On a day when the last threads of decency fell from the shambling, discredited careers of Roger Clemens and Maureen Dowd, a couple of hurlers past their primes, we bring you a variety of commentary to take your mind off of the long horse-race, just now heading for the last turn.
The greatest line of the day in the sordid Clemens saga belonged to Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, who listened to the House testimony and made his own call for change. Listening to Rep. Chris Shays attempt to portray Clemens accuser Brian McNamee as a drug user, Russo made a political endorsement: Here's the thing about Shays. I'm gonna go out of my way in November. We're gonna get him the hell out of Connecticut. We're gonna get Himes in there." Himes is Jim Himes, the Democratic challenger to Shays, an admitted Clemens fan.
It was strange to listen to the hearings and realize the Republicans were out to defend Clemens - "you know, it's Texas and the President, Dawg," opined Russo's partner Mike Francesa - while the Democrats prepped the former Yankee for a perjury charge. Who knew there were strict party lines in the 'roid wars?
Meanwhile, the reaction to MoDo's latest disgrace was swift and terrible. If you descended into the vile sub-basement that has become the Times op-ed page, you probably caught Dowd's column today - a disgusting little screed that quoted magician Penn Jillette's infamous "white bitch" joke about Senator Hillary Clinton. First up, Jim Wolcott:
The shameless gall being modeled down the runway is almost mind-boggling. "Even Jillette admits it's offensive." As if that absolves anything. Here's Jillette telling a self-described "offensive" joke, getting a huge laugh from it, then repeating it on his webcast and analyzing its reaction as if it were some sociopolitical wavelet--as if it he weren't coarsening the discourse but somehow conducting a valuable experiment in group dynamics. And then Dowd quotes it, frowning with disapproval not because the phrase "white bitch" is being slung against the junior Senator from New York but because it creates a sympathy backlash, humanizing someone whom Dowd has gone to such great pains to portray as inhuman, robotic, undefrosted.
"If Hillary fails, it will be her failure, not ours," Dowd decrees. But of course it's never Dowd's fault, or the fault of her fellow Mouseketeers, even though, as Bob Somerby points out, "[N]o one has done more than Dowd to introduce various forms of gender-loathing into our political discourse."
Should Michelle Obama become too prominent and assertive, I wonder if the sort of Restoration wits Dowd likes to quote in her column will start slagging her off as "a black bitch," just to get a laugh y'understand, and whether Dowd will deplore such epithets or tut-tut that Michelle O is an imperfect vessel for the role of First Lady and will need a tougher hide if she intends to move into the White House. Because once Hillary Clinton is out of the picture, Dowd will have to shift her animus elsewhere.
Kiss it good-bye. Next batter, Jane Hamsher:
Is Chris Matthews really worse than this? Is it any better because the New York Times has some acid, waspish harridan who is putatively female saying it?
MSNBC's gyno-bashing problem does not occur because there are no women on the network; rather, it's because -- as Somerby has long noted -- the only women who are asked back are those who flatter the hosts and won't call them on their disfunctional, sexist remarks. Since there are no women in a position of power free to say what they really feel without fear of being shitcanned on the network, we have to settle for Andrea Mitchell, Kate O'Beirne and other women who are willing to get their face time in front of a camera by attacking other women.
Finally, the clean-up hitter and the guy Jim and Jane both quoted, the lefty-hitting slugger Bob Somerby:
Life for a pundit is very easy—when she can simply assert her facts without explanation or argument. Clinton’s judgment was poor “on issue after issue,” Dowd says—without saying what issues she means. And her vote on Iraq “was about her political viability,” she asserts, without qualification.
But at the end, Dowd drops her hands—stops pretending she can hide. You see it in her final word—“ours.” It isn’t about “male pundits” any more. Don’t blame Clinton’s loss on me, the world’s biggest gender-nut tells us.
Now, we also suggest you read about Lance Mannion's troubles with Barack Obama - like me, Lance has trouble hitting the phantom pitch (is there an actual ball, or is it all arm angle?) - as well as Jon Swift's subtle take on Obama's religious, some would say messiah-like, tendencies. I'll nominate this as the best analysis of the day in this super-heated, extra-innings nomination game:
While Obama may not do everything Jesus would do, many Republicans fret that if voters are convinced that Obama is the messiah it will be difficult to beat him in the Fall.
Yes, very tough indeed. But fear not baseball fans, all the action's not on Capitol Hill. Tomorrow is pitchers and catchers, and the very day Johan Santana dons one of those hideous Mets warm-up jerseys for the first time. I do admire a southpaw with a good change-up.
