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MoDo Substance Watch

I am starting my own contest, the Maureen Dowd Substance Watch. No, not substance abuse. Substance. Please identify the last time she discussed an actual issue. For the second column in a row, I do not see any.

Come on girlfriend, at least find an issue to attack Hillary on. It takes a lot of gall to write about politics and not actually know anything about any issue.

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    You kidding (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by andgarden on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 10:27:12 AM EST
    Tom Friedman, David Brooks, and David Broder do it all of the time.

    Heh (none / 0) (#3)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 10:32:57 AM EST
    MoDo (none / 0) (#2)
    by RalphB on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 10:32:16 AM EST
    This columnist is utterly vacuous and substance free.  I did not miss the NYT columnists when they were behind the pay firewall and don't read them now except for a link from a site like this one.

    Every one of them were horrible in pushing the 'Gore is a liar' theme before the 2000 election and are at least complicit in the last 7 years of Bush.

    They also were not against the Iraq war until the country turned against it.  If the NYT oped page is a liberal voice, we're all lost.


    You Jest (none / 0) (#4)
    by RedHead on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 11:02:25 AM EST
    don't you remember MoDo ripping Clark for his argyle sweaters?

    Or ripping Judy Dean, calling her a "hippie" (yeah, she really did) for not wearing make-up and fashionable jeans.

    Or her quadrennial rip-off of Candace Bushnell, wondering whether the Democratic nominee is bed-room worthy.

    Substance? From her? Ever? (none / 0) (#5)
    by DavidDvorkin on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 11:31:08 AM EST
    Considering that she mocked Al Gore eight years ago for having a bald spot, why should we ever expect substance from Dowd?

    Even when she tries to write seriously, who can take her seriously?

    Aholiness (none / 0) (#6)
    by koshembos on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 11:52:11 AM EST
    Ms. Down invented a-holiness.

    here it comes (none / 0) (#7)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:10:26 PM EST
    Another liberal said something mean about our supreme leader Hillary. Talklefties get your pitch forks and torches ready!

    The substance of the article was an array of instances where she has tried to have it two ways, and where she has been calculated and done things that are morally wrong for political benefit.

    Come on girlfriend, at least find an issue to attack Hillary on.

    If some man called Hillary "girlfriend," we would never hear then of how insulting that is towards women. There is some truth to it, its like calling a man "boy," it is a bit degrading.   But you know all fair when defending the supreme leader.

    Hey speaking of substance, this post, lots of insults not a single citing of an example, no explanation, just a derogatory "hey girlfriend" thrown in the end.  SHAME!

    Did you read Dowd's column? (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:48:44 PM EST
    Do you ever read anything you comment on?

    Parent
    I just sd. I don't read her anymore. Not (none / 0) (#14)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:54:25 PM EST
    going to start now.  But, please don't generalize, probably lots of people click on each and every link!

    Parent
    I dont know if this is directed at me (none / 0) (#15)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:57:09 PM EST
    but i read her column every Sunday and Wed.
    I think sometimes her writing can be hard to follow.  It is often part six of MoDo's story of Hillary or whoever, and if you haven't read the preceding stuff she has written, its may not make much sense.

    Parent
    Directed at you (none / 0) (#18)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:18:39 PM EST
    Did you REALLY read it?

    Honestly, did you?

    Parent

    "Directed at you." Now (none / 0) (#27)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 03:16:03 PM EST
    that's humor.  

    Parent
    I did a doubletake at "girlfriend." (none / 0) (#8)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:21:04 PM EST
    as to Dowd, I don't read her, as I don't find her funny at present.  She's kind of the NYT's current Art Buchwald, except he was way funnier.

    Parent
    Read the column (none / 0) (#12)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:49:15 PM EST
    aqndf youwr doubletake will bhe removed.

    Does anyone actually read things they comment on anymore?

    Parent

    My apologia: "girlfriend" (none / 0) (#16)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:06:55 PM EST
    was a nice segue afterall.  You have to admit "gift of gall" is a catchy phrase.

    Parent
    Um (none / 0) (#19)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:21:06 PM EST
    For those who DID NOT read Dowds column.

    Dowd called Hillary "Girlfriend."

    If we are gonna get sensitive here, white people never said this. Hell, they NEVER say it now.

    JGarza clearly did not read Dowds column, as he/she acts as if I pulled it out of my a**.

    Garza hates Hillary and does not read.

    I have little respect for Garza on Hillary related issues.

    Parent

    Not to put too fine a point on it, (none / 0) (#21)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:27:02 PM EST
    as Dickens would say, there is a difference between Dowd calling Clinton "girlfriend" and you calling Dowd "girlfriend."  But, that's what I gather you are saying in your comment.

    Parent
    Um (none / 0) (#23)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:36:33 PM EST
    Do you think so?

    I do not. Especially since it is an affectation for a white writer.

    So no, I do not at all accept your reasoning ehre. Not one bit.

    Parent

    Were I a football fan or not (none / 0) (#24)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:43:09 PM EST
    procrastinating, I wouldn't be worrying about this at all.  Let's see:  unless "girlfriend" is restricted to non-white women talking about other non-white women of the same ethnic group (think "Waiting to Exhale"), I don't see that ethnicity is the point, merely gender.  

    Parent
    Neither use is restricted (none / 0) (#34)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:04:19 PM EST
    If there is a restriction, then it is an Africaqn American female usage.

    I reject any restriction.

    JGarza is being dishonest.

    I am not sure what you are thinking frankly,

    Parent

    Just parsing. Feel free to ignore. (none / 0) (#38)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:11:56 PM EST
    sex matters (none / 0) (#25)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:57:30 PM EST
    Let me give you a lesson about life.  Armando is a male name, Maureen female.  Maureen saying "hey girlfriend" has a completely different connotation than Armando.  Its kinda how when Dave Chapelle uses the "n" its different than when Kramer uses it.
    Aside from this, if this article is so lacking in substance, is it that hard to quote examples from it?  After all i would think a post complaining about substance would bother to have some of its own.
    As for me hating Hillary, i was close to crossing over to her side till last week. My reactions to the junk you post about her, may lead to believe otherwise, but its more indicative to my feelings of your coverage about the primary candidates than my feelings toward her.
    AS for your one sidedness, MoDo has written some pretty nasty stuff about everyone of the presidential candidates.  When it is about Hillary though here comes the talkleft pearl clutching.

    The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

    When you guys stick to this, you are great.  When become a part pr extension to a presidential campaign, its all spin and hot air.

    Parent

    I follow TalkLeft closely [well, ; can't (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 03:15:11 PM EST
    except for failure to read all links].  Don't see how BTD could be targeted as an advocate of Clinton's candidacy.  He repeatedly states he supports Dodd and his reasons for doing so.  Frequently criticizes Clinton for failing to lead on getting out of Iraq now, FISA, and Kyl-Lieberman.

    Parent
    She isnt perfect (none / 0) (#28)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 03:29:09 PM EST
    and he admits that, but according to BTD no one is every being fair if they criticize Hillary.


    Parent
    Nonsense. (5.00 / 2) (#29)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 03:37:18 PM EST
    Sure (none / 0) (#35)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:05:02 PM EST
    I am unfair in my criticisms of Clinton.

    You are simply dishonest on this.

    Parent

    That is NOT what she wrote (none / 0) (#33)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:03:08 PM EST
    She mimicked an African american use.

    You are being dishonest.

    Parent

    I'm going to do what you didn't (none / 0) (#31)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 04:11:41 PM EST
    Rather than accusing people of not reading something , I'll simply quote the substance.

    Maureen Dowd says that Hillary is trying to have it both ways, and complains that she is going to use her gender as a defense so she throws out some sarcastic  examples of it.

    If she wants to run on her record as first lady while keeping the lid on her first lady record, that's only fair for the fairer sex. And if she wants to have it both ways on illegal immigrants getting driver's licenses, then she should, especially if those illegal immigrants are men, or if Lou Dobbs is ranting on the issue, because he's not only a man, he's a grumpy, cranky, border-crazed man

    Two areas of policy being criticized: her flip flop on immigrant Dl's, and her stance on her records as first lady. Seems like substance to me.

    NEXT
    She complains that it is Hillary bringing up gender stereotypes and in fact even with those, trying to have it both ways.

