October 14, 2007

"He's typing and drinking and threatening to 'shave Paul Krugman with a broken bottle.'"

Maureen Dowd invites Stephen Colbert into her lair at the New York Times.

42 comments:

hdhouse said...

I read her column about 4am when i got up to let the cat out. I'm still smiling.

i find it hard to believe that a sizeable number of republicans still think he is a conservative.

god i love this country.

rhhardin said...

Dowd does have a sense of humor, probably recalling an era when she was popular. She overestimates greatly the appeal of the ``Bushies'' columns, however, and apparently goes uncorrected. It may fit the NYT demographic.

Four of her Imus interviews perhaps illustrate it.

hdhouse said...

rhhardin said...
Dowd does have a sense of humor, probably recalling an era when she was popular."

oh child. oh child.

KCFleming said...

Colbert's piece was quite funny. But I don't think either right or left can claim him. Sure, he's in full O'Reilly parody mode and therefore must disagree. But his skewering of the left is, well, it's too good, too accurate.

I'd say more Mencken or Royko, a centrist, rather than some men-are-unnecessary lefty punster like Dowd. She comes up with "I had staged a coup d’moi". He writes about threatening to “shave Paul Krugman with a broken bottle.” Maureen could learn a thing or two about funny.

SGT Ted said...

i find it hard to believe that a sizeable number of republicans still think he is a conservative.

I don't know any conservatives who think Colbert is one.

Maybe it's the same demographic that thinks the Daily Show is real news.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Hdhouse: Who gives a damn whether Colbert even votes.This is funny stuff - can't you just simply enjoy it?

Btw, you are an idiot if you think Dowd still has the edge to have written this herself.

Gedaliya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gedaliya said...

Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too.


Priceless.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Geadliya:

I agree it is the funniest line in the whole piece.

Hard to imagine the NYT letting it see the light of day. Guess the idiotors were on a cigarette break again.

Cyrus Pinkerton said...

Speaking of priceless, one of my favorite Althouse commenters wrote this a few days ago:

We are now on the verge of a complete and utter victory against Al Qaeda, and this will have historical ramifications that are hard to exaggerate.

Tank said...

Funniest Dowd column in a long time.

or

First funny Dowd column in a long time.

Like many others, she has a limited schtick, and it's pretty stale.

LutherM said...

"It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too."

Bless you, Stephen !!!

And thank you, Maureen.
(Re-read Dowd's columns on the murder of David Rosenbaum, on the death of her mother - Maureen could be a truly fine writer if she weren't a good pundit)

hdhouse said...

some of you conservatives are hysterical....and some of you hysterical conservatives are funny too.

sooooo afraid of things you don't understand.

Bissage said...

Funny stuff. I hope Colbert runs, like Pat Paulsen.

And I’m so glad to have finally found a use for that brain cell. For decades it’s been moldering under all that stuff I needed to know to earn my Bobcat Badge.

P.S. Way before this guy there were Bob Cat Cub Scouts!

Cyrus Pinkerton said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Excellent! My favorite: He was observing, approvingly, that “Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream is driving a bulldozer into The New York Times while drinking crude oil out of Keith Olbermann’s skull.”

And yesterday they printed an old op-ed from Lessing who criticized the mindset of the left! If this keeps up, I may consider buying it again.

Bob said...

I agree that the bit about doing Frank Rich's column is the best part of it. He nailed that one.

titus23 said...

Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too.

The most hilarious part of the piece and I love Rich.

Freder Frederson said...

I'd say more Mencken or Royko, a centrist, rather than some men-are-unnecessary lefty punster like Dowd.

In what possible way was Mike Royko a centrist? He was a died in the wool, pro-union, anti-gun, FDR Democratic. He hated the rich and powerful loved and stood up for the working man. If he were alive today he would be railing against this war and this president and you would be calling him a traitor and a communist.

And he especially hated Rupert Murdoch.

Freder Frederson said...

I don't know any conservatives who think Colbert is one.

Pogo apparently. But then again he thinks Royko was a centrist.

titus23 said...

"As I type this, she’s watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito"

Perfect.

Anonymous said...

"As I type this, she’s watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito"

as a Democrat partisan pundit who understands the people. Parisians.

titus23 said...

