Mo Do taking her first vacuous pot shots at "Assault on Reason"

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_5997283

skip
He was so determined to make his new book look weighty, in the this-treatise-belongs-on-the-shelf-betw-een-Plato-and-Cato sense, rather than the double-chin-isn't quite-gone-yet sense, that he did something practically unheard of for a politician: He didn't plaster his picture on the front.

"The Assault on Reason" looks more like the Beatles' White Album than a screed against the tinny Texan who didn't get as many votes in 2000.

skip
He is so fixed on not seeming like a presidential flirt that he risks coming across as a bit of a righteous tease or a high-minded scold, which is exactly what his book is, a high-minded scolding

skip- (This is Gore talking to Diane Sawyer)
"But while we're focused on, you know, Britney and K-Fed and Anna Nicole Smith and all this stuff, meanwhile, very quietly, our country has been making some very serious mistakes that could be avoided if we the people, including the news media, are involved in a full and vigorous discussion of what our choices are."

I can't believe I ever thought Maureen Dowd was worth reading. If you read the link she pretty much focuses on Al Gore's weight and how much he likes clam dip. She appears completely unaware that this column is exactly what he is talking about in the last quote in the excerpts above.

The Assault on Reason (I'm about a fourth of the way through) is a book that is rich in ideas and dense with history. It is challenging and invigorating and I think that it WILL survive as a major work of Political Science long after we are all gone. It makes Maureen's little exercises look like the mean-spirited, envious diatribes of the media hack/flack that she is.

[madokie]

1. and to think there was a time when I would have done anything to read her

not any more though, but she did get me through some pretty hard times when the pResident squatter was being shoved into our faces as the best thing this side of good. So I won't say anything bad about her, I just quite reading her columns a couple years ago is all

[live love laugh]

9. Why do you think people like her do a complete 180? It puzzles me. n/t

[madokie]

18. I've never figured that one out about people

I've seen it in people so many times. I believe if you were to ask my stepsons what they most like about me they would put consistency way up at the top, ole dave is the same everyday, I've heard them say. I live by my convictions so I can't imagine doing a 180 like that.

[Cha]

35. Good for you, but

"consistancy" isn't always good when you start out bad in the first place like a certain cretin we all know and abhor.

Don't get me wrong..I think consistancy is great when it begins with goodness and stays there.

I think a lot of people in the media are lazy and go with what they think is funny and cw but they miss the mark by a mile.

modo could have just as easily found a niche in reviewing Gore's book by not bringing in his personal life but by writing about its content.

Recommend~

[janx]

37. But that would be too difficult,

because then she'd have to READ it! :rofl:

[Cha]

41. Excellent point!

Corporatemedia on the whole is so lazy and just when we need them to be diligent and ever watchful.

[doggyboy]

24. MoDo hasn't done a 180

She has always been obsessed with the trappings of power. She has a not so secret love of faux royalty.

[mitchum]

31. Exactly. She comes off like a shopgirl with her nose pressed up against...

Tiffany's window

[devilgrrl]

38. Oh that's easy.... she's cute and perky.

That's all it takes... it worked in high school.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

50. she was assimilated

[Zomby Woof]

2. Score one for my hypothesis

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=978989&mesg_id=978989

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

7. Maybe, just maybe we're a little smarter this time

and won't be so easily manipulated by the Dowds and the Matthews and the Russerts. When I think how Gore was excoriated by these buffoons and what Bush was allowed a pass on, it makes me spitting angry.

I really, really implore people to buy and read the Assault on Reason and then just think about what the world would be like today if the author had been our President for the last six years.

[Mabus]

59. Which is why Gore is staying away from the political media

Why give them the opportunity to make "weighty" comments about Gore's waist line? It's so superficial. As long as Gore does not announce either his intention to run (most likely by popular demand) or a Sherman statement he remains out of the clutches of the Beltway press and pundits. This pisses them off because they can't make fun of him which is all they know how to do.

But, by remaining out of the clutches of the "political" reporters, commentators, pundits there are advantages for Gore. Instead of being covered by Matthews or Hannity, Gore is popping up in interviews all over the spectrum on a variety of issues. By not running, Gore opens the door to a whole new world of media coverage (from People magazine to Oprah) and he is allowed to say what he thinks, not worry about how he is perceived. He increases both his personal popularity (good-bye to the "Al Gore is wooden," "Al Gore is boring" and other memes) and his message gets out because he takes control of the interviews.

Look at it this way, if he were running and forced Diane Sawyer to stay on topic like he did last week you can bet your sweet patootie that the D.C. media would be saying Gore is "angry" or Gore is "crazy." As it is, people who hear about and watch the clip tend to say to themselves "he's right, they make politics a horse race, the media doesn't talk about issues..."