    She should certainly be allowed to play the gender card two ways, or even triangulate it. As her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, said after the debate, she is "one strong woman," who has dwarfed male rivals and shown she's tough enough to deal with terrorism and play on the world stage. But she can break, just like a little girl, when male chauvinists are rude enough to catch her red-handed being slippery and opportunistic.

    This point is further reinforced by:


    In New Hamphire on Friday, she stayed above the fray, saying that her male rivals are not "piling on" because she's a woman but because she's "winning." Meanwhile, she let her aides below the fray stir up fem-outrage by putting a video on the campaign Web site called "The Politics of Pile On," edited to highlight men ganging up on her to the tune of Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro."

    This is my fav example of how Hillary's campaign is really playing up the idea of men victimizing Hillary.

    Mark Penn presided over a conference call on Wednesday to rally supporters to the idea of a fem-backlash, during which one devoted Ellen Jamesian suggested that Tim Russert "should be shot."

    The article goes through conflicting examples of Hillary using gender stereotypes, and concluding that she has gall for doing it.

    As for the girlfriend reference she uses. MoDo covered it in her last column, something I know because I actually read her columns. It is actually a reference to Hillary telling a female reporter "lets talk like girlfriends."  Hence why it isn't offensive for MoDO, a female columnist, to intern refer to Hillary as girlfriend.  This however does not make it ok, or even particularly witty, for BTD to refer to MoDo as "girlfriend".

    Parent

    Quote MoDos use (none / 0) (#32)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:02:18 PM EST
    Which you choose to ignore.

    If we want to play this game,l it was a racially tinged and ugly.

    You are simply not being honest.

    Parent

    First MoDo has no substance (none / 0) (#36)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:08:42 PM EST
    but somehow you refuse to back this claim up with any citation or examples or even direct references to her column.  Now you call her column racist, of course, you cite nothing to back this up, and give no explanation.

    How is this web site soo good when it talks about criminal justice and rights of the accused, but when it comes to presidential politics you guys play Fox News with the facts.

    Parent

    Since I read there her column (none / 0) (#40)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:32:10 PM EST
    From last weeks column she mentions girlfriend 3 times

    1

    In addition to the warrior strategy, the one that led Hillary to back President Bush on the Iraq war and the Iran drumbeat, the senator has a girlfriend strategy.

    2

    Hillary recently told an interviewer that they should talk like "two girlfriends,"

    3

    Hillary doesn't speak truth to power any more. Now that Mark Penn believes women can carry her to victory, Hillary speaks girlfriend to girlfriend.

    She starts off this weeks article with:


    Girlfriend had a rough week.

    Then sarcastically says:

    I must rush to a sister's defense.

    Maureen Dowd is a woman, so its obvious from her writing that all this "girlfriend" and "sister" talk is mocking Clinton asking her for female solidarity.

    So yeah I guess if you read her column you get it.  If you are just desperate to attack the critic, you call it "racially tinged and ugly"

    Parent

    You used girlfriend too! (none / 0) (#41)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:35:36 PM EST
    If MoDos use of girlfriend is racially tinged, then why did you use it?  

    If you seriously believe that, then your usage of it is not only sexist, but you are also mocking black women.

    Parent

    It is not (none / 0) (#47)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:24:16 PM EST
    I was pointing out how absurd your attack on me was.

    Parent
    They don't recognize a Swift Boating in progress (none / 0) (#9)
    by Ellie on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:26:52 PM EST
    The crucial element here is that HRC isn't playing the gender card -- as has been falsely attributed to her -- so much as her critics are emphasizing their own sexism in criticizing her.

    To my knowledge, HRC has never used her gender to shrink from a challenge from other candidates or media critics. Nor has she "called attention" to her gender so much as not paraded in public wearing a burka so her evident Lady Parts don't cause personal and political critics like Tucker Carlson to cross his legs -- tee hee! -- or Tweety Matthews to feel angrily deprived because there's no Fred Thompson pants folds to snoot for man smells nor Bushian locker room jock ass to worshipfully snap a towel at.

    Frankly, until she does a million dollar photo op parading her girls down an aircraft carrier in an underwired balconette as shamelessly as war-ho GW Bush displayed his nuts for media horndogs in a push-up junk bra -- the vaunted Codpiece of Justice!! -- punditstan doesn't get use their own mental limitations as a complaint against her.

    Jeez, they're rolling around like a grade school geography class snorting and squealing at slides of Lake Titicaca.

