Althouse: "Once, he baked in existential estrangement, opportunistically tilting at authority figures..."

March 6, 2011

"Once, he baked in existential estrangement, opportunistically tilting at authority figures..."

Baked? What are you trying to say, Maureen Dowd?

32 comments:

kent said...: “I thought I knew a lot, but obviously 30 years later, I know a hell of a lot more.”

All evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.; 3/6/11, 11:15 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/6/11, 11:16 AM
Ipso Fatso said...: When are they going to update MoDo's Photo? It has to be 15 years out of date.; 3/6/11, 11:18 AM
kent said...: When are they going to update MoDo's Photo?

Unfortunately, the only currently available technology capable of preventing her from resembling a modern-day Baba Yaga is in the possession of Industrial Light and Magic.; 3/6/11, 11:22 AM
Martin L. Shoemaker said...: Her style is off-putting. Her politics are juvenile. And she just ain't that bright. So I long ago stopped caring about what Ms. Dowd was trying to say.

Of all the NY Times columnists I try to ignore, Ms. Dowd is the one I ignore most successfully. I might sometimes decide that a Brooks or Friedman column is important enough to follow the link. On rare occasions, I'll follow a Krugman link. But a Dowd link? Pass.; 3/6/11, 11:23 AM
ricpic said...: ...we're an aging white society for the most part, and we need to get our act together.

You pander to minorities. You laud them. But you take whites and whites only seriously if you're a member in good standing of our power elite. And when you say so baldly...it's no biggie because, because you're good people.; 3/6/11, 11:27 AM
Calypso Facto said...: But a Dowd link? Pass.

Me too.; 3/6/11, 11:29 AM
Unknown said...: I think the Gray Lady (and I don't mean MoDo) is losing it. She probably wrote 'basked' and nobody in proofreading caught it.

PS "Jerry Brown is still Jerry Brown. The prickliness, bluntness, questioning, calculating. That against-the-grain attitude; disdain for materialism, emptiness and politics as usual;"

As they said in the Pawnee Scout Battalion, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?".

Jerry Brown's been riding his father's name and connections, and the phony hippy-dippy image all his life. MoDo is just quoting his publicist.; 3/6/11, 11:31 AM
Hagar said...: I think Jacques Barzaghi was spot on then, and still is.; 3/6/11, 11:33 AM
rhhardin said...: Unreadable.; 3/6/11, 11:34 AM
rhhardin said...: Dowd could go all the way and just make it a crossword puzzle.; 3/6/11, 11:34 AM
BJM said...: Dowd's final line sums up the CA Dem legislature and Brown's philosophy perfectly: On his way out, he grabs an apple and a banana. They’re free.

An interesting footnote on the column: Frank Rich is off today.

I'd say, Rich just bailed to The Daily Beast.; 3/6/11, 11:36 AM
Charlie Martin said...: That she doesn't know much about cooking either.; 3/6/11, 11:52 AM
Ipso Fatso said...: MoDo is a guilty pleasure. I don't read her often but she is so juvenile, so poorly thought out, and is so one sided in her opinions that it amazes me that she has a column in the NYTs. But then I guess that is a reflection of the Gay Lady after all.; 3/6/11, 11:55 AM
Harry said...: It's funny that she says Brown isn't clear on who Charlie Sheen is before writing, "Jacques Barzaghi, who wore a black beret and made strange comments like: 'We are not disorganized. Our campaign transcends understanding.'"

While Charlie says, "People can't figure me out, they can't process me. I don't expect them to. You can't process me with a normal brain."

Seems there's a common thread there.; 3/6/11, 11:55 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I call bullshit on anyone claiming they don't know who Charlie Sheen is.; 3/6/11, 12:05 PM
Toad Trend said...: “I was on the warpath against corruption, and the politicians took it like I was against them, which to some extent —” He trails off, then picks up: “I thought I knew a lot, but obviously 30 years later, I know a hell of a lot more.”

Welcome aboard Gov. Brown, we're happy to hear that you may have eschewed the bong (he baked in 'existential estrangement') long enough to grow up. Just maybe.

I don't think anyone actually believes he or any other single man (single term) will be able to fix CA. Gotta be akin to trying to steer an overloaded ocean liner through an obstacle course. Years of institutional inertia tend to make that real.

Clearly, there are more problems than solutions, and CA is just the tip of the iceberg.

Forecast calls for pain -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IrdMyQSKr8; 3/6/11, 12:07 PM
William said...: Well, she's half right about the baked part....."I thought I knew a lot, but obviously 30 years later, I know a hell of a lot more." He can't even fake humility......Dowd is no great thinker, but her observations are sharp and funny. Every so often she will even epater some liberal. Krugman is, far and away, the most annoying columnist on the Times payroll. They all have their days, but if you want irritating, sanctimonious posturing, he's the go to guy. A just God would exact a heavy price on the Nobel Committee for contributing to the pomp and splendor of this dwarf's ego.; 3/6/11, 12:08 PM
michaele said...: I'd love to see Jerry Brown succeed beyond belief in making CA fiscally sound and have a thriving, ever growing private sector economy. I don't think that could happen if public employee unions continued to exert undue influence and taxes rates went up and up. So, we'll see how it goes under his leadership. For he and Cuomo, it might be a Nixon goes to China dynamic.; 3/6/11, 12:09 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: The answer to Caleeeeeefornnya state deficits is easy. Freeze all state employee salaries for five years & maybe promise them a 5% raise in year 6 or year 7.

Then wait and see how many leave for greener pastures like they always threaten.; 3/6/11, 12:13 PM
Fred said...: Brown gave gov.workers in Cal. the right to uninize and strike and "collective bargain".

Even Brown admits it turned out to be a disaster -- although he will not fix the mess he made.

"Baked" = California's cake is already baked - and Brown baked it in the 1970s.

You can't unbake a cake.; 3/6/11, 12:24 PM
Emil Blatz said...: The problem with California (and NY, and IL) is that they know they really cannot fail, and that there will always be a means, particularly via a Democratic administration in Washington, of having taxpayers in Kansas defray some of the costs of their irresponsibility.; 3/6/11, 12:24 PM
Anonymous said...: What a great political piece! It really uncovers Brown's essence, at least as it appears to Maureen Dowd.

Were it that all political commentary were so well-written...; 3/6/11, 12:55 PM
BJM said...: @Don't Tread 2012

...long enough to grow up. Just maybe.

No, Brown hasn't learned squat, he's completely unware of the chaos his goverance leaves behind.

Brown's term as mayor of Oakland was a disaster in every way, he took over a deeply trouble city and made it worse. Financial and educational administration of the city school system had to be taken over by the state. Brown blew out every budget, alienated the police and firefighters, crime rose and the few viable chain or national businesses downtown fled.

If it weren't for the City Hall, federal building, convention center/Marriott, Paramount Theater nexus on Broadway, Chinatown and few blocks of rehabbed Victorian storefronts between 7th & 10th streets, downtown Oakland would be a ghost town.

Former Dem Congressman Ronald Dellums succeeded Brown and drove the last nail into Oakland's coffin as he was even more ineffectual.

Oakland is a failed city...but we don't see that on Brown's resume, do we?; 3/6/11, 1:01 PM
chickelit said...: Sorry ma, forgot to take out the trash.

Ooops, wrong thread...er wrong blog.; 3/6/11, 1:15 PM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/6/11, 2:36 PM
Anonymous said...: This one could be a simple typo. "Basked" would make perfect sense.; 3/6/11, 3:37 PM
Phil 314 said...: Clicked link

Asked to "sign in"

Thankfully spared another Dowd column.

Professor, if you must continue to regularly link to her as part of a disdainful commentary then I challenge you, as you did (in the reverse) with Rush, to write a post praising her wit and insight.; 3/6/11, 4:06 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Bring on the paywall!!!; 3/6/11, 5:45 PM
Methadras said...: Seriously, who keeps giving her this outlet to expound on her outlandish ideas? She's a moron.; 3/7/11, 1:39 AM
martin.musculus said...: I stopped listening to Moron Dowd(y) after a friend from the Mathematics Dept analysed her columns and demonstrated that there were written by a simple phrase generator.
BTW, I'm not referring to the really decent one written at Cornell for talk therapy, (I believe it was named ELISA... but it was some years ago...).

That her employer continues to pay her for keyboarding-in the query to produce the column, really is between those two.; 3/7/11, 2:49 PM
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audi-parts; 3/8/11, 1:46 AM