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Absolute Power Erupts (Maureen Dowd Alert!)
New York Times ^ | 11/21/04 | Maureen Dowd

Posted on 11/20/2004 5:07:39 PM PST by wagglebee

They're fragile and frazzled, depressed and self-doubting.

Trapped in their blue bell jar, drowning in unfulfilled dreams, Democrats are the "Desperate Housewives" of politics.

The image of Republicans as the Daddy party and Democrats as the Mommy party came roaring back in 2004, with a chesty President Bush and Dick Cheney prevailing by making the case that they could protect America from vicious terrorists and uxorious gays better than the Brahmin they painted as a sissy. In politics, as on TV, political correctness is out and retro is in. Hillary's bid to be president suddenly appears more wobbly, and the class of new senators looks like a throwback - with half a dozen white male conservative Republicans front and center.

At the Republican governors' conference in New Orleans, Ken Mehlman, the Bush campaign manager, answered the question, Who's your daddy party? "If you drive a Volvo and you do yoga, you are pretty much a Democrat," he said. "If you drive a Lincoln or a BMW and you own a gun, you're voting for George Bush."

Of course, W. was swaddled by three strong women - Laura Bush, Karen Hughes and Condi Rice - who cleaned up after his political messes.

Yet Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney boldly projected the image of confident - if overbearing - husbands who would guard the family home from intruders, while casting John Kerry as the feminized guy who couldn't get his sports references straight, the sort who would sashay about in Yves St. Laurent pajamas, dithering, whither-ing, and fetching bottled water for Teresa while the burglar alarm rang.

Democrats were furious to learn last week that Mr. Kerry had squirreled away $15 million in primary donations that he could have spent turning out the vote in Florida and Ohio. Once more trying to have it both ways, Mr. Kerry wanted a nest egg in case of a recount or legal challenges - not exactly the killer mentality that Democrats need.

Having gutted their opponents, Republicans are pretending to patch up divisions as they ruthlessly consolidate their gains. Democrats are turning the other cheek. At the opening of his presidential library, Bill Clinton assured the audience that Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry were "good people" who "just see the world differently."

The Republican Visigoths are crushing checks and balances and driving Democrats (and moderate Republicans) into subservient, obedient roles, sticking antiabortion provisions into major spending bills. Even the suggestion that Congress has an advise-and-consent role on judges caused the Visigoths to slap Arlen Specter into stocks, until he whimpered he would do their bidding.

The party of moral values deemed that crime pays, shielding Tom DeLay with a rule that someone facing a felony charge can still be a leader.

The ultracreepy Mr. DeLay de-pantsed Democrats on Friday, sneering: "I understand the Democrat Party's adjustment to their national minority status is frustrating, but their crushing defeat ... should show them that the American people are tired of the politics of personal destruction."

Well, yeah. Watching Bush supporters shred a war hero into a war criminal was tiring.

This most secretive administration wants to stop the public from getting any facts that might challenge its story line.

The Department of Homeland Security is making employees and contractors sign pledges barring them from telling the public about sensitive but unclassified information.

Porter Goss has warned C.I.A. employees that they should support the administration and "scrupulously honor our secrecy oath" by letting only the agency's public affairs office and Congressional relations branch talk to the media and Congress.

Senate Republicans have voted to allow Bill Frist, the majority leader, to fill vacancies on powerful committees, rather than abiding by the seniority system - a sword over moderates and mavericks.

The White House says it wants greater harmony, but it's acting like the thought police. Having run into resistance in their bid for global domination, the president and vice president are going for federal domination, pushing out anyone with independent judgment who puts democracy above ideology.

It's a paradoxical game plan: imposing democracy abroad while impeding it here.


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: crazy; democrats; dowd; dowdy; insaneoldliberal; maureendowd; offhermeds; oldnsaggy; republicans; whack; zetajones
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To: LasVegasMac
I detest writers who use a thesaurus like they are 15 years old and trying to impress the English teacher they have such a crush on. I read Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn and used at least 100 words that 99% of his readers, myself included, had never heard of and which are never used in any regular conversation. It got incredibly irritating having to resort to the dictionary so often. And it was a real shame because his research appeared to be outstanding.
41 posted on 11/20/2004 5:30:18 PM PST by bushisdamanin04
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To: wagglebee
What a truly joyless and unhappy woman.

I'm almost starting to feel sorry for her.






























Not!

42 posted on 11/20/2004 5:30:52 PM PST by DoctorMichael (The Fourth Estate is a Fifth Column!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: All
Oh, Maureen is kinda cute. I still like her because she called Kerry LAME duringf a Letterman show. Way to to Babe! If you have Realplayer you can WATCH the CLIP of Dowd/Letterman there. It's the 08/27/04 one.
43 posted on 11/20/2004 5:33:55 PM PST by grandpiano007 (http://billclintondailydiary.blogspot.com You want fries with that shake?)
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To: wagglebee

Verbal vomit.


44 posted on 11/20/2004 5:34:29 PM PST by tkathy (There will be no world peace until all thuggocracies are gone from the earth.)
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To: wagglebee

"Watching Bush supporters shred a war hero into a war criminal was tiring."

