if this is all the candidate has (nt)

[tabasco]

16. Character, integrity, leadership.

A hell of a lot more than his opponent.

[loveangelc]

5. Love ya, Mo!

[SoxFan]

7. "Lady Voldemort"

:spray:

[tishaLA]

8. I support Obama and abhor Maureen Dowd

To me, she is little better than posting Mort Zuckerman or Mort Kondrake. She will play her coquettish games--because she believes in them--and, by mid-September, she will be typing away about "Obambi" and his vague lack of virility. She will suggest that maybe he really IS just words and that he needs a patriotism transplant. And she will say that Michelle lacks the kind of decorum Cindy McCain displays, and that she has a decidedly un-feminine "edge." She will probably suggest that Michelle wears the pants in the family and that she allows "Obambi" to make his nice speeches because, you know, it's better than his staying home with the girls. She established herself in a corporate job, MoDo will remind us, while "Obambi" made his in cute things like community organizing.

I plan to keep MoDo at a distance, and I won't ever celebrate her, even when she says something that helps Obama.

[PlanetBev]

11. tisha, you nailed that to the wall

I'm an Obama supporter too, but Dowd is no friend of ours. She will go after Obama in short order, turning a decent human being into a caricature of himself.

Maureen Dowd represents everything that is wrong with journalism in America today.

[Tatiana]

14. Co-sign on every word of this response. n/t

[americanstranger]

15. Wow. that was superb.

I think you've written all of MoDo's columns for the rest of the year.

- as

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

35. You're a visionary.

:applause:

[question everything]

10. I have discounted anything that Dowd writes about Bill and Hillary

ever since I found out that she won her Pulitzer documenting the Monica tales.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. MoDo has a talent for the clever phrase,

but her only real stock-in-trade is snark. She revels in the shallow but witty observation; she lives for the opportunity to skewer people based on their style, their clothing, their mannerisms, and especially their perceived position in the political horse race, but she is either incapable of or uninterested in any real analysis. She just wants to be cleverly nasty. And she's even worse on television.

[noel711]

19. "Surrender...?" But but but...

Dorothy NEVER surrendered...
she did what she had to do...

The iconic "Wizard of Oz" was updates
with the creation of the incredible story "Wicked"
(the true story of the 'witches' of Oz)
Where the characters are deepened,
In the words of the bold Elphaba to
the ambitious, thoughtless Galinda:

"Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down..."

Let's not count out the so -called 'witch' yet...

And, if this is 'no fairy tale' according to
bill clinton, is there no fairy tale ending?

I'm not taking sides here folks,
I'm trying to complete MoDo's metaphor...
interpret at will..

[gulliver]

20. I'll bet Kerry loved Rockefeller's line implying Kerry was unlikeable. n/t

[MH1]

25. I'm sure it's less bothersome to him than the knife Hillary stuck in his back.

The media myth has been firmly established, and Rockefeller is just repeating it. Kerry the guy who was "maybe too charismatic" to be veep in 2000 (he would overshadow Gore); but in 2004 somehow the media painted him as uncharismatic. Huh? Funny thing, I didn't go to any Kerry rallies early in 2004 because I already knew I wanted to vote for him, so what was the point? But then other Kerry supporters told me "no, you HAVE to go to a rally". So I finally went and found out that the media caricature was, of course, all wrong.

Kerry is plenty likeable. That's not what the media wanted to sell, though. I'm sure he's not too concerned about Rockefeller's statement - it's water under the bridge.

[gulliver]

29. A very ironic thing happened there.

Hillary fed Kerry to the mob, probably in service to the Dems winning the 2006 election. Had she defended Kerry, we probably would not have won the Senate. So, in a way, her backstabbing Kerry could be seen as doing what was necessary to put an end to Bush and the GOP's unilateral power.

Bush's attack on Kerry reminds me of the Vietnamese sniper trick shown in Full Metal Jacket. Only Bush's attack was much dirtier and was done by, reportedly, a sitting president. Bush attacked Kerry by twisting what Kerry said. Kerry fell wounded. Then Bush, Rove, and the GOP waited to pick off anyone who came to Kerry's rescue. They wanted to make the whole race about Kerry.

Kerry had to lose (the 2006 dust-up, not the election). There was (and is) no one in the Dem line-up with enought charisma and rhetorical skill to save Kerry in that situation. It was a political knee-capping of Kerry by Bush and Rove, a crime against the honor of the office of the presidency.

