Dowdy

I avoid reading Maureen Dowd almost as much as I avoid reading Paul Krugman. Almost. It's probably the straight male-wiring in me, considering her head shot is far more attractive to me (c'mon, she's pretty cute) than Paul's will ever be and part of me wants to like her. While Paul's pontifications make my skin crawl, my attitude toward Maureen's columns are more akin to disappointment and resignation. Maybe I'm hoping that like so many I know who were former liberals who one day woke up to the fact that it was an insane world-view, that one day I can happily welcome her to the real world.

It's apparent that the Darling Redhead is in the Obama camp, and the headline piqued my interest to see what it was that she didn't like about Hillary. She wants her gone. And I'm reading along, and I get down to this paragraph:

The Democrats are growing ever more desperate about the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. With gas prices out of control, with the comically oblivious President Bush shimmying around New Orleans — the city he let drown — and Condi sneaking into Baghdad as rockets and mortars hail down on the Green Zone, beating the Republicans should be a cinch.

I observe the following:

• Gas prices out of control = Government should do something to control gas prices.
• "comically oblivious" Bush shimmying around New Orleans = Bush should really be sitting in sack cloth and ash, at least partially because he's not moving to get government to control gas prices ...
• "the city he let down" = continuing drumbeat of an outright misdirection [lie] concerning where the responsibility for that fiasco really lies
• "Condi sneaking into Baghdad" amongst rockets and mortars = "Why can't we just pull out of Iraq already"... rather dismissive of the Sec'y State's committment, too. Girlfriend got kahunas!

Actually, the government is doing something to control gas prices. It's keeping us from drilling for domestic oil and keeping us from building new refineries. This crimps the supply, thus enhancing the effects of rising global demand. Thus Government is keeping gas prices high. If the government wants to do something about lowering gas prices, it should open up land to responsible domestic drilling. But... I digress.

As far as Bush "shimmying" -- I did see that on TV. I can see where Maureen wouldn't like seeing anything like a human side to George Bush since she and those like her have spent the last 8 years demonizing his every breath.

I found this passage a bit perplexing:

Hillary’s husband became the first person ever to play the Caucasian Card. First, he blurted out to a radio interviewer that the Obama camp had played the race card against him after he compared Obama’s strength in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s.

Huh? "The Race Card" is usually something used by a person of politically-sanctioned minority race to diminish or dismiss a person of a non politically-sanctioned race (which pretty much amounts to "caucasian"). I really don't see where Bill was playing a "Caucasian" card here. Bill made what, outside of the world of hyper-sensitive political correctness, should be considered at the very least a legitimate observation. He just wasn't supposed to observe it out loud. The race card was played when Obama's camp cried "foul".

Speaking of racist, she goes on to say:

Despite all his incandescent gifts, Obama has missed several opportunities to smash the ball over the net and end the game.

[plant tounge in cheek] What, is that all black people can do is play basketball? [/plant]

No, I'm not suggesting this was a racist comment. But you can bet if Bill or "W" or McCain had used this analogy it would have been considered racist. I'm not objecting to her language. Just the double-standard.

And just what are "all" his "incandescent" gifts, anyway?

I will agree, however, that members of the press should let people enjoy their waffles in peace -- even if they are running for president.