Play with words

Question: Why is Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Moureen Dowd so popular? She doesn’t have the intellect of a Charles Krauthammer or even a Michael Kinsley. She doesn’t use her column to report on things a la Chris Matthews, Robert Novak or William Safire. Her opinions dovetail so perfectly with the mainstream left that David Frum dubbed her the gray lady’s “bellwether columnist.” So, what’s the big deal?

Answer: She plays with words.

For ratting on loyal Clinton sycophant, Sid Blumenthal, Christopher Hitchens became “Christopher Snitchens.” The whole impeachment mess was dubbed a, “great struggle of the buttoned-down prosecutor and the unbuttoned President.” On Rosalyn Carter talking about her and President Carter’s sex life, “This is worse than T.M.I. It's M.T.M.I., Much Too Much Information.”

Again, none of this is original. It represents no grand theoretical leap on her part. It’s all intuitively true. Hitchens did rat Sid out (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Starr is formal and reserved while our President is expansive and reckless. And Rosalyn Carter—for gosh sake this is Jimmy Carter!—talking about their sex life is just… icky.

Her secret, insofar as it is hidden, is that she is able to turn a phrase better than nine out of ten of her fellow writers. That’s why she won a Pulitzer. It could also get you published in The American Partisan.

Previous | Next