I love Maureen Dowd. I know Conservatives hate her (I hate Rush Limbaugh. I know Conservatives love him), but you have to admit she is good in what she does to Conservatives—as Limbaugh is good at infuriating Democrats.
I thought Dowd’s column in the New York Times this morning was particularly good. In “An Extremist Makeover?”, she addresses what many have been copiously discussing during the last few months: The attempts by Bush & Co. to—during the waning days of their disastrous administration—fabricate (i.e. concoct) a semi-passable legacy.
Out of deference to Conservatives I will not mention some of the more juicy parts of Dowd’s column, such as where she mentions that she would have liked to kick Cheney in the shins; or where she calls him “the lawless Vice presiding over lawmakers swearing to support and defend the Constitution that he soiled and defiled,” and “the vamoosing Vice” who “has no apologies about turning America into a country that tortured.”
Nor will I mention what Dowd has to say about Cheney’s so-called boss, “a president who was over his head and under Cheney’s spell,” except for the following brief comment:
From Gaza to the unemployment figures to the $10.6 trillion debt, things keep spiraling while W. keeps fiddling. Just as when he was in the National Guard and didn’t bother to show up, now, as the scabrous consequences of his missteps shake the economy and the world, he doesn’t bother to show up. He’s checked out — spending his time on more than a dozen exit interviews that do nothing to change his image as a president…
Again, I love Maureen Dowd and her columns, and I highly recommend that my Democratic friends read the entire article. Out of courtesy to my Conservative readers—if any—who probably will not be clicking on the link to Dowd’s article, let me just provide a “sanitized” version of her column:
In the past week, I’ve twice been close enough to Dick Cheney…
The first time was Tuesday, when Cheney left the ceremony where he gave the oath of office to senators. The senators seemed thrilled…
The second time I crossed paths was Thursday night, at a glitzy party at Cafe Milano for Brit Hume…
Asked by People magazine what moments from the last eight years he revisited most often, W. talked passionately about the pitch he threw out at the World Series in 2001…
Asked by Fred Barnes and Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard if he had made progress in some areas for which he hasn’t gotten credit, the president put trying to privatize Social Security at the top of his list…
After he leaves office, W. wants to go on more bike rides…He wants to write a memoir… And he wants to encourage debate at his presidential library on “big ideas.”
[Cheney’s] going back to Casper, Wyo., and said he’s giving “serious thought” to writing a book…
Cheney replied [to a question by Mark Knoller of CBS Radio] with a laugh, “That I’m actually a warm, lovable sort.”
“I think we made good decisions,” he told Knoller…“I think we knew what we were doing.”
Even on his way out, Vice is still on top.
I hope Ms. Dowd doesn’t mind me making her column agreeable to readers of every political persuasion.
