At long last, readers push back against Dowd!

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Dumbest known life-form on earth: Yesterday morning, Maureen Dowd’s column was very dumb—dumb even by her own standards.

As usual, Dowd was banging on “Barry.” Here’s how the nonsense began:

DOWD (11/25/12): The two electrifying rookies exploded onto the scene with killer smiles, undeniable gifts, an affinity for superheroes, poise beyond their years and the ability to play at top form when it’s all on the line. Both stay so calm under pressure that they have evoked comparisons to Cool Hand Luke.

The capital of winning and losing now revolves around two natural-born world shakers: the president of the United States and the quarterback of the Washington Redskins. Only one of them, however, is old enough to appreciate the compliment of being compared to Paul Newman’s character in the 1967 classic prison drama “Cool Hand Luke.”

Since the two rookies are both black, it seemed only natural to compare them. But yes—in yesterday’s column, Dowd compared “Barry,” the sitting president, to a 22-year-old NFL rookie.

Inevitably, the comparison favored the NFL rookie. Before long, Dowd was saying this:

“The Bears fan in the White House has talked about inviting RGIII (who got his degree in political science) over for a basketball game, as long as they are on the same team. The president should take the opportunity to absorb some leadership lessons from the new wunderkind.”

How dumb was this column? Very, very, very dumb, even by Dowd's own standards.

That said, there was one happy outcome to yesterday’s mess. Readers began fighting back!

The Sunday before, Dowd wrote a moronic column attacking Susan Rice. For reasons which seem fairly obvious, the Times permitted no comments.

In the case of yesterday’s column, the Times did permit comments—at first.

By 7 o’clock Sunday morning, comments had been cut off. But by that time, readers had buried Dowd beneath a blizzard of negative remarks, with hundreds of readers signing their agreement.

Readers marveled at the dumbness of Dowd. Given the history of this sad life-form, we thought these comments were most insightful:

COMMENTER FROM MASSACHUSETTS: Note to Obama: Please call Maureen Dowd. She needs to hear from you.

COMMENTER FROM WISCONSIN: Maureen Dowd is obsessed with President Obama. He won't call you. Not maybe. Your persistent attempt to psychoanalyze the president will not earn your work even an honorable mention. And just in case you've forgotten what you did to Bill Clinton, here is his memorable conclusion about you:

"[Maureen Dowd] must live in mortal fear that there's somebody in the world living a healthy and productive life.” —Bill Clinton, 1997.

COMMENTER FROM NEW YORK: Wow. Would a phone call from Michelle be enough for you?

Let's look at that quote from Clinton again: "Maureen Dowd must live in mortal fear that there's somebody in the world living a healthy and productive life!”

Quite a few commenters complained about the disdain displayed by persistently calling the president “Barry.” But Lady Dowd lives on disdain. It’s the fuel driving such life-forms.

Comments were posted through 10 AM, but submissions had already been cut off when we read the piece around 6:45. For the second straight week, the Times seemed to know it had to protect its star baboon against its unhappy readers.

Dowd has been an embarrassment for a very long time. Only Clark Hoyt has been willing to say so.

At the Times, career guild members will never see this. At long last, it seems that Times readers are starting to notice.