Maureen Dowd "Over The Top" On Hillary

Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt absolves most of the Times of sexism in their coverage of Hillarity's Presidential campaign but has special words for Maureen Dowd:

SOME supporters of Hillary Clinton believe that sexism colored news coverage of her presidential campaign. The Times reported in a front-page article on June 13 that many are proposing boycotts of cable news networks and that a “Media Hall of Shame” has been created by the National Organization for Women (link).

The Times itself, however, was barely mentioned, even though two of its Op-Ed columnists, Maureen Dowd and William Kristol, were named in the Hall of Shame.

Peggy Aulisio of South Dartmouth, Mass., said, “A real review of your own stories and columns is warranted.” I think so too. And I think a fair reading suggests that The Times did a reasonably good job in its news articles. But Dowd’s columns about Clinton’s campaign were so loaded with language painting her as a 50-foot woman with a suffocating embrace, a conniving film noir dame and a victim dependent on her husband that they could easily have been listed in that Times article on sexism, right along with the comments of Chris Matthews, Mike Barnicle, Tucker Carlson or, for that matter, Kristol, who made the Hall of Shame for a comment on Fox News, not for his Times work.

“I’ve been twisting gender stereotypes around for 24 years,” Dowd responded. She said nobody had objected to her use of similar images about men over seven presidential campaigns. She often refers to Barack Obama as “Obambi” and has said he has a “feminine” management style. But the relentless nature of her gender-laden assault on Clinton — in 28 of 44 columns since Jan. 1 — left many readers with the strong feeling that an impermissible line had been crossed, even though, as Dowd noted, she is a columnist who is paid not to be objective.

Folks reading this over their morning coffee might want to pause and reflect on the awkwardness of that last bit - "paid not to be objective" does not mean the same as "not paid to be objective", nor the same as "paid to be not objective".  Ah, well - enough reflecting on a Sunday morn... After a Big Skip, we come to Mr. Hoyt's conclusion:

Politically correct is never a term one would apply to Dowd’s commentary. Her columns this year said Clinton’s “message is unapologetically emasculating,” and that she “needed to prove her masculinity” but in the end “had to fend off calamity by playing the female victim.” In one column Dowd wrote, “She may want to take a cue from the Miss America contest: make a graceful, magnanimous exit and wait in the wings.”

“From the time I began writing about politics,” Dowd said, “I have always played with gender stereotypes and mined them and twisted them to force the reader to be conscious of how differently we view the sexes.” Now, she said, “you are asking me to treat Hillary differently than I’ve treated the male candidates all these years, with kid gloves.”

Aulisio, the reader who wanted a review of Times coverage, asked if a man could have gotten away with writing what Dowd wrote. Rosenthal said that if the man had written everything Dowd had written over the years and established himself as a sardonic commentator on the sexes, “I’d say the answer is yes.”

Of course, there is no such man, and I do not think another one could have used Dowd’s language. Even she, I think, by assailing Clinton in gender-heavy terms in column after column, went over the top this election season.

Comments

[Jane]

Gawd I hate political correctness.

[kim]

The contortions, oh, the contortions.
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[Paul Zrimsek]

Now that the Public Editor is taking an interest in the political correctness of MoDo, it's conceivable that we may see similar attention paid to those NYT columnists who are paid not to be factually correct.

[kim]

May we hope that the Public Editor is paid to be objective?
==================================

[clarice]

In a similar vein, Steve Gilbert catches the WaPo which ran an article--sans independent fact checking apparently--megaphoning the owners of racist hate sites saying their traffic was exploding. A quick trip to the traffic counter showed that was baloney.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/06/the_washington_post_creates_an.html>Wa Po peddles baloney

[bad]

...similar attention paid to those NYT columnists who are paid not to be factually correct.

I do love an optimistic man.

[JM Hanes]

Hoyt sticks his neck out and concludes that Dowd is over the top. D'oh. If she applies her special talents to a column on Hoyt, MoDo might actually be worth reading this week.

[bad]

Nobody reads modo so the times has her writing these meanie stories to increase the times percentage of negative news stories about dims without risking the overall message. Sorta like resume padding.

[ParseThis]

Newsweek profiles Cindy McCain wherein she is likened to a "Navy wife". Some are none too pleased. Personally, I find it troublesome.

She admits to having "what she calls a 'grudge list' of people she believes have maligned her husband or her family." Bridget only recently learned of the none too helpful conversation from 2000:

She asked her mother why President Bush hated her. "I did the best I could to say it wasn't President Bush," Cindy says. "But what she doesn't understand is … how could people say things like that."

I don't understand either.

[Forbes]

Gee, if the Times public editor would spend as much time grousing over the news pages, the paper might be worth reading. As it is, the comedic value of their op-eds is the only reason to give it a glance.

[hit and run]

Some are none too pleased. Personally, I find it troublesome.

Somebody has got to get this in writing. Wives are or are not fair game in elections?

Because I had been told that, "The hottest ring in Hell is reserved for those in politics who attack their opponents' families"?

Or are wives fair game in elections as far as their personal or professional lives are concerned, but are not fair game when campaigning for their husbands?

I don't understand either.

Me neither.

I need a memo.

[Elroy Jetson]

Congrats to the New York Times for a job well done during the primary season. This little spat is proof that they successfully took the minds of voters off the important issues and onto something their simple minds could grasp.

[Ralph L]

I read that whole Newsweak piece, it's fairly sympathetic. Two obvious errors: McCain (born 1936) was at least 42, not 41, when they met in 1979, and midshipmen, not cadets, attend USNA.

[bgates]

Clarice - Obama08 is getting huge traffic. So's Trinity. I imagine Farrakhan is getting some spillover.

Wait, what racist hate sites were you talking about?

[Ralph L]

Anyone who's registered at Firedoglake should abuse their commenters for using the term "Navy brat." Navy Junior, Army Brat are the correct terms, and any true Navy Junior would know that.

Having said that, military spouses might not like the comparison of the McCains' commuter marriage to their's. Does anyone still consider elective office to be "public service," except in the sexual sense of "service?"

[Anna Keppa]

I'm sorry: I can't find anywhere in the federal or New York legal code an offense or cause-of-action called "sexism". And the last time I checked, "over the top" has no legal meaning, either.

So..what exactly is MoDo's sin, except that some took umbrage at her using sexual metaphors of the kind many feminists routinely use to describe men?

Ever read MacKinnon or Dworkin, honored members of the Feminist Pantheon?

And oh yes: MoDo appears on the Op-Ed pages, as in OPinion-EDitorial.

What the EFF is the ombudsman doing acting as anyone's gatekeeper on opinions?

Oh I get it: Hillary supporters might drop their subscriptions in a fit of pique. Ergo, concern about $$$ mandates that Dowd gets a rap across the knuckles.

Yep, that'll teach Maureen to be provocative, witty and snarky!! Can't have that, have we...

[clarice]

bgates--ahem..*wink*
Anna, as Althouse notes there wactually was no rap on the knuckles just a lot of rambling ombudsspeak.

[glasater]

Obama08 is getting huge traffic. So's Trinity. I imagine Farrakhan is getting some spillover

Hope their servers are holding up 'cause the ones I'm dealing with today are facaca.

[Anna Keppa]

Clarice: so MoDo got a token, symbolic, pandering rap on the knuckles with a virtual, velvet ruler.

Man, that ombudsman is a real Pillar of Integrity, standing forthright and foursquare for....who the hell knows!!!!

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