Patterico's Pontifications

7/5/2009

Latest “MoDo” Column: Plagiarizer’s Source Getting Even More Vapid

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:07 am



You know Maureen Dowd’s friend? The one who sends Dowd e-mails, which Dowd then plagiarizes word for word? Yeah, she sent Dowd some pretty idiotic lines today:

Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy.

. . . .

And so it was, Todd Purdum learned, as he traveled Alaska reporting on Palin for Vanity Fair, that the governor’s erratic and egoistic behavior has been a source of concern for people there.

“Several told me, independently of one another,” Purdum writes, “that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ — and thought it fit her perfectly.”

That sounds like a diagosis right there! Of course, those people aren’t psychologists, or they wouldn’t have to look up the definition. They’re just catty people who don’t like Palin. Sort of like the person who e-mailed Dowd this column. But if enough catty Palin-haters say the same thing, that’s good enough for a few paragraphs in a MoDo column!

The White House can drive its inhabitants loopy. So at least Sarah Palin is ahead of the curve on that one.

As Alaskans settled in to enjoy holiday salmon bakes and the post-solstice thaw, their governor had a solipsistic meltdown so strange it made Sparky Sanford look like a model of stability.

Who wrote that line, Maureen? We need their e-mail address so we can write them and tell them how clever it is!

UPDATE: I think I figured out who MoDo’s friend is: Liz Trotta, who calls Palin “inarticulate,” “undereducated,” “flaky,” and “wacky” — someone who “used her good looks and her gender to really get ahead in the political world”:

The giveaway: she thinks MoDo’s column was a “well-written, funny piece.”

46 Responses to “Latest “MoDo” Column: Plagiarizer’s Source Getting Even More Vapid”

  1. This was smooth of palin. If she hates the media she sure did a good job of ruining their holidays.

    imdw (e8663e)

  2. Here is how stupid Purdum’s original comment is:

    He says several people told him “independently of one another” that they had looked up narcissistic personality disorder in the DSM IV.

    First, telling him “independently of one another” means only that it came in separate interviews. It doesn’t mean that they all did it “independently” of each other.

    This is written in well-established and very clever style of VF writers with an anti-GOP bias.

    Its quite possible — and I think very likely — that one Palin hater in Alaska looked up the DMS IV on the internet, and then passed around the comment to other Palin haters, leading them to look it up as well.

    But, the way Purdum has written his story, he makes it appear that Palin’s conduct was so extreme that several people all felt the need, independently of one another, to go looking for a medical reason for her conduct.

    It’s a lie and Purdum is simply a polemist impersonating a reporter.

    WLS Shipwrecked (5c78e2)

  3. The Palin hatred is beyond pathological now — this sad sack moron quote Dowd, which must be an accurate analysis then!!

    She repeats every single leftist meme about conservative women — bigotry at its very core.

    Richard Romano (3d310e)

  4. Purdum significantly misquotes the DSM definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which is:

    The symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder revolve around a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and sense of entitlement. Often individuals feel overly important and will exaggerate achievements and will accept, and often demand, praise and admiration despite worthy achievements. They may be overwhelmed with fantasies involving unlimited success, power, love, or beauty and feel that they can only be understood by others who are, like them, superior in some aspect of life.

    Lack of empathy is more in line with another personality disorder:

    The symptoms of antisocial personality disorder include a longstanding pattern (after the age of 15) of disregard for the rights of others … Some argue that a major component of this disorder is the reduced ability to feel empathy for other people. This inability to see the hurts, concerns, and other feelings of people often results in a disregard for these aspects of human interaction. Finally, irresponsible behavior often accompanies this disorder as well as a lack of remorse for wrongdoings.

    Glen Wishard (02562c)

  5. Does Maureen Dowd have a boyfriend these days?

    What a sick cunt, hatefully jealous of a woman with a handsome, strong husband, five beautiful children, and much prettier than the fake-red-headed harridan will ever be.

    nk (e98769)

  6. Yeah, she sent Dowd some pretty idiotic lines today

    That’s hilarious since leftists like Dowd or Trotta can so easily tolerate, if not also rally around, flakes like Hilary “sniper-fire” Clinton and professional egotists/narcissists like her, her husband and the guy now in the Oval Office.