    Recall that the "logic" behind Swift Boating is that if a candidate "calls attention" to a personal attribute or accomplishment, it's open season from the flying monkey squadrons to fling any amount of slime at that area, including sheer invention under their rubric of "politics".

    Calling attention does not mean invitation to degrade, slime and invent as the sad episode of the degradation (by the Rovian smearbots) of actual war vets like Kerry and Cleland have shown, this alleged fair game is a one way street. Factual revelations of George AWOL Bush's ACTUAL disgraceful military record were off limits or the tantrum went into overdrive and people were literally persecuted out of employment by sheer thuggery.

    The witch hunters (and dirt-digging fabulists like MoDo, who hope to ressurect their gossipy glory days of being able to attack the Clintons without account, are calling their own inability to get past their adolescent obsession with HRC's Lady Parts as "her" problem.

    This is much the same "logic" they used to vapidly attribute inventions about John Edwards' hair as "his" problem, or their moronic invented shortcoming of Obama's questionable blackness as "his" problem. (It's the same thing they did to exaggerate the Dean scream, or paint him as crazy for saying there were no WMDs, no Saddam - 911 connection, and that his capture wouldn't end the insurgency nor make us safer.)

    The Rethuggernaut's media wing and flying monkey squadrons are shallow. They're stupid. They're witless. They're @ssholes.

    They are in the thrall of a smear machine that gives the lowest, meanest and most bereft of integrity the illusion of being above the common people they hold in utter contempt. It's the signature of this collapsing era. Bush, Rove and the other Dirty Tricksters cut their viper teeth in 1972 by formulating the kind of slimy discourse that is commonplace today and was the only way for the Republicult to compete.

    That includes Black Baby Push Polling (against McCain), releasing anti Bush crap and claiming that an opponent did it (Bush/Rove), dropping edited tape of what an opponent "said" -- but didn't actually -- at a radio station on election eve (as Bush did as an operative), attributing anti-troop statements to Kerry that he didn't say but quoted in sworn testimony before a Senate committee, etc.

    That includes twits like MoDo being able to invent crap out of whole cloth that would be megaphoned if vicious enough with guarantees that she'd be protected by shrieking flying monkeys if challenged under conventional standards of factual integrity.

    I hope her most disgraceful works like this follow her the rest of her sorry career. I'd love to show up at her next reading or book signing half out of the bag to yell her worst passages at her from the audience if it shamed her into using her column space more intelligently. (Anyone wanna come with?)

    You do have a strong opinion on this (none / 0) (#10)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:32:07 PM EST
    subject!

    Parent
    Factual integrity precedes rule of law (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by Ellie on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:11:06 PM EST
    Until we put a stop to this practice of "factesque" truthiness being determined by what the Republican Palace's thugs and flying monkeys say it it, we won't see constitutionality restored, checks and balances back in place, nor rule of law as king.

    We've had well over a decade of this nonsense. Our invertebrate Dems are too complicit or timorous to do it themselves as an honest opposition.

    Until we see more authentic and braver Dems voted in, it's crucial to trounce nonsense invented statements or attributes before they become insider jokes at the root of idiotic spectacles (like the atrocious Purple Bandage episode)

    I've had enough of war horny lapel-pin patriots and armchair doughboys using invented incidents, megaphoned with sheer repetition, to smear candidates.

    Candidates are, of course, on their own to address real challenges to their words and deeds. If they don't meet those squarely to play like they're above the fray, well, then they're probably on their own.

    No more Swift Boating is what I'm saying.


    Parent

    Bad campaignin' (none / 0) (#13)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 01:52:25 PM EST
    You have some valid points in here that should make people angry, but i think your post generally glosses over that she played the gender card.  There are statements from her campaign, commercials, lots of evidence to prove she brought this up.  SO now that she let the cat out of the bag, I don't see how you can blame the media for commenting on it.

    The lesson from this week should be simple.  The image that her campaign has been creating for itself, as infallible, was over blown.  WE saw the mishandling of several minor problems, and because of that mishandling having them blow up.  Democrats know this can sink a presidential nominee, and in the general the attacks will be harder and more ruthless.  Her biggest asset, that she would handle the campaigning with no mistakes, has been turned on it's head.  Thats why we see this rush by her supporters to blame everything going wrong on something other than her campaign, but in the end, it can be attributed to nothing else but sloppiness on the part of her campaign.

