MoDo voted off the McCain island?
posted at 10:45 am on October 2, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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The schadenfreude quotient of this story makes it irresistable. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd got stranded by the McCain campaign in Pittsburgh after the campaign revoked her credential for the press section of the campaign airplane in August. They have not reconsidered their position, which provoked this outrage from Timothy McNulty of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Add Maureen Dowd, the Pulitzer-winning columnist for the NY Times, to the list of media types who have fallen out bitterly with John McCain. The McCain campaign has barred her from flying in the McCain and Palin press planes, even though major media outlets routinely pay thousands to the campaigns every day for travel and expenses (and also begs the question, why didn’t her media colleagues Man Up and get her aboard anyway?)
It all started when Maureen covered an Aug. 30 McCain-Palin rally in Washington, Pa., then wasn’t let on the McCain plane afterward, forcing her to overnight at a Pittsburgh airport hotel while the traveling press went on without her.
McNulty then says that it’s part of a strategy to protect Sarah Palin from “someone as adroit and experienced as Maureen.” Really? She wasn’t adroit enough to keep from falling for an urban legend about Palin. Dowd wasn’t adroit enough to keep from getting caught chopping up quotes to distort their meaning, as she did with President Bush in 2003 — from which bloggers coined the term “dowdify”.
One suspects that the reason her colleagues didn’t “Man Up” was because they didn’t care to defend Dowd’s journalistic excesses. McNulty provides the perfect example of this in Dowd’s own response to her eviction from Team McCain’s ride:
“It was disappointing because I didn’t think John McCain would ever be as dismissive of the First Amendment as Dick Cheney.”
Does the First Amendment hinge on Maureen Dowd getting a seat on the McCain campaign jet? Did we enter a time of tyranny because she has to find other travel arrangements? Maybe Dowd should start reporting on Obama’s Truth Squad in Missouri, where a campaign actually is attempting to intimidate critics into silence through prosecution. Neither Dowd nor her newspaper seem terribly interested in defending the First Amendment where it counts.
Reporters are not owed a spot on the campaign planes. Newspapers don’t have a right to that seat. They can cover the campaigns by purchasing flights on their own if they like. Maureen Dowd stopped being a reporter when she started writing opinion columns, which makes her a strange choice for the Times under any circumstances, and her column on Palin and dinosaurs should have disqualified her from the McCain beat anyway, if the Times had any editorial sense at all.
Enjoy flying coach, Maureen. Try reading the First Amendment between stops.
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Story of MoDo’s life: being dumped.
Pasalubong on October 2, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Actually, that should read, “getting dumped.”
Pasalubong on October 2, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones could not be reached for comment.
Del Dolemonte on October 2, 2008 at 10:49 AM
BWHAHAHAHAHA
lodge on October 2, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Hysterically funny!!!!
Oink on October 2, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Riiiiiiggghhhhttttt.
And Teh Messiah is just peachy keen with that whole First Amendment thingy, too. Right Maureen?
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on October 2, 2008 at 10:50 AM
It’s as simple as ‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service’. Welcome to the freedom of choice (MoDuh). My house, my rules.
Limerick on October 2, 2008 at 10:50 AM
What, the broom’s not working?
As if anyone with a brain cell still reads this dried up has-been, or that fishwrap that employs her.
NoDonkey on October 2, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I have only one word for this…Bwahahahahahahahaha!
gman43 on October 2, 2008 at 10:50 AM
All we need to know about Dowd is that she undoubtedly considers “the Pulitzer-winning columnist for the NY Times” something to brag about. That pretty much sums up the idiocy.
Metro on October 2, 2008 at 10:51 AM
I think it is a 1st Amendment issue.
How else will liberals know what to think if they aren’t spoon fed half-formed untruths by this harpy? It’ll be doubleplusungood.
McCain is a fascist!!!!!!11!