Maureen is so 2000. She's in for a rude awakening.

I'm reading TAOR and I'm loving it.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Damn I miss Miss Molly.

Dowd is a creep.

[dsc]

4. Why am I not surprised that this empty souled twit wrote this

Could Gore's point be proven any better?

[Missy M]

5. Same old Dowd.....

she can lay on the criticism but she can't take it. What is her obsession with Al Gore's weight? I don't bother to read her anymore and I don't think she is clever or witty, the way she seems to think she is. I guess she hates the fact that Al Gore became so prominent in the world, in spite of the mighty Dowd's hate for him.

[rodeodance]

6. “[Bush] has never tried to make” the connection between Iraq and 9/11, Snow said.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/22/snow-on-gore-book/

Snow Slams Gore’s Book, Says It Should Be ‘Reprinted’ Because It Calls Out Bush’s ‘Deception’


In his new book The Assault on Reason, Al Gore wrote that Bush’s efforts to connect Iraq to 9/11 were an example of the administration’s willful “deception” of the public:

When the administration is told specifically and repeatedly by the most authoritative sources that there is no linkage, but then in spite of the best evidence continues to make bold and confident assertions to the American people that leave the impression with 70 percent of the country that Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaeda and was primarily responsible for the 9/11 attack, this can only be labeled deception.

This afternoon, White House press secretary Tony Snow took issue with this passage. “ has never tried to make” the connection between Iraq and 9/11, Snow said. “And what is doing, it’s been tried by a lot of other people, which is to take something the president hasn’t said, expose it as a, quote, lie, and then beat him up for it. … The president’s been straight about the intel.”

Snow attacked Gore’s book, saying, “I don’t know if they’re going to do a reprinting of the book to try to get the facts straight. The fact-checkers may have to take a look at it.” He added, “These are highly complex publishing issues and I can’t be an expert on them.” Watch it:

[Coexist]

20. my favorite part of that article: the UPDATE:

UPDATE: In a conference call this afternoon, Vice President Gore responded to Snow’s attack, saying: “Unlike the President’s State of the Union address, this book was actually fact checked.”

[drm604]

71. “I don’t know if they’re going to do a reprinting"

Oh give me a fucking BREAK! He knows very well that they are not doing a reprinting of the book. I can't think of a single example of a book being recalled and reprinted because of wrong facts, real or imagined. There may be examples, but if so they are few and far between. Maybe this is done at times for textbooks, encyclopedias, and dictionaries, but not for a mass market book like this. "Highly complex publishing issues" my ass!

[Lobster Martini]

8. I sort of liked her book, Bushworld, but...

...just enough to borrow it from the library, not enough to head for the nearest Borders. This is a dumb column. Wonder if she bothered to read The Assault on Reason or just made up her mind after seeing AlG on TeeVee.

[Botany]

10. Mo Dowd and her "handler" in upstate N.Y.

Gore is a better writer than Dowd will ever be as far as content is concerned. Mo
might have Al in the Snark department but as far as depth Al is so much better.

Al Gore; Combat vet, Senator, best selling writer, Vice President, Winner 2000
Presidential race, Oscar Winner, family man, and come this Sept. Nobel prize
winner.

[FloridaJudy]

49. Oh puuleeze...

Don't tempt me to make an irresistible pun about female dogs with that picture!

[janx]

51. Now, now...

Let's remain civil and avoid stooping to Ms. Dowd's unfortunate level of discourse! ;-)

[MasonJar]

11. I never read her until she started to take on Bush/Cheney, but I

understand that she was quite obnoxious in her condemnation of Gore when he ran in 2000.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Corporate Media Can't Compete In The Marketplace Of Ideas

They lose every time.

President Gore should send Ms. Dowd a thank-you note for displaying exactly what his book is about.

[Matsubara]

13. ASSUMING Ms. Dowd is not a CIA operative...

...she is EXACTLY what is wrong with the non-Bushco press corps.


She's ostensibly not a right-winger, but the way she rips on dem politicians, she may as well be one.

Although, I have to say - Hitchens is worse.

[MasonJar]

14. In addition, I have the book and am currently reading it. The book is

very erudite; almost every page burgeons with insightful quotes from the great thinkers in the world of letters. The work is carefully crafted and logically arranged so even the most unenlightened reader can follow its ideas. Gore said in one interview that he put his heart and soul into the book (that is a paraphrase) and it is evident. His analogies and his point of view and the ideals expressed are consistent with the passion of Gore's dismay at the current assault on reason. Dowd makes an egregious error to dismiss the book for such paltry reasons as she espouses in her article; it makes her valueless to those who might otherwise countenance her opinion. P.S I am sorry that I am so verbose; it is the English teacher in me.

