October 19, 2010

Rush Limbaugh on Maureen Dowd: "I know every detail because I know the guy" she loved and who was cruel to her.

Rush Limbaugh offers a somewhat sympathetic but teasing and gossipy explanation for why Maureen Dowd isn't fun to read anymore:
What happened is that a guy she really had -- she was in love with -- dumped her and was mean to her.  Didn't just dump her, but did it in a mean, mean way.  And she had everything invested in this guy, and she hasn't been the same since this happened.  If I didn't have the scruples I have, I'd give you every detail because I know every detail because I know the guy.  I have heard the guy explain the story, and I got livid! I was livid when I heard the story being told. The guy told me how much fun it was! I said, "Gee whiz! I'm supposed to be the guy with no heart here! I'm the conservative! I'm supposed to be the guy that has no compassion!" (interruption) Oh, yeah, big time liberal.  Oh, no question, absolutely.  At any rate, it's just a sad thing out there.
He doesn't go on to do a riff about how she was in love with Obama or some comic thing. It ends very quickly. 

90 comments:

chickelit said...

That is sad. I envision her scrabbling up a pile a broken eggshells to reach her vantage point.

MadisonMan said...

Does that really happen to women? They get all funkified because their man dumps them, and dumps them meanly?

Maybe I don't know enough of the dumped.

Scott M said...

Two Rush threads in less than 30 minutes, Althouse? The resident trolls are going to slow-roast you.

Sprezzatura said...

"Two Rush threads in less than 30 minutes"

I was thinking that the real accomplishment was combining two of her favorite topics in this single post.

AllenS said...

Surely, somebody should know who this guy is. I want answers!

Ann Althouse said...

"Two Rush threads in less than 30 minutes, Althouse? The resident trolls are going to slow-roast you."

Funny, the first one was something I heard on the podcast and wanted to write about. The second one is something I clicked over too after reading something on Limbaugh that was featured on Memeorandum (a site I use a lot to see what people are talking about). I haven't blogged about the Limbaugh thing that other people are talking about, which is something that hits right in my zone: those pictures of Obama that were up on Drudge yesterday. I blogged directly about those yesterday — not before his discussion on the radio, but without having heard it.

EnigmatiCore said...

Likely Sorkin.

Lincolntf said...

Can we speculate that the guy is a public figure (or at least a recognizable name to news/media junkies)?
I imagine there are hundreds of gossipy desperate housewives in the Northeast corridor who know the details. I wonder which one of them will "Tweet" first.

KCFleming said...

I'm guessing Slick Willie.

Big Mike said...

I knew it! The reason MoDo hates Palin so much is because she realizes that she will never -- not ever! -- have a guy like Todd in her life.

Automatic_Wing said...

I don't think there's been any dramatic change in the quality of Dowd's work, it's just that her schtick has just gotten really old and tired. There's only so many ways you can write a cutesy political story.

This is a bit like theorizing that the tenth season of Happy Days wasn't very good because Garry Marshall suffered some kind of secret personal heartbreak. She's just used all her material up, is all.

Opus One Media said...

"i'm too much of a gentleman every to comment on something as personal as this is -- but I will say this about that..."

sheesh.

Psota said...

I think it was Michael Douglas.

The Dude said...

He just sorta, stomped on her aorta. Works for me.

Roger J. said...

I like MoDo even less than I like Rush Limbaugh, but this gossip stuff lowers the bar on tacky.

AllenS said...

From NYMag.com

And Dowd’s office just happens to be next door to her ex-boyfriend John Tierney

EnigmatiCore said...

"I think it was Michael Douglas."

I believe Dowd speaks well of Douglas, to this day. And while I believe Douglas is a liberal, Sorkin more fits the "big time liberal" description.

EnigmatiCore said...

I think this article contains enough for me to feel very confident it is Sorkin.

Anonymous said...

OK, I feel a little bit sorry for Dowd now. But why couldn't she just deal with it by gorging on chocolate like a normal woman?

Michael said...

Hey, its the new new: prove that its not true!! Lefties love this game never having taken Rhetoric or Logic and never having heard in one of their "studies" majors that you can't prove a negative .

Really fun. The Dems received fifty times the amount of secret and foreign contributions this year than did the Republicans. Most of the contributors were from Latin American drug cartels. I would like to see them prove otherwise. They would if it weren't true, if they had nothing to hide.

ndspinelli said...

