Maureen Dowd: "Barry"

[Dick Whitman]

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

Because "Barry" is not in wide usage, first of all. Second of all, "Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" were nicknames that carried implications about their personalities and governing styles.

Look, I get that you don't like the guy. That's fine. But it's low-rent for Dowd to diminish him with cutesy nicknames like that - essentially saying that his given name is some sort of affectation that he hasn't earned the right to utilize.

 

[Dick Whitman]

What about Bubba?

Yeah, depends on the context.

 

[Boom_70]

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

Maybe everyone should start using "BHO" for Obama and start referring to
Eric Holder as "Fredo".

 

[da man]

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

Because "Barry" is not in wide usage, first of all. Second of all, "Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" were nicknames that carried implications about their personalities and governing styles.

Look, I get that you don't like the guy. That's fine. But it's low-rent for Dowd to diminish him with cutesy nicknames like that - essentially saying that his given name is some sort of affectation that he hasn't earned the right to utilize.

That's BS for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is he used to go by Barry, no? Would you feel better if she referred to him as "Emperor Barack?"

And again, columnists have been "diminishing" presidents by using "cutesy nicknames" since the dawn of time. I'm pretty sure some used to demeaningly refer to Nixon as "Milhouse" even before Watergate. I can't remember any specifically for Carter, but if you went back and checked I'd be pretty damned shocked if every writer always referred to him as "President Carter" or even "Jimmy." Hell, they probably had one for George Washington.

 

[Dick Whitman]

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

Because "Barry" is not in wide usage, first of all. Second of all, "Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" were nicknames that carried implications about their personalities and governing styles.

Look, I get that you don't like the guy. That's fine. But it's low-rent for Dowd to diminish him with cutesy nicknames like that - essentially saying that his given name is some sort of affectation that he hasn't earned the right to utilize.

That's BS for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is he used to go by Barry, no? Would you feel better if she referred to him as "Emperor Barack?"

And again, columnists have been "diminishing" presidents by using "cutesy nicknames" since the dawn of time. I'm pretty sure some used to demeaningly refer to Nixon as "Milhouse" even before Watergate. I can't remember any specifically for Carter, but if you went back and checked I'd be pretty damned shocked if every writer always referred to him as "President Carter" or even "Jimmy." Hell, they probably had one for George Washington.

And if they wrote it like Dowd does, it'd be low-rent on their part, too. Yes, he used to use that name. And now she's using it to belittle him. To cut him down to size. It's childish. But you can't see that, because you hate him.

 

[da man]

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

Because "Barry" is not in wide usage, first of all. Second of all, "Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" were nicknames that carried implications about their personalities and governing styles.

Look, I get that you don't like the guy. That's fine. But it's low-rent for Dowd to diminish him with cutesy nicknames like that - essentially saying that his given name is some sort of affectation that he hasn't earned the right to utilize.

That's BS for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is he used to go by Barry, no? Would you feel better if she referred to him as "Emperor Barack?"

And again, columnists have been "diminishing" presidents by using "cutesy nicknames" since the dawn of time. I'm pretty sure some used to demeaningly refer to Nixon as "Milhouse" even before Watergate. I can't remember any specifically for Carter, but if you went back and checked I'd be pretty damned shocked if every writer always referred to him as "President Carter" or even "Jimmy." Hell, they probably had one for George Washington.

And if they wrote it like Dowd does, it'd be low-rent on their part, too. Yes, he used to use that name. And now she's using it to belittle him. To cut him down to size. It's childish. But you can't see that, because you hate him.

Hardly. I just think columnists do stuff like this all the time and have forever. They diminished Bush and Clinton before him and Reagan and Carter and so on and so on. And this isn't even a snide moniker like the Slick Willie and Tricky **** you mentioned. It's just a form of his name he used to use.

In fact, he might still use it for all I know. Do his buddies call him Barry? I have no idea, but there's actually a chance Dowd is playing the old Johnny Carson name-dropping-to-show-I-know-these-guys-personally card -- remember how Johnny would refer in passing to his friends Chuck Heston and Bobby DeNiro, and would call Liberace "Lee"?

 

[dooley_womack1]

I think that any name concept that matches up with one done by Carlton Banks is inherently suspect.

 

[old_tony]

Dowd has been consistently irreverent when it comes to President's and
2nd terms. Many of her columns refer to Bush as "W".

Would love to discuss further but want to respect the no politics edict.

Speaking of which, isn't it time that thread re-opens?

 

[Armchair_QB]

To me, "W." is akin to "JFK" or "LBJ."

"Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" also seem to have been so widely used and accepted that a columnist with a particularly deft touch might be able to get away with it.

If all of that is the case, why should there be an issue with Barry?

Because "Barry" is not in wide usage, first of all. Second of all, "Tricky ****" and "Slick Willie" were nicknames that carried implications about their personalities and governing styles.

Look, I get that you don't like the guy. That's fine. But it's low-rent for Dowd to diminish him with cutesy nicknames like that - essentially saying that his given name is some sort of affectation that he hasn't earned the right to utilize.

That's BS for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is he used to go by Barry, no? Would you feel better if she referred to him as "Emperor Barack?"

And again, columnists have been "diminishing" presidents by using "cutesy nicknames" since the dawn of time. I'm pretty sure some used to demeaningly refer to Nixon as "Milhouse" even before Watergate. I can't remember any specifically for Carter, but if you went back and checked I'd be pretty damned shocked if every writer always referred to him as "President Carter" or even "Jimmy." Hell, they probably had one for George Washington.