[Inuca]

31. She backstabbed Kerry to save the party?

REALLY?

[gulliver]

34. Amy Poehler and Seth Myers want their line back.

I didn't say Hillary did it to save the party, of course. That seems to be an exaggeration on your part. I just said she probably thought she was nailing Kerry in service to the party, either to get Kerry off the front page or completely off the political stage. That doesn't mean she had no selfish motives or whatever else you seem to assume but maybe can't bring yourself to say.

[MH1]

32. Your analysis is flawed.

Hillary in no way was doing it to "save the party" - plenty of other Dems defended Kerry. She could have simply said "I haven't seen the full context, so no comment" and it would have achieved what was needed - letting the story die. No, she kept the story alive, by joining with Rove & co.

Hillary's only thought was the opportunity to further wound Kerry, to prevent him from running again in 2008.

But I guess if you are a Hillary fan then you would find any rationalization that you can for her behavior. (For the record, I was not really anti-Hillary before this incident - I was at the time considering that she might be the best candidate in 2008 if Kerry didn't run.)

[gulliver]

33. Could be. I'll be glad to have you correct it...

...by pointing out a couple of the "plenty of other Dems" who defended Kerry. I don't remember a single one. But if one of your examples were named Barrack Obama (since you must drag that into it), that would be especially interesting.

Maybe Hillary wanted to further wound Kerry to help herself in 08 as you suggest, but I think that would have been a very silly thing for her to think. Kerry had a zero chance of getting the 08 nomination, either before or after his comment. That Hillary saw him as a rival is speculation on your part, and it assumes a political naivete on Hillary's part. More likely, if she did what you think she did, she was wounding Kerry to prevent him from backing Edwards or an anyone-but-Hillary candidate--which she eventually did.

I didn't say she did it to "save the party." She may have thought she was doing the right thing for the party, though. I remember 2006, and it hung by a thread. Maybe she thought she would kill two birds with one stone.

In any case, your finding my post a "rationalization" is interesting. My argument may be flawed, but it is not meant to defend Hillary. I think her act was kind of cold.

The fact that I still believe Hillary's candidacy is more viable in the GE than Obama's is not due to Hillary's flawlessness. It is that I just think she is more electable than Barrack. Maybe you are not one of the people who engage in Barrack rationalizations, but there are some.

[MH1]

38. Bob Casey and Joe Sestak for two.

And they were both challenging republican incumbents.

I know there were others but I'd have to look it up. Maybe later.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. Why Did Jay Rockefeller Have To Be Disrespectful To Al Gore (And) John Kerry?

"...I introduced both Al Gore and John Kerry at their rallies. They knew all the policies, but people didn’t connect with them. You don’t get elected president if people don’t like you...”

[roseBudd]

23. I am quite sure both know they not people that have charisma, watching Kerry on

the Daily Show was painful.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. I Met Al And Tipper

They are a warm and wonderful couple...

[roseBudd]

28. Yes, but charisma doesn't require one on one access

[PCIntern]

27. Can't stand that snarky MoDo but I have a funny story...

I have a patient who is a University Professor. Divorced thrice, card-paying tough guy, eccentrically brilliant in that old-school fashion. A real progressive too...funny and a great Democrat and really really up on all the issues.

So it was with great surprise that one day, MoDo had written a really horrible column about then-candidate Gore and when I was complaining to this professor, he changed tone entirely and said, "Please don't say anything bad about her. I'm desperately in love with her - just the mention of her name sends me inn paroxysms of lust."

Sound of jaw hitting floor...it was just so out of character for him in every respect - generally, as a rake, he'll be 'in command' of his lust. But he sounded like a wounded puppy. He's probably into B & D or worse, but it was certainly remarkable.

I've posted this story before but it's that time again...Presidential Elections bring out the WORST in MoDo. And that's pretty bad.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

37. That is funny

It also illustrates an important point. Even the smartest and most well-regarded people can lose their objectivity where their emotions are concerned.

[doublethink]

30. Been using this in my sig line for bout a week or so ........

"Surrender Hillary" all in fun. :hi:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

36. Fuck you Maureen Dowd.

Seriously, fuck off and die. I just love how she gets a dig in about Wright before she trashes Hillary.

She is not our friend, people!