Fellow Repubicans I have an annoucement to make. Genitalia and I have broken up. They said it wouldn't work and they were right. We have parted on amiable terms and it is best that we all move on. Thank you for respecting our privacy.

Now lets talk about me. I took a fabulous walk this morning with the rare clumbers DJ and Max. People stopped to pet the clumbers while I tryed to look annoyed. A tour of fat southern women passed by and wanted to talk about my clumbers. I refused, red state red necks I thought to myself as I adjusted my Sisley sweater, form fitting which highlights the guns.
I then left the clumbers tied to a tree while I went to my favorite breaky spot in the hood. I had two egg whites and fruit salad. I am home now admiring my folding and hanging of my designer gear. Everyone is in her appropriate place feeling safe.

Next, I venture to buy some Red State attire for my horse racing venture in Lexington Kentucky. I am going to go to Macy's, yes very pedestrian and humiliating, but I have to buy some crap that says I am one of you with the red state folk. I am looking forward to being one of the common man this week. I will be wearing my Red Sox baseball cap, which may say "Blue State" but I am willing to take that chance. I might even sneak out of the hotel and check out the gay bars in Lexington just for laughs. It would be interesting to see how the red state, small town gays live. Depressing, I am sure, but there may be one hotty there for a little Larry Craig jerky in the stalls.

Enough about me. How is everyone else? Always remember it is not how you feel but how you look.

Paco Wové said...

"...an old op-ed from Lessing..."

A truly worthwhile read, by the way.

titus23 said...

I am also going to Fort Knox where my father my stationed during some war he was in. This is a trip for him as I wouldn't obviously venture to Lexington Kentucky for a get away. My favorite little get aways are Boston, Berkshires, Nantucket, Block Island, Fire Island, Rehoboth, Ogunquit. Where are you favorite get aways my little republican doves?

I hope to find one of service men from www.activeduty.com.

Wish me luck girls, ok?

Anonymous said...

Nice how blue staters and self-ID'ed prog minority members love America, Land of the Rubes.

KCFleming said...

Re: "In what possible way was Mike Royko a centrist?"

When Hillary and Obama is considered mainstream, then Royko becomes the center. He was an old style Dem. Kennedy and truman and all that.

The Democrats have shifted further left since about, say, 1968.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Paco Wove: thanks for the link to Lessing's old column. Definitely worthwhile.
The last time I tried to read Lessing's fiction I gave up in boredom, but what do people recommend in her non-fiction? (I've already read her how-I-grew-up stuff.)

Trooper York said...

Dan Gallagher: You're so sad. You know that, Maureen, I mean Alex? Lonely and very sad.
Alex Forrest: Don't you ever pity me, you smug bastard.
Dan Gallagher: I'll pity you... I'll pity you. I'll pity you because you're sick.
Alex Forrest: Why? Because I won't allow you treat me like some slut you can just bang a couple of times and throw in the garbage?
(Out takes from Fatal Attraction 1987)

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Re: "In what possible way was Mike Royko a centrist?"

Royko represented the blue-collar, working class Democrat who would be teed off at both parties today.

At Republicans for the war, yes, and also for their favorable policies towards the rich. Trade policies too.

But at Democrats for embracing, as they would I think see it, a hate-America left that mocks and ridicules their middle class values.

These were people who loved America but also believed in a government that looked out for the little guy.

Yeah, I'd call him a centrist.

SMG

Freder Frederson said...

But at Democrats for embracing, as they would I think see it, a hate-America left that mocks and ridicules their middle class values.

And what middle class values would those be? Strong unions? good, well funded public schools? Strict gun control? Generous social benefits? Universal health care? Social security and pensions guaranteed? Protectionist trade policies? Worker, health and safety protection?

If you are talking about some fantasy Democratic party that was anti-Gay (which of course every one was 40 years ago) pro-family (whatever the hell that means and pro-war, then you are just full of shit. Or maybe you are just looking back on the really good 'ol days where the Southern Democrats controlled a good chunk of the party and black folks knew their place. Mike Royko certainly wasn't that kind of Democrat.

I don't know what the hell you are talking about. In what possible way is the Democratic party further left than it was in 1968? How is Hillary Clinton, shill of big business, more to the left than the Democrats of the late sixties, who had purged and marginalized the reactionary southern Democrats?