"'Ol Wooden Teeth"

Actually, it was probably, "Ye Olde Wooden Teeth"

 

[ColdCat]

"W" and "Barry" are a false equivilincy since Bush supporters routinely used "W" and there were plenty of "W04" bumper stickers (hell I saw an old, weathered one yesterday). For our current president, isn't Barry a name he took on early in life to avoid intolerance towards his own name? There have been plenty of people (including TV people I've worked with) who go by a more anglo sounding name because there are closed-minded individuals out there who don't take kindly to anything ethnic-sounding. If that is why a young man named Barack decided to go by Barry for a while, isn't calling him that now throwing that fear of intolorance back in his face and perhaps showing that we aren't entirely over our fear of anything that isn't 100% WASPy?

 

[da man]

"W" and "Barry" are a false equivilincy since Bush supporters routinely used "W" and there were plenty of "W04" bumper stickers (hell I saw an old, weathered one yesterday). For our current president, isn't Barry a name he took on early in life to avoid intolerance towards his own name? There have been plenty of people (including TV people I've worked with) who go by a more anglo sounding name because there are closed-minded individuals out there who don't take kindly to anything ethnic-sounding. If that is why a young man named Barack decided to go by Barry for a while, isn't calling him that now throwing that fear of intolorance back in his face and perhaps showing that we aren't entirely over our fear of anything that isn't 100% WASPy?

Geez, you people are really overthinking this.

Is Barry less respectful than Shrub? How about Slick Willie? BTW, there were many who called Bush W but spelled it Dubya. Respectful or not? And I still think there's a chance Dowd was trying to pull the look-at-how-inside-I-am name-dropping thing.

It's part of the game, guys. Columnists all have their schtick, and some of that includes their own little nicknames -- often unflattering -- for public figures like the president. This has been going on in the U.S. for a couple of centuries now. Some presidential nicknames, which I'm sure found their way into print: His Little Majesty, His Accidency, President Malaise, Silent Cal, King Andrew and Mad Tom.

There's even a Sporcle game about it: http://www.sporcle.com/games/klangston25/us-presidents-by-derogatory-nickname

According to the game, Grover Cleveland might be the king of these. He was called such things as His Obstinacy, the Stuffed Prophet, the Elephantine Economist and Uncle Jumbo. And I love this one for Rutherford B. Hayes: "Queen Victoria in Riding Breeches".

This whole thing reminds me of that thread where many went berserk over the picture of Sarah Palin in shorts on the running magazine cover and forgot that every candidate in the history of politics (at least since photography was invented) has posed for some ridiculous photo op.

To all of you, I say: Sheesh! Lighten up, Francis.

 

[deskslave]

Dowd has been consistently irreverent when it comes to President's and
2nd terms. Many of her columns refer to Bush as "W".

Would love to discuss further but want to respect the no politics edict.

Speaking of which, isn't it time that thread re-opens?

I think the relatively infrequent deviations into politics on other threads have largely demonstrated that it would serve no purpose. When every 25 posts had three about politics and 22 about name-calling, "my thread", etc., there was no point to it.

And yes, I was a reader, although not a poster. But even if I had been a poster, I'd have given up long ago. Get rid of the trolls, and maybe it becomes worthwhile.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Well, at least the Times isn't making her undergo sensitivity training.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/13/rodeo-clowns-asked-take-sensitivity-training/

 

[ColdCat]

Well, at least the Times isn't making her undergo sensitivity training.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/13/rodeo-clowns-asked-take-sensitivity-training/

Toby Keith is playing the State Fair on Friday. I'm sure he can make the rodeo clown's act look tame if he sets his mind to it.

 

[Tarheel316]

Dowd has been consistently irreverent when it comes to President's and
2nd terms. Many of her columns refer to Bush as "W".

Would love to discuss further but want to respect the no politics edict.

Speaking of which, isn't it time that thread re-opens?

I think the relatively infrequent deviations into politics on other threads have largely demonstrated that it would serve no purpose. When every 25 posts had three about politics and 22 about name-calling, "my thread", etc., there was no point to it.

And yes, I was a reader, although not a poster. But even if I had been a poster, I'd have given up long ago. Get rid of the trolls, and maybe it becomes worthwhile.

Get rid of the trolls and then the thread would be a ghost town.

 

[deskslave]

Dowd has been consistently irreverent when it comes to President's and
2nd terms. Many of her columns refer to Bush as "W".

Would love to discuss further but want to respect the no politics edict.

Speaking of which, isn't it time that thread re-opens?

I think the relatively infrequent deviations into politics on other threads have largely demonstrated that it would serve no purpose. When every 25 posts had three about politics and 22 about name-calling, "my thread", etc., there was no point to it.

And yes, I was a reader, although not a poster. But even if I had been a poster, I'd have given up long ago. Get rid of the trolls, and maybe it becomes worthwhile.

Get rid of the trolls and then the thread would be a ghost town.

Which answers the question of why it's not come back, I would assume.

 

[YankeeFan]

Big Daddy Bill:

The most egregious nest of conflicts was a firm founded by Doug Band called Teneo, a scammy blend of corporate consulting, public relations and merchant banking. Band, a surrogate son to Bill, put Huma, a surrogate daughter to Hillary, on the payroll. Even Big Daddy Bill was a paid adviser.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/opinion/sunday/dowd-money-money-money-money-money.html?_r=1&