It's Maureen's World

Ms. Dowd continues her in-depth coverage of her favorite topic - herself:

At the Gridiron Dinner in Washington on Saturday, where Old Media gently mocked politicians with corny songs, I sat next to a presidential gag writer, Landon Parvin. He was saying jokes work best when Republicans make fun of Republicans and Democrats make fun of Democrats.

President Bush, looking spiffy in white tie and tails, swung by to talk to Mr. Parvin. He didn't look my way, but proceeded back up to the dais.

Suddenly, W. turned around, stopped and looked right at me. Then he flashed a wink, not a flirty wink but a mischievous Clark Gable "I've got your number and you think you've got mine but I win" wink.

Who knew Bush could say so much with just a wink?  He's quite a guy, with simple but effective rules: "Don't think, blink; Don't speak, wink".  Whatever.

I may have gotten a presidential wink, but I still don't have my regular White House pass back. (Maybe I'd get it back if I became a male escort?) But Bush aides have now decided to let in a blogger. Maybe they're grateful that bloodhound bloggers ran off Dan Rather.

Is MoDo ignorant, or wilfully deceptive?  (Please don't spend a lot of time on that.)  Perhaps she is still peeved that James Guckert is having more luck meeting men than she is.  In any case, she presented this misinformation before - Ms. Dowd was turned down for a permanent pass, aka a "hard" pass; Guckert was operating on a day pass, reissued daily.

As to "Bush aides have now decided to let in a blogger", well, that is a bit trickier - the first blogger admitted described it as a collaborative process between the White House Press Office and the White House Correspondents Association.  The two bloggers let in so far seem to tilt left, however, so it is an odd payback for Dan Rather.

And why do I bother even reading Ms. Dowd, let alone rebutting her?  Beats me.

Comments

[byrd]

Beats me too. I stopped reading the Times years ago.

I may click over if a blogger I trust links to them and says it's worth it. Otherwise, the NYT falls squarely in the "Life is too short" column.

[Mike]

Same reason I still listen to NPR: irremediable masochism. Well, I'm guessing.

[richard mcenroe]

You know, I'll bet that's the wink Clark Kent used to throw Lois Lane...

[Pete The Elder]

wilfully deceptive

[Scott]

If MoDo had been paying closer attention she would have seen the answer to her question in W's subsequent "You'll get your press pass" ear wiggle and his "when Hell freezes over" eyebrow twitch and his "you leftist attack cow" nose itch.

[PeterArgus]

I thought Dowd wrote a satire column. You mean we are supposed to take it seriously?