Maureen Dowd Reacts To Being Tossed From McCain Plane

Earlier this week, we learned that the McCain campaign had barred New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd from traveling on their plane, stranding her at an airport hotel in Pittsburgh as McCain's pool of reporters wended their way on without her ready skill at alliteration and musical theatre references. Since then, Dowd has had the opportunity to respond:

"I had had a great relationship with John McCain for 16 years, through columns he liked and didn't like. So at first I thought it was a mistake and doublechecked with the press office. They said I was banned from both planes for 'the foreseeable future.' Then [McCain spokeswoman] Nicolle Wallace was gloating about it to reporters on the Palin plane," Dowd wrote in an email.

"It was disappointing because I didn't think John McCain would ever be as dismissive of the First Amendment as Dick Cheney."

Actually, I'd say McCain is being far more "dismissive" than Cheney. After all, nothing gave Adam Clymer as much cachet as being known as the press corps' "Major League Asshole of 2000." That's BIG TIME.

Comments

[LightningJoe]

Won't it be great, when the reporters themselves realize that to get kicked off the McCampaign is actually a GOOD thing, for one's career?

So expect a rash, in the final days, of reporters telling it like it is, not like McCain want's them to think it is.

Best case scenario? ALL of the legitimate McCain pool get kicked off the plane, leaving only a small core of Enquirer ("Obama REALLY IS a Muslim!"), and Weekly World News ""Obama's Alien supporters want Earth's water for themselves!") "reporters" in the back of the plane. That would be a graphic comment on the actual substantive content of McCain's candidacy (none!).

[Gatormouth]

Maureen, (I had a beloved aunt named Maureen) We all know the price for a press pass on the "Straight Talk Express" is too high. Those that ask too many questions, or attempt to take McCain off his talking points, or report what they think is really going on are not welcome.on board. Congratulations, in my opinion you have just won the press equivalent of The Distinguished Flying Cross

[sueno]

Maureen Dowd ROCKS!!!!
She is one of the few journalists that speaks the truth.
McCain is afraid of her because she can't be brought-
Maureen has dug her nails into all the candidates
only McCain and Palin have cried!
Dowd is again, one of the only journalists to
tell the American people the truth-
You Go Girl!

[hatethehype]

ProFromOre

Wonderfully and thoughtfully written missive.
For many people, McCain represents 'that bully' in their lives, past or present, so very deserving of that much needed beatdown.

[Fishpaste]

Tough break Maureen. Considering all of the praise you've heaped on McCaint for being, fair honest and real. I guess you were wrong about that all along. He fooled you and a lot of others in your profession.

[Jamesdean]

could somebody please tell me why Maureen Dowd, the only NYT commentator who still commands respect, is dressed that way?

[mollybeejay]

Could you please tell me why the way that Maureen is dressed is germane to this topic? If she had been a fat, balding, white man in plaid pants and striped shirt, there would not even be a question of dress. Maureen is a very talented and gifted writer. Her manner of dress has nothing to do with her skill.

[Jamesdean]

I like and respect her too, but I never imagined her dressing like Cindy Lauper, thats all. Now honestly tell me, does she in any way look like the serious, sophisticated, well-read journalists she is?

[batspaul]

Well, for me it's about her writing, which I have never really liked, even when I have agreed with her. She never approaches the depth of Anna Quindlen or the genuine humor and bite of Molly Ivins. I mention them not because of gender, but because they are the commentators whose writing Dowd's seems to aspire to. She manages to be glib without ever really being funny, and she forces every piece into some artificial, pop-culture meme that often lacks resonance. While it is entirely irrelevant, I do find that her attire in this photo reflects, for me, the aesthetic of her writing.

But if we are going to talk about dress, here, we should talk about the fact that the former "straight-talk express" is banishing any members of the press who have the nerve to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

[Scarllatti]

Was that Cindy Lopper or Maureen Dowd? Mau prefers walking than taking rides on aircrafts. Who said she was complaining?

[Vladdycat]

The ensamble she was wearing in the picture would warrant an ejection from the press plane, unless the red cowboy boots were an homage to McCains's maverick past.

[Roose]

Maverick?! Please! more like insecure loser.

[ReasonableBill]

McCain is a shoot from the hip Maverick. Do as he wants or get out. He will be wonderful at foreign policy and although Bush was inconsequential and ruined out INternational standing and has initiated a disdain for us, McCain will really piss off the International community and anyone getting in his way. Oh boy.

[siney]

serenity? joy?

[jollyelle]

Why doesn't anyone stand up to this jerk? He's so used to getting his way, he just bulldozes people, stares them down, looks like he's going to implode............He's a cranky, old, rich guy who's just realizing he IS old, the frat boy image he's held onto all these years has vanished.......now, he smiles and he looks insane, bordering on perverted.

..........for 5 and a half years I didn't........

that's his "noun, verb, and 911

IT IS ALL OLD,OLD,OLD!!!!

[jimmyjones22]

its called being a spoiled brat cause daddy and grand daddy were important people and gave you everything you wanted.

[layman]

A pretentous maverick is deep down an A__hole, bully, as attested by so many that crossed path with himin in his past. He is more fitting to be a tyrant or dictator than president. '

[piggybackmom]

Amen.

[ggmome]

TRUE STORY! So it is!

[Cogs]

Maureen Dowd's dry cleaner is going to have a tough time riding her clothes of that "old man smell".

[lovethesinner]

And in her wonderful way, Mo retaliates by ignoring him to pay tribute to a great American, Paul Newman: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/opinion/01dowd.html?hp

"At a moment when America feels angry and betrayed, when our leaders have forfeited our trust and jeopardized our future, we lost an American icon who stood for traits that have been in short supply in the Bush administration: shrewdness, humility, decency, generosity, class."

She did save a pre-debate dig for McCain's running mate, however:

"I was nervous the first time I met the star, because he"d been a teenage crush " along with William F. Buckley Jr. (I loved Buckley"s sesquipedalian dexterity " a lost art in the anti-intellectual conservative set of W. and Sarah Palin.)"

Watching McCain toss aside his honor for the sake of his ambition is like watching that old movie, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" or a greek tragedy. Whether it's pathetic, or tragic, you know there's a moral to the story somewhere.