NYT: Maureen Dowd has harsh words for Kerry, Gore

[smada]

She says Gore represents "the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party". Kerry is "one of those supercilious/smarmy candidates (like Al Gore)... the more you know him, the less you want to see him."

Words of introspection or sour grapes?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/opinion/27DOWD.html?ex=1400990400&en=dba825f013f9ff12&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

[freetobegay]

1. Words of a woman scorned.

[trumad]

2. No..she's just a HO

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1677426

[NYCGirl]

3. With all due respect...

I don't like Dowd's article at all, but you've taken those quotes completely out of context. Here's what Dowd wrote:

Excerpt:

John Kerry's advisers were surprised and annoyed to hear that Mr. Gore hollered so much, he made Howard Dean look like George Pataki. They don't want voters to be reminded of the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party.

They would like Mr. Gore, who brought bad karma to Mr. Dean with his primary endorsement, to zip it and go away. But more and more Democrats think it is Mr. Kerry who should zip it and go away.

Mr. Kerry has made a huge $25 million ad buy in recent weeks, believing that the better voters know him, the more they'll like him. But many Democrats fear he's one of those supercilious/smarmy candidates (like Al Gore) for whom the opposite is true: the more you know him, the less you want to see him.

They wonder whether Mr. Kerry should just let the campaign be Bush vs. Bush. As the president's old running buddy, Lee Atwater, used to say, don't get in the way when your rival's busy shooting himself.

[smada]

4. no

I don't think I took them out of context.

For one, I was only trying to be concise. And secondly, Dowd's passive use of the phrase "many Democrats fear...", is her transparent, third-person way of saying "It's my opinion that... "

Besides, I posted the link so anyone could see the entire article for themselves.

[cosmicdot]

5. I agree with you - the context is clear

They don't want voters to be reminded of the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party.

I don't see any quotation marks around that statement nor contributing those words to a Kerry campaign spokesperson: that is as Dowdism as has been her obsession with the use of "Clintonesque" ...

Dowd is not only slandering Al Gore, as well as, John Kerry ... she's slandering the Democratic Party:

But many Democrats fear he's one of those supercilious/smarmy candidates (like Al Gore) for whom the opposite is true: the more you know him, the less you want to see him.

As a life-long Democrat, I don't know who she is referring to ... for me the opposite was true with Al Gore: the more I know him, the more I want to see of him.

She's full of it and herself.

She's sounds like a tabloid writer ... if you're going to write commentary, it should be based on facts not demented imagination.

[KC21304]

6. First you take her words out of context

and then you tell us what she really meant when she wrote them.

[smada]

12. Why are some people always agitating for a fight?

You don't have to read Dowd for very long to know the way she thinks, therefore it's not much of a stretch to conclude what she really meant.

Is that really so hard to understand? Do you think I should have called her and asked her about it before making such a conclusion. Right!

[PATRICK]

7. Time to make a point about pundits

The term "wackadoo" is the free poetry of partisan fun that is common to easygoing, carelsss Internet posting. Why exactly do we value her opinion? Because it is cleaned up and presented slickly by a large media outlet? Is she any more astute than the regular posters at DU that she can launch her offhand wisdom from Media Olympus onto the national consciousness? It speaks of arrogance on a mission.

She doesn't name sources even indirectly or even if she really HAS sources for some of her claims. Her interpretation of the history between the Dean/Gore/Kerry camps lunges for the divisive only.

In the end she is joining a Media Olympus agenda of creating a bandwagon against Kerry using ANY excuse, the shameful mistreatment of Gore in 2000 being the model of "success". Those familiar with the Daily Howler can see the constant repetition of the theme- perhaps picked up from some disgruntled Dems(we have some here) to blow up the context beyond reasonable proportions and create a context of discouragement and defeat.

So are we to treat her more fairly than any other poster here? Out of respect for what exactly except that she schmoozes with more Beltway types than we do? She invites, but does not expect- or I suppose brook- criticism of her slanted vitriol. Despite countless media failures they still think they are the gods of opinion. Like all such arrogance it will not stop even after total ruin.

They will only whine that it is OUR fault wisdom wasn't heeded.

Unless they need to make conditional apology to keep their plush Tokyo Rose jobs.

[Cheswick2.0]

8. She made a pass at Gore about 5 years ago

He turned her down and she is bitter. :shrug: That's what my sources say.

[jonnyblitz]

9. Kerry's advisors probably DO think that of Gore's speech

and of Gore, particulary if they are DLC types. Anybody who raises their voice or shows passion is NOT COOL with them ("Oh Gee how will we EVER appeal to all those centrists?")

[59millionmorons]

10. Not according to the Annenberg poll

There poll say's Kerry's likable numbers took a huge bump upwards after his recent ad buys. Not only that, i read today that the ads are working so well that they are expanding there ad buy for June in states like CO, VA.

Kerry's Ads Are Working
"Since John Kerry began showing positive biographical television ads about himself in early May, he appears to have reversed a slide in public impressions of him in the battleground states," according to the National Annenberg Election Survey.

"In the 20 states which both presidential campaigns consider tight enough to warrant spending on television advertising, Kerry is now viewed favorably by 44 percent and unfavorably by 32 percent... Kerry’s standing in those states improved from late April, when 36 percent viewed him favorably and 35 percent unfavorably."

"President Bush, who had held an advantage over Kerry in perceptions in those states, does so no longer."

[cestmoi]

11. Forgive my English but she has a pickle up her ass.

Its mind-boggling what gets people in a knot. How many millions of people worldwide feel exactly what Gore expressed? Gore is not going ballistic because someone forgot onions on his hamburger, he is f***ing enraged because of the catastrophic incompetency of the bush administration. What is truly incomprehensible is that Dowd is not turning her pen against pundits and others who aren't going ballistic, who remain in La-La Land.

[Forkboy]

13. She hates everyone

she must be a blast at parties. :eyes: