Maureen Dowd: Obama, Waffles, etc.
[Guest post by DRJ]
I know it is politically incorrect for a conservative to enjoy a Maureen Dowd column but I liked this one. Here’s a taste:
“In the final days in Pennsylvania, [Obama] dutifully logged time at diners and force-fed himself waffles, pancakes, sausage and a Philly cheese steak. He split the pancakes with Michelle, left some of the waffle and sausage behind, and gave away the French fries that came with the cheese steak.
But this is clearly a man who can’t wait to get back to his organic scrambled egg whites. That was made plain with his cri de coeur at the Glider Diner in Scranton when a reporter asked him about Jimmy Carter and Hamas.
“Why” he pleaded, sounding a bit, dare we say, bitter, “can’t I just eat my waffle?”
His subtext was obvious: Why can’t I just be president? Why do I have to keep eating these gooey waffles and answering these gotcha questions and debating this gonzo woman?”
It’s funny, including when Dowd dissects Bill Clinton’s recent behavior or, as she describes it, Bill’s “honey-crusted-nut-bar meltdown.”
— DRJ
I know it is politically incorrect for a conservative to enjoy a Maureen Dowd column. . .
There is nothing wrong with liking a Dowd column. She is a very witty writer; it’s just her thinking that is superficial. I have always thought of her as a journalist who aspired to be another H.L. Mencken, but only had the intellect to be a slightly less clever Dorothy Parker.
JVW (835f28) — 4/22/2008 @ 9:18 pmUh, if you want to talk about bitter…
EW1(SG) (84e813) — 4/22/2008 @ 9:18 pmI would never put her anywhere near the status of Dorothy Parker, except for the bitterness.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/22/2008 @ 9:26 pmThat Obama incident occurred after he hadn’t given a press conference in 10 days. It’s not like he’s exactly open with the media, as people are coming to learn as his skeletons are gradually exposed.
daleyrocks (906622) — 4/22/2008 @ 9:53 pmDitto #3. Its an insult to Parker!
Dana (ef741f) — 4/22/2008 @ 9:58 pmUgh. What a gossipy fruitcake. I suppose vicious insults are what you write if that’s all you are capable of writing. Still, there has to be something black and slimy crawling around inside her emaciated carcass.
*Shiver*
Russell (5ecf4a) — 4/22/2008 @ 10:16 pmThere is no way he ate a sausage. I want proof that he ate actual pork sausage.
j curtis (c84b9e) — 4/22/2008 @ 11:04 pmIs that a ‘Hussein’ remark?
Missed It By THAT Much (394169) — 4/23/2008 @ 1:10 amWhat he was really saying was, “Can’t I just keep waffling on all of the tough questions?
Missed It By THAT Much (394169) — 4/23/2008 @ 1:12 am#8;
No, I think he meant that Obama would not deign to eat offal. More or less. I mean, sausages, you know?
And let’s be honest – pork is a pretty plebeian meat. You hear of Kobe beef and Alaskan crab and French escargot and pate and allathat – but whoever heard of some super-duper pork?
PS If you have, let me know! Please! I love pork. 🙂
Gregory (f7735e) — 4/23/2008 @ 3:26 am#10-
madmax333 (429919) — 4/23/2008 @ 3:47 amIf boohoo obama were down to earth with Pa. voters, he’d have been eating pork scrapple.
Check out the ingredients: pork stock, pork,pork skins, corn meal, pork livers, wheat flour, pork fat, pork hearts, salt, spices.
I’d make it a diet staple for the islamomutants
incarcerated at Guantanamo. That or pickled pigs’ feet.
Maureen Dowd is funny and largely correct. I think Hillary has Barack I-Want-My-MTV Obama’s number. Hillary does not have a knockout punch but she has the stomach to exchange body blows and Barack I-Have-Seen-The-Morning-Dawning Obama doesn’t.
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 5:26 amnk – Now both of them are going to be omnipresent here in Indiana for thenext couple weeks. Ugh.
JD (75f5c3) — 4/23/2008 @ 5:28 amAh, scrapple. When I moved to Pennsylvania many years ago (I’m not there now), scrapple was explained to me this way: “You know how they put the leftover parts into sausage? Well, what’s leftover after that goes into scrapple.”
Strangely enough, it was years before I actually tried it.
MamaAJ (788539) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:19 amI like escargot, but only the French would make a delicacy of eating bugs off the ground.
Steverino (6772c8) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:48 amYou all can come stay with us if it gets too much for you, JD. I’ll make us some homemade potato chips and we’ll watch the show from a safe distance. And how is the baby and the new parents? Getting more than four hours of sleep at night?
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:49 amGregory #10,
There is gourmet pork but I have seen it only from Serbia/Montenegro and have only heard about it from Spain.
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:51 amnk – 3 hours of sleep at a time is about the best we are doing right now. But, my better half, my newborn, and my other darling little angel are doing quite well. Thanks for asking.