That was the easy part. Kerry admitted he was a war criminal before congress. Bush and Cheney didn't have to say anything about it, letting Kerry's own words do all the talking.


45 posted on 11/20/2004 5:35:20 PM PST by Harpo Speaks (Honk! Honk! Homk! Either it's foggy out, or make that a dozen hard boiled eggs.)
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To: LasVegasMac

Dowd really wrote "pussy-whipped", but the editor changed it in the name of good taste.


46 posted on 11/20/2004 5:38:58 PM PST by Palladin (Proud to be a FReeper!)
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To: wagglebee

I'm getting tired of thinking up new ways of saying that Maureen Dowd is totally out to lunch and that she's dragging the NY Times down into the gutter.

She can't think and she can't write. So why are they keeping her on? Howell Raines had an affair with her and probably felt guilty about firing her after they broke up. But what's their excuse now?

I mean, other than the fact that Pinch Sulzberger is an idiot?


47 posted on 11/20/2004 5:40:47 PM PST by Cicero (Nil illegitemus carborundum est)
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To: bushisdamanin04
Then you have people like Rush, "women 'farding' in the car on the way to work."

I think he is still laughing over that one!

I've caught more than one person, "I'm not familiar with that word, what does it mean?"

I quit doing it at company staff meetings - quick way to make an enemy for life.

LVM

48 posted on 11/20/2004 5:41:32 PM PST by LasVegasMac (If it ain't smoked, it ain't worth puttin' on the table!)
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To: bushisdamanin04
Then you have people like Rush, "women 'farding' in the car on the way to work."

I think he is still laughing over that one!

I've caught more than one person, "I'm not familiar with that word, what does it mean?"

I quit doing it at company staff meetings - quick way to make an enemy for life.

LVM

49 posted on 11/20/2004 5:41:35 PM PST by LasVegasMac (If it ain't smoked, it ain't worth puttin' on the table!)
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To: wagglebee
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney... [cast] John Kerry as the feminized guy who couldn't get his sports references straight, the sort who would sashay about in Yves St. Laurent pajamas, dithering, whither-ing, and fetching bottled water for Teresa while the burglar alarm rang

NICE JOB, MAUREEN...

The perfect characterization of Kerry here...

50 posted on 11/20/2004 5:41:46 PM PST by F16Fighter
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To: LasVegasMac
double post - sorry - both neurons fired at the same time.

LVM

51 posted on 11/20/2004 5:42:33 PM PST by LasVegasMac (If it ain't smoked, it ain't worth puttin' on the table!)
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To: Cicero

I honestly think that the NYT is so completely out of touch with reality that they don't understand what is happening to them. If they hadn't gone to worldwide satellite publication several years ago, they probably would have gone out of business.


52 posted on 11/20/2004 5:42:43 PM PST by wagglebee (Memo to sKerry: the only think Bush F'ed up was your career)
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To: bushisdamanin04

Perhaps you could work on your vocabulary a bit.


53 posted on 11/20/2004 5:42:57 PM PST by ThanhPhero (Ong la nguoi di hanh huong den La Vang)
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To: wagglebee

Boy, these people have tunnel vision....they don't recognize all the wrong doing, law breaking, lying, cheating, etc. of their own party.


54 posted on 11/20/2004 5:43:38 PM PST by TexasTaysor
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To: EagleUSA
Why do we even bother to listen to these IDEOLOGISTS!! (notice I did not say Communist or Socialist this time!) -

Okay, then I will say it for you!

Communists and Socialists! :-)

55 posted on 11/20/2004 5:45:31 PM PST by ladyinred (Congratulations President Bush! Four more years!)
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To: wagglebee
"I understand the Democrat Party's adjustment to their national minority status is frustrating, but their crushing defeat ... should show them that the American people are tired of the politics of personal destruction."

Spoken like a true Daddy.

56 posted on 11/20/2004 5:46:19 PM PST by NewLand (God Bless America and God Bless President Bush!)
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To: grandpiano007
Oh my! What a snooty arrogant priss Maureen is!

For all I care she can stay on the upper west side and go to all those dem/lib socialite Upitty parties and remain totally irrelevant...more so than Kerry will ever be.

You may like that she called Kerry lame, but that was an arrogant cheapass shot at him!

She's nothing more than a SB!

57 posted on 11/20/2004 5:46:50 PM PST by sirchtruth (Words Mean Things...)
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To: bushisdamanin04

“uxorious” submissive to one's wife.


58 posted on 11/20/2004 5:46:53 PM PST by Mercat (I call, You hear me.)
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To: ThanhPhero
Perhaps you could work on your vocabulary a bit.

Perhaps you could sit on something hard and rotate for a bit.

Did that make you feel good?

Congrats. You just classified yourself as one of the "speed bumps in life".

Minor irration, but run over anyway.

You are a jerk.

Glad you feel so good about yourself.

LVM

59 posted on 11/20/2004 5:47:15 PM PST by LasVegasMac (If it ain't smoked, it ain't worth puttin' on the table!)
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To: LasVegasMac

!


60 posted on 11/20/2004 5:48:15 PM PST by wagglebee (Memo to sKerry: the only think Bush F'ed up was your career)
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