I think Imus has also said it was Michael Douglas. And, he knows Dowd.

Anonymous said...

""I think it was Michael Douglas."

I believe Dowd speaks well of Douglas, to this day. And while I believe Douglas is a liberal, Sorkin more fits the "big time liberal" description."

But this would mean that Sorkin confided in Rush. Not likely.

EnigmatiCore said...

You think it is more likely Douglas confided in Rush?

What Ann posted above makes it sound less like the dude confided in Rush, and more like Rush was around when the guy was bragging to a bunch of people about what he did. Seems to me that would be consistent with the personality trait shown in this anecdote (from my link):

"You are the most respected, revered columnist in the country and you have a Pulitizer Prize and you dated me for a while. What was that like?" [Sorkin]

"I asked you in the green room not to mention that," replied Dowd, smiling through gritted teeth.

Fen said...

I'm sorry, but I've never found Dowd to be the great writer her admirers claim she is.

Someone please link to what they think is one of her best pieces. I promise to weigh it objectively

Fen said...

And Dowd’s office just happens to be next door to her ex-boyfriend John Tierney

You can't swing a cat without hitting one of her ex "boyfriends"

Original Mike said...

"You are the most respected, revered columnist in the country and you have a Pulitizer Prize and you dated me for a while. What was that like?" [Sorkin]

A good response would have been; "the Pulitizer was great".

Why anybody would want to live their life out on a public stage is beyond me.

Roger J. said...

Given Ms Dowd's penchant for snark and in some cases cruelty and outright lying (albeit with the use of ellipses), it seems the karma is alive and well. Ms Dowd is not an appropriate candidate for sympathy as far as relationships go.

Unknown said...

MoDo was funny once? Which century?

PS The photo he uses qualifies as the unkindest cut of all.

Man, she looks like the prototypical Irish harridan in that one. All she needs is the rolling pin.

Fen said...

What Roger said.

She's a mean bitch. It was only a matter of time before she became a bitter mean bitch.

But Rush is missing it. The reason Dowd is going after conservative and TPM women is because she's been assigned to Alinsky them.

Trooper York said...

They say that if you want to see what you wife is going to look like in twenty years, then you should look at her mother.

If you want to see what Maureen Dowd is gonna look like....well rent "Throw Mama from the Train."

Harry said...

Fen said...Someone please link to what they think is one of her best pieces. I promise to weigh it objectively

Around the time of the Lewinsky affair, Dowd wrote some good columns ridiculing Clinton, but then Michael Douglas was inveigled to start dating her and she once again hewed the party line.

Sorry, no links, and maybe I just remember the columns as good because she seemed to be expressing an honest opinion.

MayBee said...

It can't be Michael Douglas. How bitter could she be about being dumped for Catherine Zeta Jones?
I mean. Catherine Zeta Jones!

Fen said...

Well, I just googled these:

January 25, 1998 Not Suitable for Children
January 28, 1998 The Slander Strategy
July 8, 1998 In All His Feathered Glory
August 19, 1998 Saturday Night Bill
August 23, 1998 Monica Gets Her Man
September 2, 1998 U.S.A. T.M.I. September 13, 1998 Pulp Nonfiction September 16, 1998 The Wizard of Is
September 23, 1998 Confessions of a Sex Addict November
18, 1998 So Don't Like Me


And found them so dull that I couldn't help but skim them. Please tell me all the hype re Dowd is based on something more substantial...

I know good writers when I read them. They make me want to grab a cup of coffee, stretch back and slowly digest every little morsel. And then go back and read it all over again. And when someone or something interrupts, I want to start over from the top, like watching a good play.

Yon is one. Noonan (when she's on) is another. But I'm not seeing it yet with Dowd.

Opus One Media said...

I guess that 1999 Pulitzer Prize is a prime example of no talent.

let me get this straight...you are posting on a blog and she is writing at the Times.

got it now. thanks.

Fen said...

Libtard: guess that 1999 Pulitzer Prize is a prime example of no talent.

So why didn't you link to it? Put up or shut up.

let me get this straight...you are posting on a blog and she is writing at the Times.

I never claimed I was a better writer than Dowd. I'm saying I haven't seen anything from her (yet) that stacks up to good writers.

got it now. thanks.

Yah, you're not too bright.

Trooper York said...