JD (75f5c3) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:54 amIsn’t gourmet pork called bacon, or prosciutto.
JD (75f5c3) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:54 am“That Obama incident occurred after he hadn’t given a press conference in 10 days.”
He’s already acting presidential.
stef (bd740e) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:00 amMs. Dowd has certainly had some sort of epiphany over the last six months or so…I am also enjoying reading her again.
Do you think maybe she found a boyfriend??
driver (faae10) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:04 am“whoever heard of some super-duper pork?”
You can get some real nice pork in the Italian Market in south philly. Is it elitist to eat gourmet pork from a traditional south philly market?
stef (bd740e) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:04 am“Honey-crusted-nut-bar” was first used by Aaron Sorkin (writer of West Wing, A Few Good Men) as dialogue in “Studio 60” to describe a religious character on the show. Here’s the really interesting part. Maureen dated Aaron for several years and it’s widely speculated that the religious character (the honey crusted nut bar) in the Satudio 60 dialogue was based on another former girlfriend, Kristen Chenoweth, the Broadway actress (who was also on The West Wing.)
Panthea (0e4d6e) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:16 amYes, like Jamon Iberico. Yummy, and good for what makes you bitter.
Pablo (99243e) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:18 amJD #19,
Yup. The prosciutto I had from Serbia was an entire leg, perfectly smoked and preserved. But there’s more. My Puerto Rican friends make a wonderful baby pig, slow-cooked in a steel box buried in coals. But the Serbian one is even better. They are evasive about the recipe but I suspect that it involves not a steel box but parchment paper soaked in olive oil which is wrapped well around the pig and then the whole thing is buried under live coals.
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:20 amAnd I hope that you will be contributing daughter stories from time to time.
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:36 amnk – Daughter story. I put a little melted chocolate ice cream on the end of a spoon, to let her taste something good. Madeline then refused her next 2 bottles, and better half could not figure out why. Who knew? So, she had me feed the little one overnight, and I was so exhausted that I forgot to burp her, and the little angel spit up all over me. My life, it is not all that exciting.
I think I could live on nothing but bacon and prosciutto.
JD (75f5c3) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:45 amHeh! Good for her. If Daddy wants to spoil her who is she to refuse to be spoiled?
Also, little girls can pee like little boys in the first two or three months. Has she peed all the way to the ceiling, by way of your face, while you were changing her, yet?
But seriously, better than ice cream I would offer her water. If she wants it, she’ll drink it. If not, not.
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 7:55 amI did not have the honor of being the recipient, but she sprung a leak that looked like Old Faithful. I laughed for hours. Our first never did that.
JD (75f5c3) — 4/23/2008 @ 8:03 amAgain seriously. Don’t listen to any idiot advice that it’s ok to let her cry. If she cries, pick her up, cuddle her close and let her hear and feel your heartbeat.
But also check her diaper. 😉
nk (35ac33) — 4/23/2008 @ 8:12 amStef, it all depends on your pronunciation. If you actually say “prosciutto” they’ll look at you suspiciously.
MamaAJ (788539) — 4/23/2008 @ 8:21 am“If you actually say “prosciutto” they’ll look at you suspiciously.’
So at the Italian market, you’re not supposed to use an Italian accent?
stef (b03400) — 4/23/2008 @ 9:03 amDowd has spent a lot of time keeping track of the food being left on Obama’s plate. Doesn’t he know there are starving children in Indonesia?
Mo MoDo (3cd30e) — 4/23/2008 @ 12:11 pmIndonesia, Hell!
What about Darfur?
Oops, my bad. Can’t mention Muslims killing Muslims, can we?
Another Drew (f9dd2c) — 4/23/2008 @ 12:33 pmWhat are you talking about, man? Much (if not most) of the violence in Sudan is Muslims from Khartoum killing Christians from Darfur.
Leviticus (84c147) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:11 pmAnd that’s an improvement?
EW1(SG) (84e813) — 4/23/2008 @ 6:56 pmProsciutto, heck, I clean forgot about that. Yeah, that’s good stuff. Mmm….
But I’m not talking about your average porker that’s been processed up real nice. I’m talking about some hog somewhere’s that’s getting a bottle of baby cham every hour or something, a real upper-class type littleius pigletus domesticus that costs $100 per cut or something like that.
Now, if someone could point out that, I’d have to start saving up! 🙂
About escargot – I won’t touch that stuff with a ten foot pole. But gimme some cockles or prawns (which are basically water bugs) and I’m down with that. Sea cucumbers are delish too – cooked right, of course.
Gregory (f7735e) — 4/23/2008 @ 10:23 pmMaureen D’oh:
Heavy mettle.
Vermont Neighbor (04023f) — 4/24/2008 @ 1:23 amWhat do you expect from Maureen Dowd? She’s not as smart as Keith Olberman, and not as hot as Marnie Vander Helsing. She should go back to the Times.
prufroy (8f2e2f) — 5/6/2008 @ 2:43 pm