VolMagic on October 2, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Awesome news. I want to see McCain go on offense.
jencab on October 2, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Wait, the First Amendment demands you must be guaranteed a spot on a campaign trip? Media making up crap as they go along.
Kaitian on October 2, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Nope. It all started when Ms Dowdy and her employer started lavishing fulsome and unquestioning praise on Osama Obama and simultaneous began savaging McCain and Palin with smarmy stories filled with suppositions, “unnamed sources” and flat-out lies, all written in snarky East Coast Elite-ese.
If McCain — or any Republican discovered a cancer cure, Dowdy would come out for cancer.
I would have put her off the plane while it was in the air.
MrScribbler on October 2, 2008 at 10:52 AM
This definitely isn’t the first time MoDo has been dumped.
Would anyone miss her if she retired? Need three guesses?
Cody1991 on October 2, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Laughing with tears….
deedtrader on October 2, 2008 at 10:52 AM
I couldn’t be happier to see that insufferable preening harpy brought low. Since humility does not seem to be on her mental menu, mere humiliation have to will do in a pinch.
Noocyte on October 2, 2008 at 10:53 AM
I bet that usual scowl on her face turned even nastier when she was dumped.
txsurveyor on October 2, 2008 at 10:53 AM
The poster girl for the “DC cocktail” circuit. Look for angry replies from fellow party-goers.
Marcus on October 2, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Well she still has her “personal toys” to use at home. She will survive.
carbon_footprint on October 2, 2008 at 10:54 AM
When Ann Coulter used the term “harpies” in her book, I’m sure her visual for this was Dowd.
CC
CapedConservative on October 2, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Sweet.
Anna on October 2, 2008 at 10:55 AM
I printed this one out, ground it up and poured it in my coffee. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
Patrick S on October 2, 2008 at 10:55 AM
She a lefty Libtard hack. Can’t believe it took McCain this long to figure it out. Doesn’t he realize that no one in the MSM is his friend?
Tommy_G on October 2, 2008 at 10:55 AM
“Maureen Dowd. Please return to the McCain Ticket Counter.”
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Pittsburgh???!! Oh, THE HUMANITY!!!
CurtZHP on October 2, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Now that’s Manning Up!
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 10:56 AM
No Duh! I agree. Maureen can just suck it up & drive on. She’s nothing but a hack harpy. You know if Obama denied a conservative press (bcs Maureen is no doubt coming from the left, whatever she says) that the press would never take note of it.
How convenient.
Badger40 on October 2, 2008 at 10:58 AM
It is nice to see inklings of the McCain camp getting a clue. It may be too little, too late.
Valiant on October 2, 2008 at 10:58 AM
About stinking time!!!
ConservativePartyNow on October 2, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Yuk. Don’t do that. it’s still in the morning for *’s sake.
wise_man on October 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM
She’s too sexy for his airplane. Too sexy for his airplane.
saint kansas on October 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Meanwhile, McCain rolls over and plays dead when asked about Ifill. Too late to do anything about it. Maybe it highlights the ineptness of the Republicans on the Debates Committee. Maybe it highlights the ineptness of the McCain’s campaign. But McCain should have complained loudly about the extraordinary conflict of interest. There’s a way to do it without sounding like a crybaby. He should have drilled Ifill for not revealing the obvious conflict.
McCain is either punch drunk or gun-shy. Yanking Dowd’s seat is Mickey Mouse nonsense compared to the Ifill matter. McCain should be talking to the swing-state voters, shouting to them that Obama is stealing the election and will soon be stealing their way of life. I’m really looking forward to the three Supreme Court appointments that Obama will be making. Do you think there will be a Republican senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee acting like a jack*** as Biden has for more than 20 years (Bork and Thomas)?
Still, nothing but snoring from McCain.
BuckeyeSam on October 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM
I’d be willing to bet Modo had no clue how to get back to NY other than fly. I can envision some suggesting that she rent a car and drive back, to which her reply was drive it myself? I don’t know how…
swami on October 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM
That’s great. Just kick off ALL reports from every mainstream press outlet and just surround the campaign with the Hewitts, Hannitys, and Limbaughs of the right-wing media world. MEDIA BUBBLEMANIA!
