I try to write something on this blog at least once a day, and I freely admit that some days it’s mostly filler. For instance, yesterday I heaped scorn on Charles Krauthammer. I admit it: no fruit can hang lower. Well, almost no fruit.
We come now, again, to Maureen Dowd. She only writes two columns a week, and she has people to help her. She writes for the New York Times, and her columns appear on Sunday, perhaps the most prestigious space in the nation.
This week, the following things have happened:
1. The Iranians have had an election stolen out from under them.
2. Another right wing domestic terrorist has committed yet another violent act; the right wingers who have reinforced the crackpot theories that drive these people have run for cover; and Rush Limbaugh has actually tried to paint this racist, anti-Semitic self proclaimed Nazi as a leftist.
3. The health care debate has entered a critical phase.
4. The Republicans have threatened to walk out on the Sotomayor hearings.
5. The supplemental war funding bill is in trouble, due to a combination of Democrats who are leery of the open ended war in Afghanistan and Republicans who don’t want to bail out the IMF (the funds for which have somehow been attached to the war funding bill).
The list goes on, of course. The list above is not necessarily in order of importance, but surely these issues would be at the top of any thinking persons list.
If you extend that list, somewhere around number 10,000 you get to the issue covered by Dowd’s column. What does she deem important enough for the Sunday Times?
Her ability to write a double entendre lead to an article about high definition television, followed by a rambling discussion of the challenges faced by our vacuous talking heads (along with Dowd, of course-it’s always about Dowd) in dealing with the challenges presented by those added pixels. Dowd doesn’t just fiddle, she plays a string quartet while Rome burns.
If this were an aberration, it would be merely puzzling. In fact, it’s the rule. Week after week Dowd (who is, to our shame, often categorized as a left leaning pundit, though how that can be ascertained is a mystery) entertains us with extended meditations on trivia, with herself in the starring role. I realize she was recruited to fill the women’s position so ably filled by Anna Quindlen, but really, how hard could it be to find a woman who has opinions about, you know, important stuff. How hard can it be to write two columns a week that have just a bit of substance? I know we bloggers are objects of journalistic scorn, but can you imagine what Dowd would serve up if she had to produce something every day?
Well, it’s not a total loss. It’s the weekend, and Dowd made my life just a bit easier by serving up such a tempting target.
Update: In case you’re interested, you can read about the war supplemental, and the reason the IMF funding is attached to it here. Interesting, most of those anti-IMF votes are Republicans, who don’t seem at all put off by the possibility of being attacked for not supporting the troops.
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