    Mark (411533)

  7. Glen,

    They are jealous of Palin, therefore they think Palin must be conceited. Narcissistic is the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of conceited, so Palin must have NPD.

    Anyone who disagrees with their worldview must be mentally ill and they’re going to document it… diagnostic criteria be damned. Of course, MoDo would never qualify as Borderline Personality Disorder, would she? 😉

    Stashiu3 (3fc50f)

  8. You ought to see Dowd’s essay about Catherine Zeta-Jones.

    Official Internet Data Office (37b677)

  9. If Narcissistic Personality Disorder comes up in conversation, and you are a supporter of Obama, you ought to change the topic quickly.

    Hey…. how ’bout them Yankees.

    Huey (509c33)

  10. Ann Coulter has nothing on Maureen Dowd.

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493)

  11. And, let me get this straight, people call Dowd, out of the blue, to vent their spleen? That makes her what, a bile-magnet?

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493)

  12. The claim is clearly false. There are probably two copies of DSM IV in the state. The author of the VF screed was on This Week today and is being given “credit” for the resignation. That shows how much true malice is there. I hope he has the names and tapes of the conversations about DSM IV when the lawyers call.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  13. Since Dowd wants to debate the mental state of others…. I’m an ex-journalist and have a lot of friends in the business, a number of them at the NYT. I know people who are longtime friends of hers. For years, long before Dowd was well know, I’ve been hearing troubling accounts of Dowd’s own temperament, demeanor, and behavior–stuff that goes beyond the recent and quite disturbing plagiarism. The smug and self-adoring Maureen Dowd may feel as though her column today perfectly captures Sarah Palin, but to capture Dowd herself I wonder if you would need a big net and a couple guys in white jackets. Ms. Dowd, please sue me for libel. Please subpeona my IPS from this site. I would treasure the chance to explore your mental state through the mechanism of court-supervised discovery.

    Kevin Stafford (5d18a5)

  14. Liz Trotta will never get ahead on her looks.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  15. As for Todd Purdum, I’ve met him (and his wife Dee Dee Myers, who’s actually quite lovely) at many social events, and Purdum has always struck me as a guy with a world-class chip on his shoulder and gargantuan anger-management issues. (For a laugh, check out the NY Observer account, back in 2000, of a legendary Purdum meltdown because he was upset about issue relating to….a PARTY he was throwing.) And these are the people, Dowd and Purdum, who are casting stones at Palin? Talk about projection….

    Kevin Stafford (5d18a5)

  16. “Caribou Barbie?” “Red Naughty Monkey high heels?” “used her good looks and her gender to really get ahead in the political world”

    Oh dear, I see MoDo and Trotta’s green roots are showing. When professional journalists catty women resort to attacking another woman’s attractiveness, everything else they might have to say is moot. They’ve outed themselves from the get-go. So the DSM, the Vanity Fair article (which is apparently now revered as the Definitive Standard of Truth About Palin), etc., matter not a whit. Classic casuistry? No kidding.

    *And what a wuss of a male commentator who allowed himself to be dominated by Trotta. His followup to Trotta’s assertion should have been to ask what her proof was that Palin used her good looks…

    Dana (8d88ef)

  17. “Perhaps the best part of Palin’s announcement [July 3]:

    Life is too short to compromise time and resources… it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: “Sit down and shut up”, but that’s the worthless, easy path; that’s a quitter’s way out.

    Quitters stick to it. Winners quit.”

    –David Kurtz

    Andrew (39820d)

  18. So Purdum is Happyfeet?

    Thomas Jackson (8ffd46)

  19. I was disgusted with Liz Trotta this morning when I heard her TRASH Sarah. She has joined the Dowds and Lettermans of the world. She just had to jump on the “bandwagon” of the vile, vicious lefties. Bet’cha she has to eat her words one day!

    BK (eaf7ae)

  20. I was going to point out that “dummerer than a sack of Andrews” has returned, but that little bon mot has been rendered obsolete by some of the recent drive-by’s.