Firm up the base, but watch the moderates and independent and anyone else who doesn’t spend 8 hours a day listening to AM talk radio or on the blogosphere melt away.
Then be lucky to get 100 electoral votes.
Sounds like a great strategy!
cornfedbubba on October 2, 2008 at 11:01 AM
I hate you for that. Worst song ever to have stuck in your head, and the mental image is awful too.
:P
Anna on October 2, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Where’s the claim that McCain is a sexist because of dumping Dowd?
albill on October 2, 2008 at 11:03 AM
I attended that event. It was an overflow crowd, the day after Palin’s debut in Ohio. The weather was nice, perfect for hitchhiking.
jay12 on October 2, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I’m sure Obama would be happy to have her on his campaign, except there probably isn’t any more room for another lying “journalist”.
4shoes on October 2, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I have a feeling Dowd is used to being kicked out and ending up at some cheap airport motel. Was she buying drinks for the sailors?
right2bright on October 2, 2008 at 11:05 AM
You must thinking about the Democratic campaign. Sorry you are confused.
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:05 AM
We don’t know for sure that she was kicked off because of anything she wrote about McCain.
I mean, maybe her feet stank, or something.
Alex_SF on October 2, 2008 at 11:05 AM
What? Need a paper bag?
Just a bit much hyperbole there. Kicking a crappy op-ed writer off a plane isn’t even remotely close to what you are carrying on about. Get a grip.
reaganaut on October 2, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Hah!! Hey honey, if you’re got gonna eat your in-flight Cheez-Its, c’n I have them?
Or is it Brain Food for when you write THIS YEAR’s column about how much you hate Christmas?
Spanglemaker on October 2, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Who is that by the way on the photo for this article on the main page. Looks nothing like the photo of Maureen Dowd on her New York Times articles on the website.
wise_man on October 2, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Aw, did Modo Stalin get her feelings hurt? F*CK all of the liberal media brownshirts!
DCJeff on October 2, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Now if we can just get the McCain camp to attack THE MANCHILD, or as Rush has been calling him lately, “Squirrel”, in the same manner as they got after MoDo.
Well it looks like Wall Street does not like the Senate bill. LOL!
We have lots of land down here for those of you intrenched in the blue states. You might want to grab what you can now and get OUT!
freeus on October 2, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Freudenschade!
NoFanofLibs on October 2, 2008 at 11:09 AM
You all are being too hard on MoDo. NYC liberal elites are delicate creatures. It would have been one thing if McCain had dumped her in her native habitat like LA, San Francisco, or the Hamptons. BUT NO! McCain dumped her in Pittsburgh! The very thought of her actally having to wander through the airport to find a Starbucks brings tears to the eyes- nevermind the indignity of having to spend the night in an airport hotel where room service probably stops at midnight! How MoDo managed to survive under these harsh conditions we’ll never know but, indeed, she spent the night in Pittsburgh and lived to tell the tale.
highhopes on October 2, 2008 at 11:09 AM
The only thing that would be better if she was tossed out at 30,000 feet
grapeknutz on October 2, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Does it even hinge on Dowd, or any disgraced so-called journalist, having access to McCain or Palin? No non-liberal journalists have access to Obama.
Buddahpundit on October 2, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Pittsburgh is flyover country for crying out loud. How is poor little ol’ Maureen Dowd expected to survive in such a godforsaken place, which is filled with bitter people clinging to their guns and religion?
BTW, isn’t MoDo a columnist and not a reporter?
rbj on October 2, 2008 at 11:11 AM
“Banned? I’ve been banned?” I think I’ve seen this on Seinfeld when Elaine gets banned from a Chinese Restaurant. She was dating Ned the Communist at the time. Hmmm.
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:12 AM
On my road trip out east, I spent one night in a hotel near Chicago, and one night in a hotel near Pittsburgh.