Seriously hd. You know all you liberals give out these phony awards to people who don’t deserve them.

That’s how Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for crying out loud.

And that’s how you got the Clio instead of Don Draper.

Scott M said...

I guess that 1999 Pulitzer Prize is a prime example of no talent.

let me get this straight...you are posting on a blog and she is writing at the Times.

got it now. thanks.


So did Jayson Blair, what's your point? Aside from that, you read both. What does that say?

Fen said...

and she is writing at the Times.

And that doesn't mean what it used to.

Fen said...

HD, show me the work she got the prize for.

Shouldn't be difficult for a guy who claims he trades private emails with her.

LordSomber said...

Can we speculate that the guy is a public figure (or at least a recognizable name to news/media junkies)?

Gordon Gekko.

Fen said...

Someone please link to what they think is one of her best pieces. I promise to weigh it objectively

Still nothing... waiting on her favorite fan to find something...

Trooper York said...

Hd only has her email because he fell asleep at the wheel and ran over her rhododendrons out in the Hamptons.

He had to email his insurance information. Just sayn’

Trooper York said...

Of course he can be a pal and email the link to Eharmony.com.

That might cheer her up.

Trooper York said...

As a matter of fact hd, you should email her that she should drop the New York Times bullshit and start her own blog.

Then maybe she can snag a husband out of one of the lonely commenters.

I hear that’s all the rage. Just sayn’

Fen said...

Seriously hd. You know all you liberals give out these phony awards to people who don’t deserve them.

Yup. via wiki:

"Some critics of the Pulitzer Prize have accused the organization of favoring those who support liberal causes or oppose conservative causes. Syndicated columnist L. Brent Bozell said that the Pulitzer Prize has a "liberal legacy," particularly in its prize for commentary.[11] He pointed to a 31-year period in which only 5 conservatives won prizes for commentary. The claim is also supported by a statement from the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary, Kathleen Parker: "it's only because I'm a conservative basher that I'm now recognized." [12]

Trooper York said...

Wait a minute!

Lonely was a cheap shot.

Horny commenters.

There that’s better!

Roger J. said...

MoDo won a pulitzer--so did Walter Duranty--That sets the bar at ground level. Not sure that pulitzer means a hell of a lot except to the closed circle of journalists. Its right up there with the Nobel Peace prize for irrelevancy.

Unknown said...

HDHouse said...

I guess that 1999 Pulitzer Prize is a prime example of no talent.

let me get this straight...you are posting on a blog and she is writing at the Times.


Like the woman at the WaPo who made it all up?

At least the stuff here is real.

(Well, most of it...)

Fen said...

Hmm, this one isn't so bad:

http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6222

but not much better than Noonan phoning it in.

chuck b. said...

I'm calling this a meme: People periodically write/talk about why Maureen Dowd isn't fun to read anymore.

This meme has an uncommonly long refratory period.

I can't say that I pay tons of attention to Maureen Dowd, or to discussions about her, but I distinctly remember having this conversation after 9/11. It was along the lines of, Maureen Dowd was fun to read during the Clinton era but her comic stylings are not appropriate for this new world.

So the notion that she's not fun to read anymore today would seem to imply that she got fun to read again sometime before the last time she wasn't fun to read anymore, which was in the 9/11 aftermath.

If I was more committed to this blog comment, or had something else to do that I wanted to put off for an hour or two, I would troll the internet looking for that post-9/11 reference to the no-longer-fun-ness of Maureen Dowd.

chuck b. said...

Make that: "So the notion that she's not fun to read anymore today [and that there are different reasons for that] would seem to imply that she got fun to read again sometime before the last time she wasn't fun to read anymore, which was in the 9/11 aftermath."

traditionalguy said...

I detected an opponent's mutual respect from El Rushbo towards El Modo. She certainly is a good entertainer like Rush, if usually done to please the "wrong" side. I remember that many of her takes on the Clintonian Family Circus were analysis/humor classics.

Johnny Vino said...

Pretty sure it was Todd Seavey.

chuck b. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jamboree said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Scott M said...

At least the stuff here is real.

(Well, most of it...)


The complete list of my boudoir conquests, listed below in stealthy white font (to protect the innocent), is completely real and may or may not include Dowd.





























































































There. That should put that question to rest once and for all. Hurling accusations of "man-whore" are completely acceptable. I prefer reformed man-whore myself.

jamboree said...

