Maureen Dowd—the Ny Times venomous, feminist columnist—will be in Austin tonight (LBJ Auditorium at 6:00 p.m.).

However, it appears that Ms. Dowd will take a break from ranting about how worthless and unnecessary men are, and instead point the microscope inward as the topic of her speech tonight is Are Journalist Necessary? (quick answer: yes, they are; but NY Times Op/ed columnists are not).

The Austin Chronicle gave Ms. Dowd an apple polishing interviewed Ms. Dowd prior to tonight’s speech. Here are a few gems from Ms. Dowd:

Blogs have made my life difficult, because with everyone trying to have an opinion, it’s hard to think of anything original to say when you have to wait three days for your column to be published. It’s like now we’re in a whole nation of opinion writers, so what makes yours special? You have to work even harder.

Or, you can just make stuff up, ommit important facts, or ignore stories that don’t align with your politically-biased agenda.

It’s hard sometimes, because blogs also have a lot of misinformation. I’m never quite sure when you’re using it as research, you never quite know how verified it is.

I’m sorry—did an Op/ed columnist from the NY Times just accuse blogs of having a lot of “misinformation”? Ya’ll couldn’t even reach Judy Miller for a comment while she was cleaning out her desk down the hall.

Of course, not all of Ms. Dowd’s vitriol is reserved for the male gender. She hates most women too— at least those in positions of power above her’s and those on the Right; in other words, she hates most women, too.

I really think Bush is the one that really hurt women there. Because he put up someone [Harriet Miers] who was not qualified in anything, except apple polishing and fawning over him. He’s so insulated and infantilized by all these yes men and yes women and nannies around him, like Karen Hughes and Condi Rice…

Harriet Miers may not have been qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice, Ms. Dowd, but her professional and academic qualifications and achievements are substantial. For Ms. Dowd to denigrate Harriet Mieres as an “apple polisher” is insulting and hurts the cause of women who have worked hard to succeed on their own merits. And to characterize Secretary of State Condi Rice—the most powerful and successful woman in all of American politics—as a “nanny” and a “yes woman” is even more insulting and degrading to all women.

If Mrs. Miers and Dr. Rice are not qualified for the positions that they have earned, Ms. Dowd, then you wouldn’t even qualify for a job as an “apple polisher”. But I do have some suggestions on what you might be qualified to polish…

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I don’t think I’ll be attending the dog-and-pony show this evening. But I’ll bet you that no Republican or otherwise-Conservative protestors will be arrested for throwing pies, salad dressing, or vulgarities at Ms. Dowd during her speech. That’s something resereved for the “peaceful and tolerant” Left.

Linked at The Political Teen, Austin Bloggers, Stop the ACLU, and Stuck on Stupid

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Wednesday, November 16th, 2005 | Trackback |