    Parent

    A response to gender being raised ... (none / 0) (#20)
    by Ellie on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:21:24 PM EST
    ... is not playing the gender card, nor is an incidental reference to her gender -- as men have been doing literally for centuries -- playing the gender card either.

    I haven't followed every single one of her speeches (or read all the transcripts of the debates) but have seen nothing to excuse the level of misogyny already in evidence as an expected response to this allegation that she played the gender card first and to an extreme.

    (It would have to be to an extreme to begin to warrant the sexist and misogynistic avalanche formed so far and that, I haven't seen at all.)

    Parent

    In a similar vein, this week U.S. Bankruptcy (none / 0) (#22)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 02:31:06 PM EST
    Judge Louise Adler shed some tears as several victims of the Catholic clery sexual abuse cases made statements in Judge Adler's courtroom.  Of course, the fact she shed those tears was the headline and main emphasis of the news reports.  You should have seen the on line commenta in the San Diego Union Tribune.  Truly distressing and nasty.  The Southern District of California is very fortunate Judge Adler remains on the bench, as she was a very intelligent bankruptcy attorney and does a fine job on the bench.  

    Parent
    Gender stereotypes (none / 0) (#30)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 03:37:56 PM EST
    I'm going to rephrase gender card as gender stereotypes.  If Hillary uses gender stereo types when she thinks the benefit her, its still insulting towards women.  The stereo types that people use to insult her are also insulting to women.  So I'm disappointed in the media for playing into them, but I'm also disappointed that she did.

    Parent
    In My World (none / 0) (#42)
    by squeaky on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:47:35 PM EST
    Hey girlfriend is common slang. Maybe is started out in the african american community but it is quite popular address amongst people I know of all genders and races and sexual preferences. I have heard men and woman, gay and straight being addressed:

    Hey girlfriend, what's goin on. Dowd was obviously being cool and riffing on Hilary's uncool dated version of the term.

    Parent

    Hey, at least she ditched the headbands. (none / 0) (#43)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:53:57 PM EST
    Oh (none / 0) (#45)
    by squeaky on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:04:51 PM EST
    And to clarify, MoDo is never cool, she just tries, and tries.

    She is obviously comparing herself to Hilary in order to show how cool and up to date she is with gender politics. It amounts to a two dimensional fantasy of how a woman should be. What an idiot.

    Parent

    I think Dowd is a wanna-be (5.00 / 1) (#48)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:27:02 PM EST
    Molly Ivins and a queen bee.

    Parent
    i hate to brag (none / 0) (#49)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:49:23 PM EST
    ok thats a lie.  She used to have thees parties at her house in Travis Heights.  I have been to a few.  There were fun.  MoDO is way more Diva than Molly though.

    Parent
    hahahahahahahaha! (none / 0) (#37)
    by cpinva on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:11:53 PM EST
    good one BTD, pretty damn funny!

    oh, wait, you're serious? geez. ok, i'll bite, this is a trick question, right?

    ms. dowd is brain dead, has been since at least 1991, about the same time the entire MSM lost its collective minds, and went on a tear against the clintons, then gore, and now clinton again. substance doesn't matter for this crowd, nor does truth; all democrats are fakes, all republicans are stout hearted men.

    jgarza is an idiot, don't waste your time. you can fix a lot of things, you can't fix stupid.

    This made me laugh. Thanks. (none / 0) (#39)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 05:13:34 PM EST
    Compliment (none / 0) (#44)
    by Jgarza on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:00:02 PM EST
    Thanks it's is an honor to have my intelligence compared to the star columnist at one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world.


    Parent
    and that would be? (none / 0) (#50)
    by cpinva on Mon Nov 05, 2007 at 09:06:47 AM EST
    Thanks it's is an honor to have my intelligence compared to the star columnist at one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world.

    reading comprehension apparently isn't one of your strong suites; you weren't compared to anyone, you stand alone in your stupid.

    Parent

    Just like to point out how I've spent that (none / 0) (#46)
    by oculus on Sun Nov 04, 2007 at 06:08:38 PM EST
    extra hour today!  Worthwile; probably not.