I honestly hope this isn't the case. I hate seeing ppl reduce anyone to their personal background. Rush is a big fat guy and he shows all the obvious insecurities of one, but I don't think that automatically negates everything he has to say. Same thing for "feminists".

I assume he means Douglas who was a well-known asshole even when he was married the first time, but it could be Sorkin. There are really great, mensch liberal guys out there, but you aren't going to find them in the Entertainment Industry. The average Industry version of a liberal guy easily out-evils oh, say, Dick Cheney - any day of the week before breakfast. I don't understand why supposedly smart women have such a hard time accepting this.

I consider Maureen to be a bit before my cultural time, or maybe peripheral to my immediate range, but I was a fan of early- to mid-era Janeane Garofalo, for instance - and I think she served the same function - and got dicked over pretty seriously in a similar way and showed the subsequent personality change.

It's absolutely painful for me to see her on Maher or Olbermann performing for them like some kind of toy poodle- good doggie, have a biscuit - being every inch the good little soldier for these assholes who she would have sliced and diced as a younger woman - but now she sucks their collective dick as she projects all that is evil onto conservatives or Tea Partyers. Terrible to witness.

Fen said...

I guess HD is still waiting for Maureen to respond to his email request for help.

I don't understand why, if she's so great, it should be so difficult to produce a work product that demonstrates it.

Oh well, I'll check back in after lunch.

And jamboree - totally agree about Janeane Garofalo. Its kinda sad that she willingly demeans herself like that.

jamboree said...

@MadisonMan Are you serious?

Errr, yeah. It happens. Stuff like that is a form of violence and leaves and enormous mark.

And it's not just women - witness the one and only Crack Emcee.

traditionalguy said...

Stray thoughts: Whether it is El Rushbo or El MoDo, any spouse can get argued with one time too many...the sine qua non of a marriage is mutual acceptance including acceptance of the spouses's wrong/inaccurate/ ignorant/poorly expressed thoughts. Respect wins love in return, while winning arguments builds up unnecessary walls.

Tank said...

She was a pretty good writer once. I can remember laughing out loud.

Of course, this was before the internet was invented.

I think it's fair to say I'm a philosophical opposite of Dowd, so certainly not a shill.

wv: mudowea - isn't there a cable show host with a name like that? Madoweeeeeoooowwww.

furious_a said...

@HDHouse: I guess that 1999 Pulitzer Prize is a prime example of no talent.

Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer, too.

Shorter Maureen Dowd:

Sarah Palin has a man in her
life, is fertile, and prettier than me. I HATE her.


Seriously, Sarah goes home to Todd
and those cute kids. Maureen goes
home to her cat. Kinda 'splains it all...furious

garage mahal said...

I like Dowd when she was trashing the Clintons, and Al Gore. But she writes a lot about Republicans lately, and now I hate her.

Tank said...

garage

Sometimes writers run out of ... something.

I used to enjoy Coulter much more. I think she's lost her fastball. She too used to be much funnier than she is now.

Opus One Media said...

@fen

don't bother. quality appears lost on you anyway. sadly you go through life bowing to the god of mediocrity.

Fen said...

No Libtard, recognizing a good writer has nothing to do with their targets. Sorkin is one of my favs, despite all the propaganda in West Wing.

So your feeble sarcasm that non-libs only like her writing when she attacks libs falls flat.

Fen said...

Garage: don't bother. quality appears lost on you anyway. sadly you go through life bowing to the god of mediocrity.

In other words, you can't point to ANY work product by Dowd that demonstrates why she's considered a good writer.

Its not that hard Garage - link to one and let the rest of us judge it.

jungatheart said...

Here, Fen, this is thought-provoking.

Dowd on women's movement backfiring

buster said...

Fen said...Someone please link to what they think is one of her best pieces. I promise to weigh it objectively

"An Open Letter to Clarence Thomas," publishe on a Sunday in (I think) 1998. I don't have a link.

The gist of the column was that Clinton's conduct re Lewinsky was outrageous. The column's conceit was to apologize to Clarence Thomas for what Dowd said about him re Anita Hill.

I thought the column was really funny.

Fen said...

ah sorry, swap my last two posts - the one directed at Garage is meant for HD, the 12:37 is meant for Garage.

Libtards all look the same to me.

Fen said...

deborah: Here, Fen, this is thought-provoking.

