Crusader AXE has always loved Maureen Dowd. She's a lovely woman, with a great wit and when she cares passionately about something, she writes with a pen sharpened by 16 years of Catholic Education as well as 30 years of newspaper writing. When she isn't emotionally engaged, she can lose her edge. The Obama years have been hard on her -- it's been hard to care. Her Jansenist streak gets in the way, one she shares with Blaise Pascal and moi sometimes gets in the way of perspective. And, when she is not emotionally involved in the fight against darkness, hypocrisy and the nastiness of power, she can be too cute. The puns, oh god the puns...
But when she is on, she writes like an avenging angel. Yes, I am and have been infatuated with her for years -- but, with the avenging angel, a working class Irish girl who combines the best of our Irish Catholic heritage with our American beliefs. She's like that -- Gail Collins is like that, Lawrence O'Donnell is like that, Chris Matthews is like that. She's slim, elegant and gorgeous, articulate and generous and I'm sorry our paths never crossed back in the day she was haunting the library and galleries of Catholic University while I was slogging through the snow and ice in Worcester. Like the journalistic equivalents of Rissoli and Isles, Collins and Dowd bring passion and brilliance to the Times. Collins is more journeyman in her approach, as befits a Marymount Graduate; Dowd more glamorous and stinging. But, together they make up for the poor writing and general silliness of some other Times contributors. (Tom Friedman; David Brooks...) I will read Krugman before anyone else on public policy and economics. I will cross the street and visit a library if the computers all die to read Dowd and Collins on issues of morality, culture and justice.
On the Templar-Space alien case, Dulcinea Dowd has nailed it so well...the beginning is incredible and there are few prisoners taken. Bernard Henri-Levy and the French in general take a back of the hand as does Arnold the Ass but her focus is really on the issue of power and courage and that in the United States, flaws accepted and acknowledged, a Muslim immigrant working as a hotel maid in a bastion of privilege will be able to expect justice. Here's her lead -- read the column, it's worth tatooing on your chest.
Oh, she wanted it.
She wanted it bad.
That’s what every hard-working, God-fearing, young widow who breaks her back doing menial labor at a Times Square hotel to support her teenage daughter, justify her immigration status and take advantage of the opportunities in America wants — a crazed, rutting, wrinkly old satyr charging naked out of a bathroom, lunging at her and dragging her around the room, caveman-style."
Now, she has noticed the conspiracy theorists running amuck on this one. After the responses I got over at Veteran's Today when I wrote about this, I thought I was the only one to sense it. There is an interesting trend -- the 9/11 truthers seem to be the Templar-Space Alien Truthers on this. This was the work of Sarkozy and the Jews...yeah. They're crazy, but that's their point. Levi says this is not what this guy would do because he's a friend and he's never chased Levi around the room.
If there was a Pulitzer for Swiftian envisceration of the pompous, greedy and powerful, I suspect this column would have it hands down this year. As it should. It's nice to know that my unrequited love is still focused on an oh-so-worthy person of my undying admiration.
"Crazed, rutting, wrinkly old satyr", huh? Sounds like a really useful category, there are a bunch of them in recent news, many more in backstory, and you're right, that woman can write.
Posted by: oldfatherwilliam | 20 May 2011 at 07:38 AM