[Botany]

44. See me

His analogies and his point of view and the ideals expressed are consistent with the passion of Gore's
dismay at the current assault on reason.

???????????????

M.J., we @ D.U. expect much better out of you.

His analogies, his point of view, and his ideals expressed with in are consistent with the Gore's passion. These current
assaults on reason gives Mr. Gore reasons for his dismay.

I have always wanted to do that to an English teacher :rofl:

peace

[IndyOp]

60. I think you missed a few...

His analogies, his point of view, and his ideals expressed with in are consistent with the Gore's passion. These current
assaults on reason gives/ Mr. Gore reasons for his dismay.

His analogies, his point of view, and his ideals expressed within are consistent with Gore's passion. These current
assaults on reason give Mr. Gore reason for dismay.

:hi:

[Botany]

67. I wasn't sure if within was 1 or 2 words but

but shouldn't reasons be plural because there are more multiple
cases of assaults on logic?

Oh well :rofl:

[IndyOp]

70. :-)

I think it is "assaults give reason" -- but maybe it could be "assaults give reasons" -- I am not sure...

:hi:

[Botany]

72. We can always check w/ the English Teacher

:hi: BTW for some reason some Freepers always read my posts and
to criticize my grammar and spelling ....

never the content or the logic but my use of it's v it is and dangling prepositions
What is that all about?

[IndyOp]

74. Rules are more important than people to conservatives. Word. (n/t)

[Junkdrawer]

15. Go easy on Mo Do at this difficult time...

Someone just dropped a house on her sister...

[Coexist]

19. *snort*

he he he.

[Vinnie From Indy]

16. MoDo is simply a gossip columnist posing as a journalist

Her observations are childish, irrelevant and mean spirited.

[janx]

26. Precisely.

I've never enjoyed her columns and have wondered about people who did. A friend of mine started reading that column to me the other day (she's no fan of Gore's), laughing. But I had the last laugh as I explained to her just exactly what Gore's latest book is about. ;-)

[bbgrunt]

65. well said, Vinnie from Indy.

[Canuckistanian]

17. She pretty much validates his points

All the big questions zoom over her head at Mach 2 while she makes comments about his weight.

Pathetic.

[alcibiades_mystery]

23. One of the Cool Kidz scoffing at the class nerd ("double-chin???")

MoDo is no better than a junior high Mean Girl.

These nerds are insufferable, after all, so self-righteous and scolding. Like, whatever, Algore!

[tabasco]

25. She gets paid to write this juvenile crap?

Simply amazing.

:wtf:

[libnnc]

64. Exactly. She's one of these...

She's the "Heather" of journalism.

[nam78_two]

69. These nerds are insufferable, after all, so self-righteous and scolding. Like, whatever, Algore!

LOL...
So true. I don't know why the NYT doesn't fire her.

[glitch]

55. Same as it ever was.

She refuses to grow up. Or maybe she just can't.

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. The media knows that this is Al Gore's indictment of their stupidities

They even know, secretly, that they are ruining our society with their nonsenses. They hate Gore like poison...precisely because they know he's right, but it's impolite to point out.

[janx]

36. Yep.

But the stupidity of writing a such a base column that illustrates Gore's point so perfectly is--well--ironic!

[CrispyQ]

22. I've never liked her. She seems full of herself.

Run, Gore, run!!

[Mountainman]

27. Beating up on Al Gore has become a national pastime. If you don't have anything to say,

kick old Al around.

He is laughing all the way to the bank.

[Beelzebud]

28. One thing to remember. Outside the D.C. and NY cocktail circuit, no one knows who she is.

[mitchum]

29. Dorothy Pucker strikes again!

Dowd is a silly inconsequential woman. Hell, I have more respect for Cindy Adams.

[UTUSN]

30. GORE should challenge MoDo to a debate, face her HEAD-ON!!1 n/t

[janx]

45. That would be a waste of time. n/t

[Neecy]

32. ick...I read the whole piece

Disgusting. Not even close to funny.

The media *hated* Gore in 2000. Note that she pulls out that old chestnut about Gore sighing and rolling his eyes from that campaign - this is the kind of crap Gore would face if he runs again and he knows it. The fat jokes are flying from Dowd to Leno to Letterman to Matthews and they'll only get worse. Gore is a threat to the status quo and if he runs they'll be even more ridiculous and vicious than they were in 2000.

[Cha]

33. Recommend!~

Too bad for modo..it makes her look tiny and shallow like the "tinny Texan".

I've read some reviews on "The Assault On Reason" that give it high marks and they don't once mention Al Gore's weight or complain that he wants to be like "Plato".

modo is so grasping to be different that she jumped the shark and fell into a writing pool of guppies.

[janx]

34. "writing pool of guppies"

:rofl:


She has always been a guppy. She's in the appropriate waters now.