YES. Thank you. I could tell by the first paragraph that it met my standard for a good writer.

garage mahal said...

Not sure what you're talking about. I never could stand Dowd. Why the Times didn't kick this gender nut to the curb years ago is beyond me.

Roger J. said...

No less a conservative light such as James J Kilpatrick opined favorably on Ms Dowd's writing style. But that was 15 years ago and presumably many lovers ago.

I think it was Ms Dowd who annointed Cindy Sheehan with abolute moral authority re war protesting--To Jamboree's point, what ever happened to Ms Sheehan? And her absolute moral authority which should have transcended political administrations. On that point Ms Dowd is silent. And Ms Sheehan has not been heard from again. Not much currency in absolute moral authority it seems.

rhhardin said...

Imus was needling her about Michael Douglas a little indirectly long ago, so at least he was a well known Dowd partner.

I myself don't know who Michael Douglas is. Sounds like Hollywood.

Two first names.

Dowd is very funny in a self-deprecating way as an Imus interviewee.

Her column is another compartment, apparently; so is not likely to reflect what Rush thinks it does.

Trooper York said...

RH, you freak me out man.

William said...

Turn about is fair play. Rush feels that Dowd is some kind of Miss Havisham, and that the secret of her bitterness is a thwarted romance. This is akin to Dowd's analysis that the Iraq war was the result of some kind of Oedipal drama on the part of the younger Bush......In a world populated by Helen Thomas, Andrea Mitchell, and Christine Amanapour, I'm sure that Dowd has had her chances for romantic fulfillment. Likewise in a paper populated by Thomas Friedmann and Paul Krugman, I'm sure that she has her devoted readers.

yashu said...

Kathleen Parker won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for commentary!?

Wow. I missed that. QED-- at least she's honest enough to admit it.

(I'll take MoDo over Parker any day.)

furious_a said...

@Roger J: "...To Jamboree's point, what ever happened to Ms Sheehan?.."

Ms. Sheehan's (with all due respect for the loss of her son) absolute moral authority expired concurrently with G.W. Bush's last day in office.

It finally and completely expired when Ms. Sheehan mounted a primary challenge to Nancy Pelosi in '08. I hear even Code Pink isn't returning her calls.

Scott M said...

Doesn't she live in a ditch near Crawford, TX?

John said...

I never understood why anyone valued Dowd. Yes, she can be clever and does have a way with words. But have you ever learned anything or in anyway benefited from anything she has written? She she ever provide even one "wow, I never thought about it that way" moment? She doesn't that I can see. Snark is just that; snark no matter how well you dress it up.

And Kathleen Parker is just a professional concern troll. She has made an entire career of pretending to be a conservative and then spending all of her time telling liberals how horrible and dumb every other conservative and conservative idea is.

David said...

Ungallant of Limbaugh, I think.

jungatheart said...

Yeah, Rush is all about gallant.

Fen said...

Ungallant of Limbaugh, I think

Wow, what a sexist double standard.

Blue@9 said...

Eh, got nothing against Rush and dislike Dowd, but this was rather boorish of him. It's not his tale to tell. No matter how much I dislike someone politically (or because she's a terrible writer), there's no reason to talk about this kind of stuff. Searching for psychological damage as an explanation for your opponent's political beliefs is just crass.

Opus One Media said...

Fen said...
"Libtards all look the same to me."

like your brain and your ass - both identical and both with the same function.

Opus One Media said...

Fen said...
I'm saying I haven't seen anything from her (yet) that stacks up to good writers."

yeah that Glenn Beck is some pumpkins.

Sydney said...

She was very good (and funny) in the first Bush and Clinton days. She lost it when W. was elected. There was a very real hate there that she couldn't keep veiled. Her humor wasn't up to it.

Hmmm. You don't suppose?

Fen said...

Libtard: yeah that Glenn Beck is some pumpkins.

Catch up HD. While you spent all day stringing together your feeble ad homs, someone else provided the evidence I requested.

Maureen deserves to have an idiot like you in her corner.

jungatheart said...

You're welcome, Fen.

Sydney, Modo was sharply criticized sometime after Gore lost. I understand that she ridiculed him mercilessly about his image consultant advising him to wear earth tones, etc.

john marzan said...

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2009/09/maureen-dowd-has-boyfriend-trouble.html

maureen down has boyfriend trouble.