My God you people live in a fantasy world.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

My God you people live in a fantasy world.

Mike Royko is the topic on the table.

If you think the FDR/Truman/JFK democrats - again Royko being the topic - in any large way resemble the modern democratic party then one of us needs a CAT scan.

Royko was a blue collar working class Democrat. That group of people is sneered at by the likes of the liberals today.

You think Frank Rich or Markos Moulitsas view that group of people favorably? White, middle class workers?

Perhaps economically; but culturally they still hold them in contempt.

Royko would indeed excoriate Bush and the Republicans.

But every other column would be directed at the netroots crowd as well.

SMG

Freder Frederson said...

You think Frank Rich or Markos Moulitsas view that group of people favorably? White, middle class workers?

Has any of them ever said a bad word about Studs Terkel? I doubt it. And Mike Royko was an acolyte of Terkel. I would imagine that Moulitsas grew up reading Royko.

You are just full of shit if you think that Kos is against the middle class. That is what the Republicans and radical right (who is the party truly trying to destroy the middle class) would like you to believe. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Moulitsas is hardly an east coast elitist.

Freder Frederson said...

What particular "middle-class values" would Royko defend that the netroots crowd would mock him for. And conversely, what do you think Royko would find so objectionable in the netroots crowd. I'm not even sure what the hell middle class values are.

Freder Frederson said...

I doubt you have ever read a Mike Royko column in your entire life.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Mike Royko was a blue-collar, working class Democrat (small and capital "d"). He wrote many of his columns about the white, ethnic urban working man. The Archie Bunker-types, if you will.

Studs Terkel, fine but deeply misguided man, is a socialist.

Royko would have nothing - nothing - to do with socialism.

Markos and the netroots hold middle class voters - particularly white ethnic ones - in contempt.

They sneer at their cultural values. Their love of America, their patriotism, their flag waving, their belief that America is a good and decent country.

End of story.

Some folks are living in a bubble.

SMG

Gedaliya said...

...the Republicans and radical right (who is the party truly trying to destroy the middle class)...

You were making some headway until your BDS (something akin to Tourette's Syndrome, methinks) forced out this silly statement.

Are you sure Royko was for strict gun control? I read him for years and don't recall ever reading a piece on gun control. It is hard to imagine Slats Grobnik railing against guns.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Mike Royko = Joe Lieberman*.

Economic liberal, social moderate/conservative. Pro-American, pro-working class.

And we know what Markos and the netroots think of Lieberman.

(*Granted, Royko would have been against the Iraq war; not sure he would support just leaving, though. And he would loathe Bush (unlike Lieberman))

And I won't even being to mention Royko's views on identity politics and political correctness.

SMG

Gedaliya said...

And I won't even being to mention Royko's views on identity politics and political correctness.

If you recall, Royko had a character called I.M. Kookie who represented the absurdities of (what is now called) political correctness, multiculturism, pop-psychology, and other such inanities.

I miss Royko. I just wish he was around today to comment on the likes of John Edwards, the pretty-boy ambulence chaser who postures himself a friend of the downtrodden working class. I can only imagine what Slats would say about Edwards as he sat in his local Polish tavern hunched over his shot and beer after a hard day's work at the factory.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

I can only imagine what Slats would say about Edwards as he sat in his local Polish tavern hunched over his shot and beer after a hard day's work at the factory.

Yep.

For some reason, folks want to simply divide people into liberals or conservatives.

If you're not one, you must be the other.

Of course, Royko blasted the Republican economic policies as being, in his view, uncaring and rewarding selfishness. That's in just about every column.

He was a mainstream FDR liberal on economic issues. In favor of a government looking out for the working guy, especially the poor. But with the understanding of reciprocal obligations for those getting help.

I still insist that he wouldn't spend 5 minutes reading that drivel on the DKos site. Their cultural contempt for the white working middle class and poor is palpable.

He and Markos/Kossack have as much in common as he would with Bush.

SMG

Gedaliya said...

The great Royko on the day after the 1988 presidential election:

Put Up or Shut Up; And Stop Those Lips

Trooper York said...

Dan Gallagher: Maureen, I mean Alex keeps calling the apartment. When Beth answers the phone, she hangs up. I'm scared Jimmy, and I don't want to lose my family.
(Out takes from Fatal Attraction 1987)