(Dowd --- as you may have noticed from the Constitution's Viewpoints page,
which sometimes uses her columns --- enjoys tongue-in-cheek writing. The
day before George W. Bush's inauguration last month, the Constitution
published a column where she made up quotes from an inaugural planner
about how the Bush campaign wanted a return-to-the-Confederacy theme for
the festivities. It was intended to be funny. Some readers took it seriously. I
had to tell them it was a joke, just not a very good one.)