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[User 1019]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

Even a black man with white blood in him doesn't get a pass.

he probably hate the ******* blood that's in his veins.

Oh, this'll be good at about 10 p.m.

 

[Boom_70]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I won't question her ability as a writer either, but I sure will question her quality of output. She's basically Tom Seaver or Jay Leno, great in her day, but lost her fastball fifteen years ago, and still makes a pretty good living off of what she once was. She's been vapid & empty since Clinton's first term (even I'll admit she was brilliant if grossly unfair in the Thomas confirmation hearings). Ace & FB, you didn't seemed to eat this stale cotton candy up back when it was all Rummy all the time? Why the sudden shift (kind of like Amaeche - getting it right a decade too late)?

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

Narration: Many people in the West wondered whether the 74-year-old Ronald Reagan was up to taking on the 54-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev.

Interview: Donald Regan, White House chief of staff

"The president's aide came in and said, 'Mr President, you know, do you wanna put your coat on?' And he said, 'Oh, I'm not sure.' And somebody said, 'Well, it's very cold outside. You should really wear a coat.' It was announced that the Soviet cavalcade was at the gates. And Reagan turned and, without putting on his overcoat, walked to the door. And there was much speculation as to whether this 'tired old man', president of the United States, could keep up with this 'wily, energetic, young, vigorous communist.' And to the amazement of the world, the old man goes down the steps -- lickety split -- meets and greets the Soviet leader who comes out all bundled up in an overcoat, hat, muffler, looking as though he were in Iceland rather than Geneva."


Those who remember that might agree it's a story that supports my argument and Alley's at the same time.

Now THAT is great writing & backstory with MAJOR purpose and impact.

That gives you real inside stuff with punch & direct realtionship to the news.

Great find!

Thanks, but it's not great writing. It's narration -- a spoken remembrance -- from a documentary.

 

[andyouare?]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

Even a black man with white blood in him doesn't get a pass.

he probably hate the ******* blood that's in his veins.

What Bob Dylan song is that from?

 

[John D. Villarreal]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

Even a black man with white blood in him doesn't get a pass.

he probably hate the ******* blood that's in his veins.

Bruh, you HAVE to be kidding?

WTF!!??

Please tell me this was some bad joke.

And here I was going to give you props on the preview I saw of your new show. Likely will still write something up - but, right now I need a shower.

 

[JayFarrar]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I think the press is starting to lash back at Obama since he's one who is willing to say that the national press corps suck on occasion.
See Fox News and Obama's grade-school education as one example.
Dowd and her idiot friends are the reason we are stuck in Iraq right now.
Rather than focus on substance, you know, the news, they write novels. Dowd made another fabulous attempt at mind-reading by determing what Obama was thinking, rather than just asking the question.
And don't forget, what we can't say someone looks good in a bathing suit? I mean come on, it isn't like we are fighting a two-front war with a couple of looming crisises in the background and the next president is going to have a huge mess to clean up ...
I'm done with my Bob Somerby impersonation.

 

[Boom_70]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I think the press is starting to lash back at Obama since he's one who is willing to say that the national press corps suck on occasion.
See Fox News and Obama's grade-school education as one example.
Dowd and her idiot friends are the reason we are stuck in Iraq right now.
Rather than focus on substance, you know, the news, they write novels. Dowd made another fabulous attempt at mind-reading by determing what Obama was thinking, rather than just asking the question.
And don't forget, what we can't say someone looks good in a bathing suit? I mean come on, it isn't like we are fighting a two-front war with a couple of looming crisises in the background and the next president is going to have a huge mess to clean up ...
I'm done with my Bob Somerby impersonation.

Obama is asking for questions of substance yet he poses for the cover of Vogue

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I think the press is starting to lash back at Obama since he's one who is willing to say that the national press corps suck on occasion.

I totally agree, that's probably why she hates Bush so much too, right?

 

[EE94]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I have to agree a little with Obama's reaction to Zeleny. What difference does it make if he used a heater or not. That is, indeed, a People-esque question.

You don't think there are people, ordinary people, the so-called general public, that would be interested to know a person seemingly standing out in the elements just as they are is, in fact, somewhat warmed by an unseen heater? I like Obama, but the question is not People-y.

At least not in my opinion.