    JD (a57ed0)

  21. The symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder revolve around a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and sense of entitlement. Often individuals feel overly important and will exaggerate achievements and will accept, and often demand, praise and admiration despite worthy achievements. They may be overwhelmed with fantasies involving unlimited success, power, love, or beauty and feel that they can only be understood by others who are, like them, superior in some aspect of life.

    Someone please ask Barry to look in the mirror.

    Azygos (7d9ea6)

  22. My brother lives in Fairbanks and he adores Sarah Palin. He was so excited when McCain selected her as his running mate and couldn’t say enough nice things about her. He also said that feeling was pretty unanimous with people he hangs with.

    jwarner (0a2a75)

  23. I found Trotta to be very offensive and low class. Amazing how she then defends Dowds moronic article. Dowd is spinster who cannot find anyone to marry her .

    Dennis D (ae900a)

  24. The symptoms of antisocial personality disorder include a longstanding pattern (after the age of 15) of disregard for the rights of others … Some argue that a major component of this disorder is the reduced ability to feel empathy for other people. This inability to see the hurts, concerns, and other feelings of people often results in a disregard for these aspects of human interaction. Finally, irresponsible behavior often accompanies this disorder as well as a lack of remorse for wrongdoings.

    Comment by Glen Wishard — 7/5/2009 @ 11:33 am

    That sounds so much like most liberal bloggers, especially the inability to see the hurts, concerns and feelings of others. I have never seen so much outright hatred then when I look at the comments section of newspapers like the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune. For once in her adult life I can even agree with Michelle Obama. America is a downright mean country, especially if you refuse to drink the Obama kool-aid.

    Michelle (d9559a)

  25. Kevin Murphy has nothing on Mureen Dowd.

    Thomas Jackson (8ffd46)

  26. I was surprised that Fox allowed Trotter to out Oberman Oberman today. It was a replusive and disguisting, much like crappyfeet’s comments.

    Thomas Jackson (8ffd46)

  27. MoDo’s phrase: “…it made Sparky Sanford look like a model of stability.”

    That could be a combination of these two phrases from Begala’s 7/3 post at HuffnStuf (bolding added):

    She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men’s room, look almost stable…And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable.

    Is that actual, conscious plagiarism? Dunno. Maybe she read the post, forgot about it, but unconsciously used it, changing it for the alliteration. Or maybe she asked Begala if she could use it and he said yes. Or she came up with it on her own.

    Jim C. (b33a68)

  28. One word on Trotta and Dowd:

    Meow.

    Dana (8d88ef)

  29. MoDo’s phrase:

    As Alaskans settled in to enjoy holiday salmon bakes and the post-solstice thaw, their governor had a solipsistic meltdown so strange it made Sparky Sanford look like a model of stability.

    Look at Begala’s 7/3 post at HufnPuf (bolding added)

    She makes Larry Craig, caught hitting on a cop in a men’s room, look almost stable…And she makes Mark Sanford, the governor with the Latin lover, look positively predictable.

    It could be that she combined Begala’s two phrases and extended the initial “s” alliteration.

    Jim C. (b33a68)

  30. Trying to drag someone down to her level makes dowdy Dowd feel good about herself.
    Let’s see if I have this right. Sarah Palin is a former mayor and a soon to be former state governor. Dowd is what…oh yeah, a writer.

    Sorry Mr. Stafford, nothing personal.

    Joseph Brown (c51f84)

  31. I think I know where Maureen got her hit piece from, Perez Hilton! Doesn’t she sound just like him?! Maybe the same thing will happen to her, karma.

    jeaneeinabottle (886a1e)

  32. I’m going to call bullshit on this one. How many people have read the DSM IV diagnosis on Narcissistic Personality Disorder? How many would quote it? How many would actually know what the hell they are talking about? And, yet, Vanity Fair publishes this as if it is a scientificly ascertained fact,quaoted by several of Palin’s unidentified detractors, buttressed by a so-called scientific manual, from several “sources”, no less. Sorry, this doesn’t pass the smell test.