I know which place I would rather be stranded in.
Count to 10 on October 2, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Actually, to “beg the question” is to use a tautology or circular reasoning in a debate or argument. I wish people would use that term properly. It makes me so angry when they don’t. Sooo angry.
And shouldn’t that be “person up”?
Akzed on October 2, 2008 at 11:15 AM
“It’s cloudy in the morning,
And rainy in the afternoon.
And if you don’t like this rainy weather,
Better pack your bags and go.” – Rainy Day Blues (Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis)
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:16 AM
When she publishes her column, she attaches a sexy-looking photo from when she was…er…Sarah Palin’s age. That photo for this thread looks like she was begging for candy on Halloween.
Of course, if she HAD gotten an interview with McCain on the plane, she would have accused him of flirting with her.
Steve Z on October 2, 2008 at 11:17 AM
LOL
Will the NYT remove her and send someone the campaign will accept?
Theworldisnotenough on October 2, 2008 at 11:17 AM
As if I needed another reason to vote for McPalin. Funny.
AubieJon on October 2, 2008 at 11:19 AM
You know from one hotel night that wasn’t even in either of the cities? Interesting.
jay12 on October 2, 2008 at 11:19 AM
To be completely PC, it depends on where you are as much as who you are. If you are in Texas, for example, it is Cowboy Up. If you are in a gulag in Russia, it is Comrade Up. If you are in Gitmo, it is Ackmed Up. And so on…
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:20 AM
I guess Maureen Dowd will stop writing those very PRO-McCain opinions and really tear into Sarah Palin now.
Next column: How McCain HATES women, uh, REAL women who live in Manhattan
originalpechanga on October 2, 2008 at 11:20 AM
First the Simpsons and now this. I thought this day would suck with the VP debate coming up but it’s pretty funny so far.
This is great. It’s a shame Sandra Berhard’s black friends weren’t there to gang rape her while she was stuck in Pittsburgh.
grdred944 on October 2, 2008 at 11:22 AM
Cause she’s such a women’s lib advocate, of course.
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:22 AM
No problem
-
Catch a cab to the nearest True Value hardware store
-
Pick out a nice broom
-
And fly off to wherever.
esblowfeld on October 2, 2008 at 11:22 AM
There is a wealth of available evidence that the MSM has abandoned all the tenets of journalism in order to smear the McCain campaign.
Instead of playing their game and watching the poll numbers plummet, why not set ground rules for fairness?
If reporters refuse not to edit answers, or cherry pick responses without approval they get banned.
Explain to the people why they must insist on fair treatment, give examples.
The end result would be painting the Obama campaign as the establishment candidate.
Dorvillian on October 2, 2008 at 11:22 AM
“No flight for you!” -Flight Nazi
Akzed on October 2, 2008 at 11:22 AM
The difference is that stark. Seriously.
Guess at which one I had to wait for a John and his prostitute to arrange for a room for the night (he wanted it by the hour)?
Count to 10 on October 2, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Next!
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Karma’s a bitch.
Why is it just now making news after four weeks?
tru2tx on October 2, 2008 at 11:25 AM
She must have left her broom at home in the closet?
Griz on October 2, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Karma’s a bitch.
tru2tx on October 2, 2008 at 11:27 AM
A thin lipped ginger.
“Does your copperhead bite?”
bloggless on October 2, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Can’t wait till Maureen Dowd’s next column. That’s the first time that thought has ever crossed my mind, or those words ever squeezed outa my fingers. I will never say them aloud, though.
Akzed on October 2, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Right. This from the Man Ups that were on the plane I suppose.
Mr_Magoo on October 2, 2008 at 11:28 AM
“… the Pulitzer-winning columnist for the NY Times …”
Preaching to the choir, Tim? That’s not a badge of honor out here on Main Street anymore, chump. It’s an indictment.
Dusty on October 2, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Just wait till President Barry makes her the Fairness Doctrine Czaress.
