Political Hay
A Fist Bump for Kevin Dowd
A liberal columnist’s brother begs to differ: Happy New Year, here comes 2010.
You just never know.
As with everyone else here in the Virtual Newsroom, 2009 has been a busy and productive year.
Liberalism is the gift that keeps on giving, the Obama Administration a veritable cornucopia of liberal fruits and nuts. Janet Napolitano’s assurance that “the system worked” is only the latest fruit of the nutty idea that the real problem in the world was George W. Bush. “There’s always some son of a bitch who doesn’t get the word,” John F. Kennedy once remarked at a particularly dicey moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Clearly would-be plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian of al-Qaeda descent, did not get the word that with Bush replaced by the soothing assurances of The One there was just no further need to blow up Americans.
Oops.
But don’t worry, perhaps Secretary Napolitano can run health care.
On the other hand, it is always good to know that at least one member of the Dowd family of Washington, D.C. has gotten the word. More to the point, Kevin Dowd, conservative brother of the New York Times’ liberal columnist Maureen Dowd, not only gets it, he is not shy about making his point.
Sister Maureen seems annually aware the Times actually needs readers if it is to overcome its apparent urge to commit the journalistic equivalent of what the Japanese call sepuku. That would be hara kari (or hari kari, if you prefer), a ritual suicide which involves ripping oneself open with a dagger as defeat, disgrace, or death looms, something the Times repeatedly toys with when its news columns print liberalism instead of facts. The sharp blade of ideology, gleaming as it has ripped through the paper’s credibility, has sent readers fleeing to the Virtual Newsroom, where the likes of Kevin Dowd flourish as they reveal the facts behind a Van Jones or So We Might See or Kevin Jennings or ObamaCare or whatever, all of which is generally classified by readers as news the Times sees fit not to print. One can only spill so much credibility, the life-blood of journalism, before life as a newspaper fades and the world moves on, in this case perhaps from the NYT to the WSJ.
The Kevin Dowd column as a year-end stand-in for sister Mo comes to mind as we look back over 2009 and see what it is that stirred the most reaction from stories in this corner of the Virtual Newsroom.
Without doubt there were but two.
First was the “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Maureen Dowd.”
It is not surprising that readers are not fond of liberalism, but the intensity and volume of reaction to this one column about Kevin’s sister Mo was a standout. The response was stunning in its fury with the liberal point-of-view, Ms. Dowd — or as we called her here “White Mo” (for her insistence on following the liberal obsession of judging others by skin color) — is seen to represent. It was clear that fairly or unfairly she has evolved in her career into a symbol of the haughty liberal elitism and double standards the Times itself has employed as it has relentlessly driven its readers away. Readers were downright gleeful in feeling White Mo had been delivered a comeuppance, with several going out of their way to say they had e-mailed the column directly to her. One self-identified (and anonymous!) Georgetown neighbor reported in that his or her small children, unaware of White Mo’s profession or politics, zing her as “the crazy lady.” Hmmm. I don’t think brother Kevin would approve of that, in spite of familial political differences, and in truth I don’t either. Yet it is perhaps a measure of the aura that liberalism casts even to the babes in Georgetown’s midst.
Next in line would be the response to the series of stories (here, here, and here) on the So We Might See coalition of seven major religious faiths, a group organized by my own United Church of Christ. There was something of a firestorm over this one, as would be expected at the revelation of collusion between a distinctly unholy trinity that involved churches, the FCC and George Soros’s money in what certainly appeared as a blatant effort to intimidate or shut down dissent as expressed by various talk radio and TV hosts. In particular, the effort to intimidate Rush Limbaugh with a petition to the FCC citing him for “hate speech” as well as support for efforts to remove CNN’s Lou Dobbs and Fox’s Glenn Beck from the air for the same reason ignited a fury with members of the denominations involved, notably Catholics, Methodists, and the Disciples of Christ.
All three faiths changed or halted their participation in the “Hate Speech Hurts” campaign, with the Catholic Bishops specifically refusing to go along with any perceived effort to personally target Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs and Fox News star Bill O’Reilly.
In this instance, Lou Dobbs extended an invitation for me to appear on his CNN show (as well as his popular radio show) — which turned out to be his last CNN show. Mr. Dobbs has had an extraordinary almost 30-year career at CNN, and it certainly appeared that the CNN managers of the moment had shamefully allowed themselves to be intimidated by anti-free speech groups like So We Might See. Dobbs was nothing if not the gracious host that evening and has said he is considering his options for the future. The libel of bigotry against Dobbs, married to a Mexican wife, was indeed the libel of a good and decent man. We wish him all the best.
WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT of columns featuring Ms. Dowd and So We Might See, as the start of what will undoubtedly be a contentious election-year dawns, it is a good moment to bring up the old chestnut that is the subject of civility.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
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D.R.Addots| 12.29.09 @ 7:25AM
Every time S.L.Turddard posts a rant here it bolsters your argument about haughty liberals. The dummies think personal attacks will expose us as phonies,but the vitriol says more about the perpetrator than the target. We can call that idiotology.
Richard Baker| 12.29.09 @ 8:28AM
Every family has its personal fool. Kevin has his. Mine is my little brother who became a biker/druggie/drunk. We all have our crosses to bear, don't we? Regardless, they are family and you love them in spite of their " little quirks."
Derek Leaberry| 12.29.09 @ 8:49AM
Kevin Dowd, like his more or less contemporary Pat Buchanan, are remnants of what was a fairly conservative social structure in DC pre -1954 and the Brown v- Topeka Board of Education case. My father was also part of that structure. Guys like Kevin Dowd played ball at Turkey Thicket, went to ball games at long demolished Griffith Stadium and ate at Hot Shoppes. But desegregation begot "white flight" and socially conservative whites like Kevin Dowd retreated to suburban Washington. Sadly, white conservatives have long been outnumbered even in suburban Washington as the national government has swelled enormously, acting as a magnet for the vile liberals who are attracted to Washington just as flies are attracted to horse flop. Plenty of Kevin Dowds exist in suburban Washington, even if they are a distinct minority. And, yes, Kevin Dowd is a much better person than his frustrated little sister.
Howard| 12.29.09 @ 9:06AM
A good article to ponder!. One thing that I'm looking forward to, despite the job losses that will occur; the early 2010 mass layoffs or closures hitting the Mainstream Media. I expect my local Boston Globe to either close, or be the size of the Fargo ND Gazette. That arrogant rag is sinking faster than the Obama administration. It was much easier for the Mainstream to control thought during the 1960's and 1970's. Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox News have torn open the monopoly in thought control.
Anthony| 12.29.09 @ 10:03AM
The Kevin Dowd column was a hoot! As one poster over at the Times mused, "which one of you was adopted"? Seeing that the Dowd pater is a retired cop or firefigher, I forget which, the answer is quite obvious.
It's not suprising that the Times caters to the wrong Dowd, which is why it's on life support, and I find it humorous that mean spirited sister Mo can't hold a candle to her warm, good natured brother Kevin. More to the point, this guy knows how to write. He's not only pithy and irreverent, he's got the leftist mind set down pat. I guess sister Mo is good for something after all.
Bob, methinks this guy would make a wonderful addition to TAS. We could be treated to a weekly satire of Krugman, Rich and Friedman, in addition to pompous sis.
Pingback| 12.29.09 @ 10:21AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : A Fist Bump for Kevin Dowd [spectato links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Mattled| 12.29.09 @ 11:12AM
Howard (and Mr. Lord),
We need to speed up their (MSM) demise.
I have said repeatedly; the Media fails, Obama fails and so go the democrats.
Without them, he would never have been s-elected.
Nor Franken.
Nor Webb.
Nor Gregoire.
We need a "media" plan. Who is going to step up?
Steele? (yawn).
You Mr. Lord?
Mr. Tyrrell?
How about getting some syndicated programming on TV stations (GOP TV circa 1994 with Haley Barbour)?
How about some billboards? Nothing like seeing a Dems face or a Lib "journalist's" face up for a few weeks with LIAR slashed across their foreheads.
Let's fight!! Fight hard-----not dirty-----fighting clean got us nowhere (Remember: John McCain).
Let THEM prove the facts wrong. They can't. Just raising questions and suspicions will be worth it.
Marc Jeric| 12.29.09 @ 2:06PM
I agree - we have to fight hard (and dirty when necessary); but it will be almost impossible as long as teacher unions hold sway in our schools. Those teachers do not teach - they indoctrinate. Already 3 generations of illiterate nincompoops, impressed with self-esteem, populate the country. I mean - they voted for such bloviating gasbags as Carter, Dukakis, Mondale, Gore, Kery, Edwards - not to mention that disbarred felon Clinton, his wife the known record holder in cattle futures trading.
Pingback| 12.29.09 @ 6:53PM
Tuesday: December 29, 2009 : DBKP REPORT links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Daisy| 12.29.09 @ 9:20PM
Hey, Jeff, when is your book coming out?
Thank you for your work in 2009; you're always a great read.
Happy New Year!
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Brian Murray| 11.10.10 @ 3:38PM
It's good to discourse and, we should give credit tto Maureen for giving her brother an opportunity to be published in the times. Some of the comments here are small minded, we should all remeber neither side has a monopoly on wisdom or folly for that matter.
ccw-tam-pa| 11.10.10 @ 9:04PM
I'm not cerebral enough to make comments about Kevin Dowd. I'm only familiar with his sister and not that familiar at that.
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