[Cha]

39. Oh, I see your "fish" avatar!

:hi: Janx!!

[janx]

40. Yes, but that's not a guppy...

It's a trout. And I can never catch any. :hi:

Anyhoo, I hope this book can stir up a little more civility and rational thought among the media, though I'm not holding my breath.

[Cha]

42. I was just looking for The Assault

On Reason to be on the NYT best seller list because someone said it was up there last week but I can't find it anywhere. Not that it won't get there but I swear I read that it was already in the top 5..so you can imagine my surprise when I'm not seeing it

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/index.html

But, I did find this review from the NYT that shows the reviewer actually read the book!

snip~
"And yet for all its sharply voiced opinions, “The Assault on Reason” turns out to be less a partisan, election-cycle harangue than a fiercely argued brief about the current Bush White House that is grounded in copiously footnoted citations from newspaper articles, Congressional testimony and commission reports — a brief that is as powerful in making its points about the implications of this administration’s policies as the author’s 2006 book, “An Inconvenient Truth,” was in making its points about the fallout of global warming."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/books/22kaku.html

Good luck with your fishing in New Mexico..Do you love it there?

[janx]

43. Give the book a little more time; it'll get there.

Yes, I like NM very much and have lived here now for almost two years. As for the fishing, I think I need some Powerbait! Regular lures haven't done the trick thus far. Live bait may have to suffice, though I must admit it's not too fun to skewer worms on fish hooks. Nevertheless, I will persevere and will probably go to Monastery Lake (more like a pond)again soon. I've been reading the fishing reports and will be prepared with some good bait then.

pic of Monastery Lake:

[Cha]

46. Whoa! That's so beautiful!

I do love the Earth's natural water sources~
Janx~

I'm moving back to Kauai in 3 years and I'm really getting antsy~ B-)

[janx]

48. You're going back?!

That is wonderful--I've never been there. Thanks for the

Edit: You should run for office there!

[Cha]

52. Yeah, I lived there from '92 to

'98 and then I moved to upstate New York(sight unseen, but I got lucky).

My son has been on Kauai since '85 and he wants me back, too!

I won't be running for any "office"..not me, but, I will be into politics there as I wasn't at all when I lived there before. I only ventured in in 2000..and the rest is history!

You're welcome.. B-)

[janx]

56. That's very cool that you're going back

and that your son is there. You're probably counting the days. I have to sign off now. Time to hit the pool! :hi:

[NastyDiaper]

47. What she does not get is that she is the type of person this book was written about.

Dowd's writing aptitude geared more for entertainment weekly.

Hm.. Or maybe she does get it, but sees a threat. Catty gossip is so much easer.

[Cha]

57. I was just going to say before I

scanned down the rest of your post.."or, maybe she does get it, and being one of the perpetrator's..instead of changing her stripes she's sticking to her rut?"

modo is a "catty gossiper" who is proving Gore's point. I suppose we should thank her.

[barbtries]

53. i didnt even know who mo do was

who's maureen dowd? lol

[troubleinwinter]

54. Moe is an entertainer, and nothing more. And not a very good one.

[NastyDiaper]

58. OMG RudePundit was already on MD.

Continue to Rude @ your own risk: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2007/05/maureen-dowds-gigantic-vagina-have-you.html

(ed. to emphasize post date 5/23/2007, behind the tasty bile is a real insider story. ed2. hmm actually that was the NYT publish date.)

[IndyOp]

62. That's rude, alright. And funny. And just about fair. :-) (n/t)

[Mabus]

61. Maureen is so 2000

She forgets that all the crap that she and her ilk pulled on Gore, Dean and Kerry are going to do it again. She hasn't matured but the American people have. They've seen Gore. They see a passionate man who hasn't flip-flopped on the biggest issue facing our planet. They see Al as a human being. They've seen him on television, in the movie and in magazines. They've realized they were lied to by the media.

Maureen's thinking is so 2000. Only this time, she and her fellow commentators will be the ones the people will laugh at and leave behind.

[depakid]

63. Vacuous has always been her nature

Verbose with very little substance.

I have news for Dowd- she IS and will be remembered as part of the dynamic that put her country into irreversible decline. I hope she's proud of that.

[tblue37]

66. Dowd is such a media whore. Her constant

mocking and trashing of Gore (and later of Kerry) earns her a fair amount of blame for helping put the chimp in the WH. She was a particularly high profile media whore during those campaigns, and it looks as though she plans to play that role again.

[nam78_two]

68. Par for the course-she writes like a 12 year old.nt

[Warren DeMontague]

73. It's just Good Ol' Merkin Distrust Of "Smart Folks".

Whah You Gotta Yooose All Them Big Worrrrds?