Thursday, June 11, 2009

Karl Rove On Being Dour

Last weekend we saw the president take his wife out to dinner in Greenwich Village, then they took in a Broadway play.

Now my first thought upon hearing of this was “now isn’t that refreshing.” The president knows how to relax. And he and his wife appear to creatures of a cultured background. Really, I don’t remember having seen this in a president and a first lady since I was a child when Jack and Jackie Kennedy brought culture and grace to the White House.

We Americans were proud to have such a young and vibrant couple in the White House. And now we seem to have that once again.

But there is one difference between then and now. Back in the early ‘60’s I don’t recall such a vitriolic spew of bile from Republicans over how Kennedy was using American taxpayer dollars every time he went out for the evening. But they certainly came out of the woodwork with their criticism of Obama's outing even before the Broadway play ended.

The Republican National Committee issued this statement:

“As President Obama prepares to wing into Manhattan’s theater district on Air Force One to take in a Broadway show, GM is preparing to file bankruptcy and families across America continue to struggle to pay their bills. ... Have a great Saturday evening – even if you’re not jetting off somewhere at taxpayer expense.”

All of this bile inspired Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to defend the right of the president to treat himself and his wife with a night out on the town every once in awhile.

From the New York Times:

“As a taxpayer, I am most happy to contribute to domestic and international date nights. As Arthur Schlesinger noted in his diaries, the White House tends to drive its occupants nuts. So some respite from the pressure is clearly a healthy thing. Not as much respite as W. took, bicycling and vacationing through all the disasters that President Obama is now stuck fixing — spending a total of 490 days in the tumbleweed isolation of Crawford and rarely deigning to sightsee as he traveled the world.”

And something Maureen Dowd said, maybe something in the above paragraph, really must have teed off Karl Rove because the day after her column appeared, Karl Rove went on Fox News and complained to the news entertainers there that Dowd was “twisted” and “deranged.”

From Politico:

“I think Maureen Dowd is a bitter, twisted, deranged columnist for The New York Times who misses no opportunity to show her disdain for the conservative side of the aisle. I actually went to an editorial board meeting at The New York Times and wasted a couple bucks on some flowers to give Maureen Dowd ... give her a smile on her face. And that didn't even work. This is a dour, downbeat liberal.”

And don’t forget Pulitzer Prize winning downbeat liberal.

I don’t think Karl Rove gets it. Sure she’s a little reserved in her mien, but “dour?” Is he kidding? This big, fat, bald, pasty-faced, fluffy old white guy is calling Maureen Dowd “dour?” If Karl Rove wants to see the epitome of the meaning of “dour” he need only gaze into a mirror.

And I really don’t think Karl Rove got the message when he gave Maureen Dowd those flowers. This Texan with the social skills of a Neanderthal actually thought that he would elicit a smile from Dowd when all he was really doing was offending her.

Really Rove? Flowers?

I would have offered her a cigar.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rovian style politics has been adopted fully by both major parties and along with the ever rising cost of the pol. industry is the ruin of our republic, which is forsale to the highest bidder.

Anonymous said...

I don't have a problem at all with President and Mrs. Obama going to New York and using my tax money to do it. I just wish they had been a little more economical and combined this trip to NY with the earlier trip that Air Force One made to have its picture taken with the Statue of Liberty--could have combined the two trips and saved a few bucks.

Hal said...

Did you see that they didn't take the 747 last weekend? They flew in a Gulfstream although technically that still made it Air Force 1.

Even combining trips, Anon, that would have meant a much larger bill simply because operating the 747 is an expensive proposition.

So your president saved you some gas money.

Anonymous said...

Actually, they took three Gulfsteams. So maybe not as economical as you might think.

So according to Hal...it's more ecomonical to fly one 747 to NY than it is to fly one 747 and 3 Gulfstreams. As I said, I'm ok with his trip to NY, just wish he had combined it with 747's photo op in NYC.

Speaking of wastig money...I am outraged that President Obama would allow that military's elite skydiving team to once again accompany former President Bush on a birthday skydive celebration. What a waste of money.

Anonymous said...

people seem to forget that it is looked at as "free money" by these professional politicos from either party and their marry minstrels and nothing more. just think chinese or indian banks can just keep loaning us more while the government encourages us to save so that we can pay more to them in taxes for their corporate cronies.

Anonymous said...

So, true, Hal.
Rove, Cheney, Rush, Palin they don't get it. They are doing a fabulous job of reminding everybody why the voters turned out in droves to vote them out of office. So many voters turned out that it made it difficult for the election to be stolen, again.