Star20 on October 2, 2008 at 11:32 AM
She looks awful for her age. The crease around her mouth is a reverse joker. Liberalism does something to you that just ages you. It’s like Rush Limbaugh says, liberals are perpetually unhappy people. Sour and bitter about life.
scrubjay on October 2, 2008 at 11:33 AM
All the leftover skin from her multiple face-lifts kept flapping and grossing out the other passengers.
AubieJon on October 2, 2008 at 11:34 AM
She should have been kicked off the plane after it reached its cruising altitude.
Fuquay Steve on October 2, 2008 at 11:34 AM
She still has her 232 cats to play with.
HHeeerrree Kitty…kitty…kitty.
Over.
1GooDDaDDy on October 2, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Her next column should be a doozy.
a capella on October 2, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Yeah, well, there goes the really nice column about McCain and Palin she was just about to write. Indeed, McCain/Palin can probably kiss the coveted NY Times endorsement goodbye…
morganfrost on October 2, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Does MoDo frequent the same bars as Randi Roads?
Seriously, this old nag has been rode hard and put up wet.
Bourbon doesn’t wear well. No wonder she’s so bitter and clingy to her dusty, antiquated 60’s belief, she’s a loveless spinster in a dead end job.
NoDonkey on October 2, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Considering how she told the world about how Paul Newman (RIP) taught her how to peel a cucumber, I think the McCain camp is doing the right thing.
1GoodDaddy said: “She still has her 232 cats to play with.”
No wonder get a whiff of used kitty litter everytime i read one of her headlines. I bet you know what i almost said. ;-)
And, oh yes, I’m waiting with bated breath (I fear the stench) for her column about this tragedy. NOT.
Christine on October 2, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Damn, that’s an ugly woman!
Harpoon on October 2, 2008 at 11:53 AM
What was she doing on the plane in the first place? Who else is on that plane that should be kicked to the curb?
HawaiiLwyr on October 2, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Ass or grass MO – nobody rides for free.
DeweyWins on October 2, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Hey, who says the McCain people kicked her off on their own? My thinking is her fellow reporters voted her off and asked the press sec. to do the dirty deed. Of course if it happened that way, why would the McCain press sec oblige?
Still, I like the results either way. Couldn’t have happened to a, ahem, nicer person.
/Sarc off
JohnnyD on October 2, 2008 at 11:59 AM
PJ O’Rourke once described some middle-aged leftists as something like “ugly — not the kind of ugly that is an accident of birth, but the kind that is the result of years of ill temper, pique, and petty malice.”
Alex_SF on October 2, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Hmmm, lets see…eanie, meanie, minie, mo….
JohnnyD on October 2, 2008 at 12:04 PM
All that hate and vitriol must be getting to her. She looks terrible.
dtrumpet on October 2, 2008 at 12:05 PM
The campaign should have purchased her a one way ticket to Chicago, so she could go practice some “journalism” there with Bill Ayers or ACORN workers.
mngirl on October 2, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Dumped in Penn. of all places. where everyone is bitter and clingy..
(didn’t bother to look if someone wrote this.. apologies.)
DaveC on October 2, 2008 at 12:19 PM
I’ve noticed the lefts interpretation of the first amendment includes all sorts of entitlement IF one is a purveyor of Truth. If you are not a purveyor of Truth then it’s the governments job to shut you up (for the good of the people, and Michelle Obama’s children).
gwelf on October 2, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of a seat for Maureen Dowd’s sorry ass; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Wade on October 2, 2008 at 12:21 PM
If I may….
Owned.
Carry on.
*eats*
Grue in the Attic on October 2, 2008 at 12:22 PM
That’s the best story I’ve read ALL WEEK. Too bad she wasn’t returning from Wasilla. Arrogant condescending narcisists not adored there I bet.
scalleywag on October 2, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Days gone by, long ago.
Wade on October 2, 2008 at 12:27 PM
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