That's how you want to choose your next leader, Americans.
Did he use a heater and when did he use it.
::)

 

[Boom_70]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

In context of Zeleny story the heater question was a fair one:

Obama Formally Enters Presidential Race
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 10 — Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, standing before the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln began his political career, announced his candidacy for the White House on Saturday by presenting himself as an agent of generational change who could transform a government hobbled by cynicism, petty corruption and “a smallness of our politics.”

“The time for that politics is over,” Mr. Obama said. “It is through. It’s time to turn the page.”

Wearing an overcoat but gloveless on a frigid morning, Mr. Obama invoked a speech Lincoln gave here in 1858 condemning slavery — “a house divided against itself cannot stand” — as he started his campaign to become the nation’s first black president.

Speaking smoothly and comfortably, Mr. Obama offered a generational call to arms, portraying his campaign less as a candidacy and more as a movement. “Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be done,” he said. “Today we are called once more, and it is time for our generation to answer that call.”

It was the latest step in a journey rich with historic possibilities and symbolism. Thousands of people packed the town square to witness it, shivering in the single-digit frostiness until Mr. Obama appeared, trailed by his wife, Michelle, and two young daughters. (“I wasn’t too cold,” Mr. Obama said later, grinning as he acknowledged a heating device had been positioned at his feet, out of the audience’s view.)

Still, for all the excitement on display, Mr. Obama’s speech also marked the start of a tough new phase in what until now has been a charmed introduction to national politics. Democrats and Mr. Obama’s aides said they were girding for questions about his experience in national politics, his command of policy, a past that has gone largely unexamined by rivals and the news media, and a public persona defined more by his biography and charisma than by how he would seek to use the powers of the presidency.

 

[21]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

Senator Obama picks the wrong year to quit smoking.

 

[Bob Cook]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

Just about every candiate for president, at some point, has a moment or two when he makes clear how much he hates those press jackals. (Does the phrase "major league asshole" ring a bill?)

That a presidential candidate LOVED the press would be news.

Also, Obama's biggest weakness as a campaigner is going to be the lack of scrutiny he's received at lower levels. He's never run a competitive race, including the time he got stomped in his bid to unseat Bobby Rush in the House. Obama lucked into the Senate seat when the leading candidates in his own party (Blair Hull) and outside his party (Jack Ryan) were found to be wife-beaters (Hull) or, in what I still can't figure out the scandal involved here, wanting to make freaky love to their wife (Ryan).

I like Obama, but at some point he's going to be tested, and tested much harder than someone asking him if he had a heater. Or a gyroball. (Sorry.)

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I have to agree a little with Obama's reaction to Zeleny. What difference does it make if he used a heater or not. That is, indeed, a People-esque question.

You don't think there are people, ordinary people, the so-called general public, that would be interested to know a person seemingly standing out in the elements just as they are is, in fact, somewhat warmed by an unseen heater? I like Obama, but the question is not People-y.

At least not in my opinion.

That's how you want to choose your next leader, Americans.
Did he use a heater and when did he use it.
::)

(sigh) I am not saying that, and I think you know it.

 

[alleyallen]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

JD, in that context, yes, the question was appropriate with the rest of the story. The way it was presented in Mo Dowd's story...not so much.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

JD, in that context, yes, the question was appropriate with the rest of the story. The way it was presented in Mo Dowd's story...not so much.

Yes, as I said earlier, there is a difference between the reporter's asking of the question and Dowd's use of the exchange between the reporter and Obama. She is saying it's telling (about his apparent unreadiness for the scrutiny, I think). You say it's not. I don't have a problem with that.

 

[jambalaya]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

The dude is trying to quit smoking. The reporter asked him if he cheated. That's NOT a People-esque question.

Now, if the reporter asked "Do you prefer bikini briefs when hanging 10?", that could indeed be a People-esque question, albeit something we surely want to know.

 

[Montezuma's Revenge]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

This illustrates why Dowd was at her best during the Clinton-Monica nonsense.

She's only in her element when she's writing about nothing.

She's Fluff the Magic Dragon.

 

[Boom_70]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

 

[cranberry]

Re: Mo Dowd Sticks a Pin in the Obama Balloon

I think she's pointing out he might not be prepared for the all-encompassing scrutiny.

To Fenian's point about the empty calories in Mo Dowd's columns, I understand what he's saying. There's not a lot of traditional reporting going on with her column obviously and there are more than sufficient pop culture analogies. But she's usually getting a pretty good point across. I like her stuff and rarely miss a column.