    During the last election, I broached the subject of Obama’s narcissisn. and received a number of self-righteous rebukes from liberals for diagnosing from a distance without proper training or diagnostic tools. This was the generally stated response, even though I stipulated in advance that I was not positing a diagnosis of personality disorder.

    Narcissism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Here are the criteria DSM-IV lists for NPD:

    has a grandiose sense of self-importance

    is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love (megalomania)

    believes that he or she is “special” and can only be understood by, or should associate with, people (or institutions) who are also “special” or of high status.

    requires excessive admiration

    has a sense of entitlement

    is interpersonally exploitative

    lacks empathy

    is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her

    shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

    Now extrapolate that to a bunch of people who know Palin only through the media, office gossip, or superficial personal contact. Are they mind readers? Of course not. No MMPI-2, no Millon Behavioral Diagnostic, no professional interview; in short, nothing but a nasty allegation, by people that admittedly don’t like Palin. Much more likely, we’re seeing a liberal journalist writing for a liberal magazine with an axe to grind, and has pseudo-diagnosed a condition that he knows little or nothing about, to support a premeditaed hit piece on a conservative politician.

    This is junk science, not scientific inquiry.

    trentk269 (086ecc)

  33. to Mike K
    You are correct. The average person doesn’t know what the DSM are. Many users of the DSM are troubled people trying to diagnose themselves.
    Jaytee

    Jaytee (d2b936)

  34. […] as governor, Sarah Palin is still the knock-around piñata of the bloodthirsty MSM. Maureen Dowd, that pitiable plagiarizer, is still frantically swinging away at Palin. Maureen, stop plagiarizing and get a real job that you […]

    Sarah Palin: Still the Piñata of the MSM’s Biased Coverage « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042)

  35. Say it ain’t so, Mo! Save readers a whole lot of time and just lift a more timely term used by a popular conservative character in your childhood known for his ‘Bunker mentality’ — “Dingbat!”

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  36. For the love of Gaia, someone buy Dowd a subscription to Match.com

    Techie (482700)

  37. Kristol noted last Tuesday the wide readership of the DSM in Alaska by people that Todd Purdam met:

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/06/kristol_liberal_media_and_gop.asp

    /sarc off

    slp (adbb56)

  38. Leaving elected office frees Sarah to more aggressively react to the deranged reports in the media. Her lawyer submitted written statements saying so.
    What I don’t know is how successful a chance they have in court for slander and defamation. I hope she sues the lot of them.

    keninanchorage (9b4b29)

  39. #23 “Dowd is spinster who cannot find anyone to marry her.”

    She appears to be a bitter, unhappy woman. Only has herself to blame.

    So true, Attractive Dana … Meow

    PatAZ (9d1bb3)

  40. Pat:

    Why is it you’re unable to refute waht Dana said?
    Meow!

    Thomas Jackson (8ffd46)

  41. ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’

    Sounds to me more like the description of a guy who needs a Greek Temple and a massive stadium to accept his party’s nomination, a guy who creates town hall meetings where the participants are screened and invited to include only fawning admirers, a guy who dines on Wegyu steaks and makes lush weekend trips to NYC in the midst of an economic downturn.

    Gregory of Yardale (07425b)

  42. Because I agree with her, Thomas. Two supposedly professional news women being beyond catty to Sarah.

    PatAZ (fd1108)

  43. How positively racist of you, Gregory of Yardale.

    JD (4ff1b9)

  44. In the Eighties, the Senate of the United States gave us the verb “To Bork”. Now, the elites have given us the verb “To Palin”.
    It is now time for the Right to show their appreciation and admiration to their brothers/sisters on the Left, by doing to them, what they have done to Sarah.
    Until they appologize, and demostrate genuine remorse for the conduct that they have engaged in, we should systematically criticize, disparage, and accuse through innuendo, all aspects of their professional and personal lives.
    It is time to deploy the “nuclear option”, and wipe the smug off of their faces.

    AD - RtR/OS! (820b2e)

  45. Pat

    I appear to have misunderstood your comment. Sorry.

    Thomas Jackson (8ffd46)

  46. That’s quite all-right, Thomas. Sometimes I’m not even clear to myself.

    PatAZ (9d1bb3)


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